Cultural and National Peculiarities of Russian and Chinese Proverbs with Component ‘Mouse’

The study examines the cultural norms of Russian and Chinese cultures as represented in proverbs with the key component “mouse”. Thirty-three Russian and nine Chinese proverbs extracted from dictionaries are analyzed. The author describes the cultural stereotypes of Russians and Chinese regarding individuals, aspects of their lives, social roles, and life experiences embodied in proverbs featuring the component “mouse”. It is noted that only two socio-cultural representations of both nations in the studied expressions intersect: five Russian and one Chinese proverb metaphorically speak of a person’s cowardice when facing a strong opponent (usually symbolized by a cat) and the impossibility of resisting them. Russian proverbs are characterized as declarative, drawing on the life experience of socially insignificant individuals who find it difficult to resist the powerful. In contrast, Chinese proverbs reflect on life’s difficulties, also featuring an opposition between the “strong” and the “weak”. To compare cultural norms in Russian and Chinese proverbs with modern stereotypical beliefs of language speakers, an associative experiment was conducted. The author concludes that the associative series of modern language speakers is more pragmatic than the cultural norms reflected in proverbs.