Cultural Studies in English Language Teaching

Colors are important to every people and culture. They are significantly used in all sorts of ceremonies. They are also lively signals, showing one’s taste, cultural symbols and expressing emotions. However, there is no universal or standardized use of colors. People live in different cultures and regions have various perceptions on colors throughout the centuries. What is right for one may be extremely inappropriate for another. The following list is a useful reference for you to access the mystery and perceptions of colors cross-culturally.

Cindy Lee

Edited by Cindy Lee

Color	Region	Meanings
Red	Taiwan China Korea Japan	It means good luck and happiness. Chinese New Year, Weddings and most celebrations use red. BUT don’t write living people’s names in red, associated with death.
	India	Red and pink means joy.
	Indonesia	Red symbolizes anger.
Blue	Britain	Navy blue is the royal color, also popular among common people.
Blue	BritainAmerica	In English, blue metaphors a melancholy mental state.
Green	ChinaTaiwan	Don’t wear a green hat! The convention is dated from ancient northern China that a man wearing a green hat indicated an advertisement of his wife or sister as prostitute. Nowadays it’s a metaphor implying a man’s partner or wife has an affair with other man.
	Egypt	Green is Egyptian national color, BUT it is not used for any packages.
	France Sweden Netherlands	Green is associated with cosmetics and toiletries.
	Malaysia	It is associated with disease.
Yellow	France	Tracing through history, yellow was used to identify traitors.
	Indonesia	Yellow means happiness.
	Russia	Yellow flowers signify “good bye”.
	Spain	Yellow has negative association for executioners wear yellow.
Purple	Italy Argentina	It has religious connotation for it is used in churches during Lent (the period of 40 days in memory of Christ’s suffering).
	Japan	It is associated with pornography or a fading relationship.
	Thailand Japan	Royal color.
	Mexico	Purple is the color of death and funerals.
Black	China Taiwan	It means bad luck. It is a color for mourning period.
	Malaysia	Associated with death, it is used for funeral.
	Indonesia	It is associated with violence.
	Thailand	Black is associated with death.
White	ChinaTaiwan	A funeral color.
White	Indonesia Britain America	White means purity.