STUDIES OF POLITICAL EUPHEMISMS IN CHINA
The article presents a review of the studies of political euphemisms in China. Political euphemisms are used by officials in such spheres as diplomacy, military studies and economics, due to which their thematic groups can be singled out. Usage of political euphemisms is a part of verbal strategy organized in keeping with the principle of polite communication but contrary to the principle of cooperation. Euphemisation is studied in China mainly on the basis of the texts of the British-American English language area, and especially those of US politicians. Quite a number of studies show that political euphemisms are tools used by the US president to gain social support and to conceal the truth and disguise reality. The authors study the context (home/foreign policy) and means of euphemism creation (fuzzy, abstract words, pleonasms and colloquial words), determine the main principle of euphemisation - the principle of evasion. Cognitive investigation of political euphemisms constitutes a special area of study (use of metonymy, lexical categorization, cognitive metaphorization, etc.). Some studies focus on the issues of rendering euphemisms while translating official documents (the need to take into account national-cultural connotations, concrete text, social psychology and socio-political conditions in various countries). Political euphemisms in Russian and Chinese are investigated in a relatively small number of works. Comparative-contrastive analysis of such Russian-Chinese material is of special interest. Inside the country, euphemisation makes it possible to consolidate the society, to create a positive image of the power, and to promote stability; in the sphere of foreign policy - to create a positive image of the country, to minimize confrontation, and to conceal real facts. A comparative study allows revealing linguo-cultural aspects of the divergences existing in political discourses of different countries. Perspective areas of research in this field may include precise definition of euphemisms, their characteristic features, classification, and determination of functional load. This activity may lead to new publications in the spheres of linguo-culture and translation theory.