Both the Chinese and the Western thinkers during the axial age adopted a utility-oriented and effect-centered conception of language,treating language as a socially embedded discourse rather than an abstract system of signs . From this shared view as their common point of departure,however,the two sides diverged and ended up showing diametrically opposed stances toward language . If mainstream thinkersin ancient Greece werein general positive andoptimistic about the socio-cultural outcomes of free discursive interactions,their counterparts in Pre-Qin China were gravely worried that disastrous consequences would necessarily result from unregulated use of language . This difference between their respective attitudes toward language has been exerting a profound impact on the way discursive norms take shape within the two civilizational spheres,with an″anxiety over the consequences of language use″ deeply implanted into the collective unconscious of the Chinese .Aperception of and reflections on such a difference would help enhance Chinese culture's self-awareness and offer a useful point of reference for China's current efforts to reconstruct a Chinese discourse within a globalize world .