Two are one， life and death，Lying together like lovers in kemmer，Like hands joined together，Like the end and the way.Ai then uses the yin-yang symbol to name Estraven''s culture. He draws the yin-yang symbol with a curve within the circle and then blacks the yin half of the symboland then he explains： "It is yin and yang. Light is the left hand of darkness... how didit go? Light， dark. Fear， courage. Cold， warmth. Female， male... Both and one." Aiactually summarizes the relationships of different pairs in the Winter culture as therelationship of yin and yang. such as light and dark， female and male. Here， it is obviousthat Le Guin employs the Taoist thinking and language to construct the Winter culture;as in Taoism， the relationship between yin and yang is mutually dependent， rather thanopposite or exclusive to each other. In Le Guin''s translation ofLao Tzu ： Tao Te Ching ：A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way， we can see the relationship of differentforms of yin and yang and we can see that in the Taoist thinking， being and non-beingare not interpreted as opposites， but rather are mutually dependent， constructive， andtransformative ones. As the Winter culture is based on such a thinking， in this culture，dualistic divisions inherent in Western dualism are not seen.In Winter culture， the non-oppositional thinking is not merely applied to humanrelationship. As far as human nature is concerned， we find it also different from that inthe patriarchal anthropocentric cultures， in which nature is excluded from culture. Incontrast， in Winter. there is an intimate interaction between nature and culture. Here，nature is not subject to human exploitation and domination， but rather， it is an importantforce affecting both human nature and the construction of culture. In the novel， we cansee the inftuence of climate on human physiology： "Gethenian noses are prominent andnarrow. with constricted passages， well adapted to breathing subfreezing air." Besidesthis， nature is also one of the forces determining the everyday life of Gethenians， suchas the choice of means of transportation and business activities. In Winter， climateplays a part in the style of architecture. Due to the cold climate， "All the buildings arefantastically massive， deep-founded， weatherproof and waterproof." In the largest cityof Winter， Mishnory. architecture designs are made in compliance with the weatherconditions. In the sunny days. the city is "queer-looking"， "all blank stone walls witha few narrow windows set too high， wide streets that dwarfed the crowds， street-lampsperched on ridiculous tall posts， roofs pitched steep as praying hands， shed-roofssticking out of house walls eighteen feet above ground like big aimless bookshelves-an ill-proportioned， grotesque city， in the sunlight." And yet， in winter， this citybecomes beautiful as it is built for winter： "In winter， with those streets filled ten feetup with packed， hard-rolled snow， the steep roofs icicle-fringed， sleds parked under theshed-roofs， narrow window-slits shining yellow through driving sleet， you could seethe fitness of that city， its economy， its beauty." We can see from the novel that in LeGuin''s construction， nature， to be exact， the climate， is not merely the environment ofhuman beings or the background of human activities， but rather， it plays an active rolein different fields oflife of Gethenians.Language is another important aspect reflecting the culture-nature relationship，which can record the past consciousness and shape the future consciousness of apeople. It is another channel for us to learn about the human-nature relationship of aculture. In the Winter language system， expressions such as "mankind can conquerthe earth" do not exist. We can see the presence of nature in the language and hencethe culture， For example， in the language of Karhide， there exists more than 60 wordsdescribing the categories， stages， and characteristics of snow. There are many wordsdescribing different states of snow-falling and ice. There are also more than 20 wordsthat are related to the temperature， the scale ofwind， and rain. We can see that nature isdescribed in depth and various aspects of weather are included in the language， whichdemonstrate the attention and respect of Gethenians for natural phenomena. We cansee， in the language， nature is not treated as an undifferentiated whole， but rather， thedetails of changes and differences contained in nature itself are represented.According to Westem dualism， mathematics belongs to the category of reason，wluch is above nature. However， on the planet known as Winter， nature is closelylinked to mathematics. For example， numbers like 13， 26， 53， which are associated withthe cycle of the moon and the physical cycle of Gethenians， are often taken as the unitsof measurement. This forms a contrast to the anthropocentric culture， in which natureand body are debased.Gethenians， unlike people who have an arrogant attitude towards nature in theanthropocentric cultures， are modest and humble in front of nature.
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