Abstract: “in front of” and “behind” are a set of basic spatial concepts. In many languages, the words describing spatial concepts are metaphorically directed to the time system. The expression of time system in Chinese borrows a lot of words to express the meaning of spatial concept, in which “in front of” and “behind” show dislocation and asymmetry in the corresponding process of different periods. Through the description and analysis of these phenomena, it is found that “in front of” and “behind” are staggered correspondence and asymmetric distribution caused by the difference of the cognitive perspective and cognitive habits.

Key words: time, space, metaphor, asymmetry