In Slavic languages, viewpoint aspect is represented by the contrast between perfective and imperfective aspects, and perfective aspect expresses 'totality'. There have been attempts to account for aspects in other languages, and it is often misunderstood that perfective aspect in those languages means 'totality'. Chinese perfective marker 'Le' is also claimed to express 'totality'. However, just as the aspectual meaning in Korean excludes 'totality', so does the aspectual meaning in Chinese. That is, the form and meaning of viewpoint aspect differ from language to language.
It is well-known that viewpoint aspect differs from language to language, but it is generally assumed that situation aspect is similar in every language. In fact, Smith(1991) classified situation aspect into five types, applying them to several languages. However, considering that classification of situation aspect is based on viewpoint aspect, I claim that if the latter differs from language to language, then the former will, too. Therefore, it is necessary to study viewpoint aspect before situation aspect.
First of all, the perfective aspect 'Le' does not represent 'totality', but it represents that a situational boundary (a initial boundary or a terminal boundary) existed in the relative past. Also 'Zai' represents the active continuation of situation and 'Zhe' expresses the static situation. Besides, 'Guo' is not considered in this paper because it is not important in the classification of situation aspect.
Considering semantic features on which classification of situation is based, I review previous studies on situation aspect and propose a new situation aspect in Chinese. I classify the situation aspect into four types: state, activity, result and complex change. 'Activity' includes 'semelfactive'. 'Accomplishment' is excluded from consideration, whereas 'complex change' is added to the list.