The Chinese Aspect System and its Semantic Interpretation  
Guowen Yang and  John A. Bateman 
FB10, Sprach und Literaturwissenschaften 
Bremen University, 28334 Germany 
gwyang@uni-bremen.de  bateman@uni-bremen.de 
 
Abstract: Motivated by a systematic 
representation of the Chinese aspect forms 
that explores their intrinsic semantics and 
temporal logical relations, we are constructing 
a Chinese aspect system network based on 
systemic functional grammar and 
implemented using the multilingual generator 
KPML. In this paper, we introduce the basic 
simple primary aspect forms and a set of 
secondary types of the unmarked-durative 
aspect in our Chinese aspect system, describe 
the semantic temporal relations of complex 
aspect in terms of temporal logic theories, and 
propose principled semantic conditions for 
aspect combination. Finally, we give a brief 
explanation of the system implementation.  
1.  Motivation 
Chinese aspect is a traditional area of research 
that has always brought up questions and 
confusion for both theoretical and 
computational linguists. Our own practical 
motivation for  exploring  this area addresses 
two concerns. First, most existing research 
achievements in Chinese aspect have 
interpreted the semantics of Chinese aspect in 
intuitive and general terms rather than in 
terms of temporal logic theories
1
; the latter is 
however crucial for computational imple-
mentation. Second, Chinese linguists 
traditionally focus their attention on simple 
primary aspect (simple aspect) forms, but 
make no efforts either theoretically or 
computationally to deal with the large variety 
of complex aspects. Although the frequency 
of appearance of complex aspects is not as 
high as that of simple primary aspect types, 
they nevertheless play an important role in the 
Chinese aspect system and cannot be ignored. 
To meet these problems, we are constructing 
a  complete  Chinese  aspect  system in which  
                                                 
1
 Exception to this are Smith (1991) and Dai Y-J 
(1997) who have investigated Chinese aspect in 
terms of temporal logic theories. Their studies 
have focused particularly on simple aspect forms 
however. 
all aspect expressions, including both simple 
primary aspect forms and complex aspect 
forms,  are systematically organized. We are 
implementing the system using the KPML 
multilingual generator (Bateman, 1997), 
interpreting the intrinsic semantics of each 
aspect  form   in  terms  of  existing   temporal 
logic  theories. In  this  paper  we  focus on 
the generation of complex aspect.  
2.  The overview of Chinese  
complex aspect 
Both Chinese and English have complex 
aspect forms. Halliday (1976) describes forty 
eight possible forms of English tense and 
elaborates the ways in which the complex 
tense forms are combined. In Halliday�s tense 
theory, the complex tense forms of English 
are recursively built up from primary tense to 
secondary tense, to tertiary tense, etc. 
Compared with English, the Chinese aspect 
system
2
 is rather different. In the Chinese 
aspect system, the combination of individual 
aspects is much more semantically restricted 
and much less grammatically regular than that 
in English.  As a consequence, it gives rise to 
more difficulties in both theoretical 
explanation and practical implementation.  
We look into the details of this below. 
We propose that the Chinese aspect system 
has basically seventeen simple primary aspect 
forms
3
. They are shown diagrammatically in 
Figure 1. 
                                                 
2
 Chinese has no morphological tense markers. 
Tense in Chinese is realized lexically. 
3
 It is our opinion that the Chinese aspect system 
is actually composed of both aspect morphemes   
(-le, -zhe, -guo4, etc.) and aspect adverbials (Yang, 
1999, 2001). 
 
              name              form               name               form 
unmarked-perfect 
已经(yi3jing1)+V+了(le) 
unmarked-realized 
V+了(le) 
marked-perfect 
已经(yi3jing1)+V 
unmarked-remote-
experiential 
曾经(ceng2jing1)+V+过(guo) 
unmarked-
experiential 
V+过(guo) 
marked-remote-
experiential  
曾经(ceng2jing1)+V 
recent-past-existing 
V+ (N) + 来着
(lai2zhe) 
unmarked-durative 
V+着(zhe) 
activity-durative 
在(zai4)+V 
long-durative 
一直(yi1zhi2)+V 
activity-progressive 
正在(zheng4zai4)+V 
unmarked-
progressive 
正(zheng4)+V 
start-and-continue 
V+起来(qi3lai2) 
continue-to-future 
V+下去(xia4qu4) 
written-imminent-
future-existing 
将要/即将
(jiang1yao4/ji2jiang1) 
+V 
unmarked-future-
existing 
将(jiang1)+V 
spoken-imminent-
future-existing 
就要/快(jiu4yao4/kuai4)+V 
Figure 1. The simple primary aspect forms 
 
                         name & form                                example 
long-and-unmarked-durative 
一直(yi1zhi2)+V+着(zhe) 
诺克斯号一直航行着。 
nuo4ke4si1 hao4 yi1zhi2 hang2xing2 zhe 
(The Knox has been sailing all along.) 
marked-remote-experiential-unmarked-
durative 
曾经(ceng2jing1)+V+着(zhe) 
那幅画曾经在这儿挂着。 
na4 fu2 hua4 ceng2jing1 zai4 zhe4er gua4 zhe 
(That picture was once hanging here.) 
recent-past-existing-unmarked-durative 
V+着(zhe)+来着(lai2zhe) 
那幅画刚才在这儿挂着来着。 
na4 fu2 hu4 gang1cai2 zai4 zhe4er gua4 zhe lai2zhe   
(That picture was hanging here just now.) 
unmarked-realized-unmarked-durative 
V+着(zhe)+了(le) 
明天那幅画就在这儿挂着了。 
ming2tian1 na4 fu2 hua4 jiu4 zai4 zhe4er gua4 zhe le  
(That picture  will be hanging here from tomorrow.) 
unmarked-perfect-unmarked-durative 
已经(yi3jing1)+V+着(zhe)+了(le) 
那幅画现在已经在这儿挂着了。 
na4 fu2 hua4 xian4zai4 yi3jing1 zai4 zhe4er gua4 zhe le 
(That picture is already hanging here now.) 
unmarked-future-existing-unmarked-durative 
将(jiang1)+V+着(zhe) 
明天那幅画将在这儿挂着。 
ming2tian1 na4 fu2 hua4 jiang1 zai4 zhe4er gua4 zhe  
(That picture will be hanging here tomorrow.) 
unmarked-progressive-unmarked-durative 
正(zheng4)+V+着(zhe) 
那幅画现在正在这儿挂着。 
na4 fu2 hua4 xian4zai4 zheng4 zai4 zhe4er gua4 zhe  
(That picture is hanging here now.) 
Figure 2. The secondary types of unmarked-durative aspect 
The �V� in the aspect forms denotes �verb�; 
the �/� shows disjunction; the name of each 
individual aspect was  chosen based on its 
intuitive semantic function. The unmarked-
perfect aspect 已经+V+了 (yi3jing1+V+le) is 
regarded as a simple aspect because it has the 
same function as the marked-perfect aspect  
已经+V (yi3jing1+V). They differ only 
lexically. The situation is the same for the 
unmarked-remote-experiential aspect 曾经
+V+过 (ceng2jing1+V+guo) and the marked-
remote-experiential aspect 曾经+V (ceng2 
 
jing1+V). The seventeen simple primary 
aspect forms belong to the three subsystems 
of perfective, imperfective (Comrie, 1976) or 
future-existing
4
 according to the semantic 
properties in individual cases. Some simple 
primary aspect forms can combine to form 
various kinds of complex aspect. We call a 
combination involving two types of simple 
primary aspect an aspect of secondary type; 
the combination with three types of simple 
primary aspect  is an aspect of tertiary type. 
By analogy, we also have an aspect of 
quaternary type; this is the maximum 
possibility: no further types are attested (Yang, 
1999, 2001). The combination capacities of 
different simple primary aspect forms differ. 
For example, the simple primary aspect 
unmarked-durative V+ 着  (V+zhe), which 
belongs to the subsystem of  imperfective, 
combines with several other types of simple 
primary aspect to construct complex  aspect 
forms as shown in Figure 2. Some simple 
primary aspect forms, e.g. the simple primary 
aspect unmarked-experiential V+过 (V+guo), 
have a very restricted capacity to combine 
with other simple aspect forms  to build 
complex aspect forms. 
 
3.  The semantic interpretation of 
Chinese complex aspect 
We briefly look into the profile of tense, 
aspect, and situation type, before examining 
closely the semantic temporal relations of 
complex aspect forms. We adopt Comrie�s 
theoretical framework of tense and aspect.   
�As far as tense is concerned, then, the 
reference point is typically the present 
moment, and tenses locate situations either at 
the same time as the present moment, or prior 
to the present moment, or subsequent to the 
present moment�� (Comrie, 1985, p.14). 
�Aspects are different ways of viewing the 
                                                 
4
 It is controversial whether to include �futurity� 
within the aspect category. We favor Halliday�s 
tense theory (Halliday, 1976). We also agree with 
Bache�s viewpoint �it seems to me not only 
convenient but also legitimate to accept future 
TEMPORALITY as a genuine member of the 
metacategory of tense� (Bache, 1995, p. 266). 
Compatible claims are also made by Dahl (Dahl, 
1985, p.102-112). Also see Gong Q-Y (1995). 
 
internal temporal constituency of a situation�. 
(Comrie, 1976, p.3) Aspect is determined by 
the type of process
5
 (in terms of systemic 
linguistics), the type of object, and the 
specific allocation of event initial time, 
speaking time and  reference time. The 
aspectual properties of different kinds of 
event may be generalized in terms of 
Vendler�s four situation types: states, 
activities, accomplishments, and achieve-
ments (Vendler, 1967). Situation types have 
nothing to do with the referential time of the 
event and are influenced only by process, 
object, and the time point or time interval 
over which the event holds. 
We define several predicates to be used to 
express temporal relations based on and 
slightly altering those of Allen (1984). The 
important ones are: 
PRECEDE(t
1
, t
2
) ↔ (t
1
<t
2
) 
SAME(t
1
, t
2
) ↔ (t
1
=t
2
) 
FAR-PRECEDE(t
1
, t
2
) ↔ (t
1
�t
2
) 
SHORTLY-PRECEDE(t
1
, t
2
) ↔ (t
1
^t
2
) 
NEARLY-EQUAL(t
1
, t
2
) ↔ (t
1
≈t
2
) 
The predicates PRECEDE(t
1
, t
2
) and 
SAME(t
1
, t
2
) correspond to Allen�s predicates 
BEFORE(t1, t2) and EQUAL(t1, t2) respec-
tively. The difference between Allen�s predi-
cates and ours is that we use time points for 
definitions rather than time intervals.  The 
reason for this slight change is that when the 
system is going to generate an aspect 
expression, either a simple aspect or a 
complex aspect, the breakdown into the 
relevant time points is often needed.  
The predicate PRECEDE(t
1
, t
2
) indicates that 
the time point t
1
 precedes the time point t
2
 on 
the time axis. The predicate SAME(t
1
, t
2
) 
indicates that the time point t
1
 equals the time 
point t
2
 on the time axis. Three additional 
predicates are defined to meet the particular 
needs of expressing the temporal relations 
entailed by Chinese aspects. The predicate 
FAR-PRECEDE(t
1
, t
2
) indicates that the time 
point t
1
 precedes the time point t
2 
con-
siderably on the time axis. The predicate 
SHORTLY-PRECEDE(t
1
, t
2
) indicates that 
                                                 
5
 �A process consists potentially of three 
components: (i) the process itself; (ii) participants 
in the process; (iii) circumstances associated with 
the process.� (Halliday, 1985, p.101) 
 
the time point t
1
 only shortly precedes the 
time point t
2
. The predicate NEARLY-
EQUAL(t
1
, t
2
) indicates that the time point t
1
 
lies close to the time point t
2
. We define t
i
, t
f
6
, 
t
r
, and t
s
 as the event initial time, the event 
finishing time, the reference time, and the 
speaking time respectively. 
From a theoretical point of view, to generate 
complex aspect forms not only must the 
temporal relations of individual  aspect forms 
and the complex aspect forms be correctly 
represented, but the semantic requirements for 
the combination must also be met. What 
determines the combining possibility between 
different  aspect forms is their  own intrinsic 
logical temporal attributes. When the intrinsic 
logical temporal attributes of each aspect type 
are in harmony, the two aspect forms can 
combine; otherwise they cannot. We have 
observed the following principled conditions 
for this. First, it is feasible to express the 
process in each individual aspect form before 
the combination is made. Second, each 
individual aspect form has its own semantic 
function which is different from that of others. 
Third, in a specific situation, when two 
different aspect forms combine, the reference 
time points of each aspect type may move 
according to the temporal attributes of the 
combined aspect�however, no matter how 
reference time points change, the event initial 
time must remain unique, i.e. there must only 
be a single event initial time to which the 
complex aspect refers. If there is any conflict 
over this, the two aspects are incompatible 
with each other  and the combination cannot 
be made. Finally, the combination must be in 
a proper order. This means that the selection 
of the aspect which is to serve as primary 
aspect has important consequences. We take 
two complex aspect forms as examples to 
illustrate these points. 
The first example is the secondary aspect  
long-and-unmarked-durative 一直+V+ 着
(yi1zhi2+V+zhe). The combination is com-
posed of two simple primary aspect forms: 
the unmarked-durative aspect V+着(V+zhe) 
                                                 
6
 The t
f
 here not only refers to the event intrinsic 
terminating point, which  an event of accomplish-
ment situation type usually has, but it also refers to 
the time point at which an event of other situation 
types  is terminated by some kind of outside force. 
(UDR) and the long-durative aspect 一直+V 
(yi1zhi2+V) (LDR). Examples 1, 2 and 3 
illustrate the two simple primary aspect forms 
and the complex aspect respectively.                                      
1
诺克斯 号 航行 着 
 
nuo4ke4si1 hao4 hang2xin2 zhe 
 the Knox number sail 
UDR 
     (The Knox is sailing.) 
The simple primary aspect of unmarked-
durative is realized lexically by the marker 
� 着 (zhe)�. The unmarked-durative aspect 
indicates either a dynamic or static durative 
state of the situation; it means that the 
situation begins before the reference time and  
is continuing at the reference time point. The 
temporal relations of the unmarked-durative 
aspect V+着 (V+zhe) are: t
i
<t
r
 and t
r
<t
f
. We 
presume further  here, for present purpose, 
that t
r
=t
s
. Both t
i
 and t
f
 are unspecific time 
points: t
i 
can be any time point before t
r
, and t
f
 
can be any time point after t
r
. This is 
represented graphically in Figure 3. 
 
               t
i 
                  t
r
=t
s
,             t
f
 
Figure 3. The temporal relations of the unmarked-
durative aspect V+着 (V+zhe) 
 
2  
诺克斯 号 一直 航行 
 
nuo4ke4si1 hao4 yi1zhi2 hang2xing2 
 the Knox number LDR sail 
 (The Knox kept sailing until now.) 
The simple primary aspect long-durative, 
which is realized lexically by the marker �一
直 (yi1zhi2)�, indicates a relatively long 
durative state of the situation; it means that 
the process holds over a relatively long time 
duration from the event initial time to the 
event finishing time and that the event 
finishing time equals the reference time. The 
temporal relations of the long-durative aspect 
一直+V (yi1zhi2+V) are: t
i
�t
f
, and t
r
=t
f
=t
s
.  
This is represented graphically in Figure 4. 
The dotted line denotes the long duration. 
 
 
 
 
 
          t
i                                                 
t
r
=t
s
=t
f 
                                                    
Figure 4. The temporal relations of the long-
durative aspect 一直+V (yi1zhi2+V) 
3  
诺克斯 号 一直 
 nuo4ke4si1 hao4 yi1zhi2 
 
the Knox number LDR 
 
航行 着 
 
 hang2xing2 zhe  
 sail UDR 
 
 
   (The Knox has been sailing all along.)
In example 3, because the event initial time t
i
 
of the unmarked-durative aspect V+着 (V+ 
zhe) precedes the reference time point and it 
is an unfixed time point which can at any 
point precede the reference time, it can also 
be identical to the event initial time of the 
long-durative aspect 一直+V (yi1zhi2+V). 
The two individual aspect forms can share a 
unique event initial time so that a specific 
framework of temporal relations for the 
complex aspect can be established. In this 
case, we say that the two individual aspect 
forms are compatible; the combination can be 
made. The complex aspect indicates a long 
existing and continuing state of affairs with 
respect to the reference time. The temporal 
relations of the long-and-unmarked-durative 
一直+V+着 (yi1zhi2+V+zhe) are then: t
i
�t
r
, 
t
r
=t
s
 and t
r
<t
f
. This is represented graphically 
in Figure 5. 
 
 
        t
i 
                          t
r
=t
s
               t
f  
 
Figure 5. The temporal relations of the complex 
aspect long-and-unmarked-durative 一直+V+着 
Comparing Figure 5 with Figure 3 and Figure 
4, we can see that for the unmarked-durative 
aspect V+着 (V+zhe), the event initial time 
after the combination  comes to �far precede� 
the reference time. For the long-durative 
aspect 一直+V (yi1zhi2+V), the event 
finishing time does not equal the reference 
time any more, which means that the situation 
is continuing.  
The simple aspect forms differ in terms of 
how restricted they are in their usage with 
particular situation types or process types. In 
the design of the system network, it is 
necessary to arrange the logical dependencies 
such that less restricted aspect forms are made 
dependent on more restricted aspect forms. 
This avoids potentially incompatible logical 
conditions being required. For example, 
compared with other simple primary aspect 
forms, the unmarked-durative aspect V+着 
(V+zhe) (Figure 3) has more restricted 
requirements in its usage, therefore, it should 
be selected first; then it combines with the 
long-durative aspect 一直+V (yi1zhi2+V) to 
form the complex aspect long-and-unmarked-
durative 一直+V+着 (yi1zhi2+V+zhe). 
The secondary aspect long-and-unmarked-
durative 一直+V+着(yi1zhi2+V+zhe) can 
further combine with another primary aspect, 
e.g. the unmarked-future-existing aspect 
(UFT) which is realized lexically by 将
(jiang1), to form a tertiary aspect type: 将+一
直+V+着(jiang1+yi1zhi2+V+zhe). We take 
this as another example to illustrate the aspect 
combining conditions; see  example 4 below.   
4.   诺克斯            号          将          一直 
    nuo4ke4si1      hao4      jiang1    yi4zhi2      
     the Knox       number   UFT         LDR      
         航行                    着 
      hang2xing2           zhe 
           sail                  UDR 
    (The Knox will keep sailing all along.) 
The unmarked-future-existing aspect 将+V 
(jiang1+V) means that the process will hold 
sometime in the future. The temporal 
relations of the unmarked-future-existing 
aspect are: t
r
<t
i
, (t
i
<t
f
 or t
i
≈t
f
). In example 4, 
the temporal relation between t
i
 and t
f
 is t
i
<t
f
 
but not t
i
≈t
f
 which corresponds to an 
achievement situation. This is represented 
graphically in Figure 6. 
 
 
             t
r
=t
s
          t
i
                                t
f
 
Figure 6. The temporal relations of the unmarked-
future-existing aspect 将+V (jiang1+V) 
When any aspect form combines with the 
unmarked-future-existing aspect, its own 
internal temporal relations as a whole will not 
be modified. The only change is that the event 
initial time may move. So when the long-and-
unmarked-durative aspect 一直+V+着 (yi1 
 
zhi2+V+zhe) combines with the unmarked-
future-existing aspect 将+V (jiang1+V), the 
temporal relations of the long-and-unmarked-
durative aspect 一直+V+着 (yi1zhi2+V+zhe) 
(Figure 5) become:  t
s
<t
i
,  t
i
�t
r
, and t
r
<t
f.
 This 
is represented graphically in Figure 7.  
 
 
           t
s
             t
i
                     t
r
                t
f
 
Figure 7. The temporal relations of the long-and-
unmarked-durative aspect 
Compared with Figure 5, we can see that the 
reference time of the long-durative-
unmarked-durative aspect 一直+V+着(yi1 
zhi2+V+zhe) has moved, from t
r
=t
s
 to t
s
<t
r
,
 
 
and the event initial time correspondingly 
changes from t
i
<t
s
 to 
 
 t
s
<t
i
.  
Because the event initial time t
i
, which is 
inherited from the long-and-unmarked-
durative aspect 一直+V+着 (yi1zhi2+V+zhe), 
is unique, and the reference time t
r
 equals the 
speaking time t
s
, the tertiary aspect 将+一直
+V+ 着 (jiang1+yi1zhi2+V+zhe) has the 
following temporal relations:  t
i
�t
f
 and t
r
<t
i
 
and t
r
=t
s
. This is represented graphically in 
Figure 8.                                                     
 
             t
r
=t
s
       t
i 
                                   t
f
                                                             
Figure 8. The temporal relations of the tertiary 
aspect unmarked-future-existing-long-durative-
unmarked-durative 将+一直+V+着 
(jiang1+yi1zhi2+V+zhe) 
We can see from Figure 8 that although the 
viewpoint of the situation changes after the 
combination,  a unique event initial time can 
nevertheless be established. The event initial 
time of the long-and-unmarked-durative 
aspect  一直+V+着 (yi1zhi2+V+zhe) still 
functions in the complex aspect. 
Now let us look into one further example to 
see the situation when two aspect forms 
cannot combine. The simple primary aspect 
long-durative 一直+V (yi1zhi2+V) and the 
simple primary aspect activity-progressive 
(APG), which is lexically realized by the 
marker 正在(zheng4zai4), are not compatible. 
The two aspect forms cannot combine. 
Example 5 is unacceptable.  
5.  * 诺克斯             号          一直 
      nuo4ke4si1       hao4      yi1zhi2 
      the Knox       number    LDR 
           正在                       航行 
        zheng4zai4            hang2xing2 
           APG                        sail 
    (* The Knox has been being sailing all   
along.) 
The activity-progressive aspect 正在+V 
(zheng4zai4+V) indicates a dynamic pro-
gressive state of the situation holding since a 
specific time point (event initial time t
i
). Its 
temporal relations are: t
i
=t
r
 and t
i
<t
f
. This is 
represented graphically in Figure 9. 
 
              t
i
=t
r
=t
s                          
t
f
                                                     
Figure 9. The temporal relations of  the unmarked-
progressive aspect 正在+V (zheng4zai4+V) 
Comparing the temporal relations of the long-
durative aspect 一直+V (yi1zhi2+V) in 
Figure 4 with the temporal relations of 
activity-progressive aspect 正在+V (zheng4 
zai4+V) in Figure 9, we can see that the two 
aspect forms have obviously different event 
initial time points. One has an event initial 
time which precedes the reference time;  
another has an event initial time which equals 
the reference time. A unique event initial time 
cannot be found. Therefore the two types of 
aspect  are incompatible and cannot combine.  
4. The implementation of the system 
To generate a specific aspect expression, 
temporal relations as described in the last 
section must be taken. Semantic inputs 
representing the temporal relations are a set of 
time points t
i
, t
f
, t
r
, and t
s
. Each of the time 
points is expressed in a specific concept, 
which could correspond to a specific time 
value,  showing its relative position on the 
time axis; e.g. at-past, at-present, or at-future. 
The semantic inputs are represented in the 
form of a set of examples making up a test-
suite. Using the predicates described in 
section 3, appropriate temporal relations can 
be automatically built by the system. Then the 
system traverses a grammar network and 
chooses appropriate grammatical features by 
use of relevant inquiries and choosers 
(Matthiessen & Bateman, 1991, Teich & 
 
Henschel, 1991). The main function of 
choosers is to guide traversal of the grammar 
and choose grammatical features by asking 
the relevant inquiries and testing all the 
required conditions  that they give. An inquiry 
contains a set of conditions to test whether the 
given inputs meet some set of semantic 
requirements. For example, the inquiry used 
to test the unmarked-durative aspect V+着 
(V+zhe) contains the following conditions: t
i
 
precedes t
r
, t
r
 precedes t
f
, t
r
 same as t
s
, the 
process is not of intensive-relational type with 
verbs like 是  (shi4, be) or adjectives 
describing properties, and not of possessive 
type with verb  有 (you3, have). Once a 
feature is chosen, realization rules attached to 
the feature place constraints on lexical 
selection and syntactic structure. Following 
traversal of the grammar the combined lexical 
and grammatical constraints are resolved in 
order to give the final lexicalized grammatical 
structure.  
                        5. Conclusion 
In this paper, we have introduced the basic 
simple primary aspect forms and a set of 
secondary types of the unmarked-durative 
aspect V+着 (V+zhe) in our Chinese aspect 
system, described the semantic temporal 
relations of complex aspect forms in terms of 
temporal logic theories, and proposed 
principled semantic conditions required for 
aspect combination. In respect of aspect, 
English and Chinese are semantically rather 
different. As future work we are now 
investigating potential applications of our 
description in several areas. In addition to the 
generation of Chinese texts per se, we are also 
considering the use of multilingual generation 
in, for example, contrastive reference 
grammars, and language teaching. 

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