Textual Metafunction of Nonfinite Clauses in Chinese

Within the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics,this paper explores nonfinite clauses in Chinese from textual perspectives, in order to reveal their characteristics.It shows that from the thematic perspective, nonfinite clauses in Chinese can act as clausal Theme, part of multiple Theme, part of simple Theme or part of Rheme, and for practical purposes the analysis of its own thematic structure can be ignored; from the informational perspective, nonfinite clauses in Chinese can serve as either Given or New Information.