Abstract: In his writings,Qian Zhongshu emphasized the relationship betweenname and object，an important topic of both Chinese and Western philosophy of language,thus formed his theory of reference.Qian's opinions wereobviously influencedby the debates onname and object during the pre-Qinperiod (before 221BC) and the western theory of reference.Qian does not think that "word" equals to "name," for a wordhas its sense,while a name shouldrepresent certainnominatum,as the referent of a name is different from its meaning.From the diachronic perspective,Qianclaimed "(The name)that can be named is not a constant name," thinking that the name of an objectis not constant,for it will change with its outsides,and that the referent of a name is not constant either,for it will change with time.For Qian,the analysis of the relationship between nameand objectis an important starting point toelucidate issues of literaryfiction,andalso a valuable method frequently used in his literary criticism.Qian believed that the literary language is not false but fictional,not real but honest,without referent but with sense,and that's why we cannot accuse literature ofproblems of truth or reality.In the analysis of literary phenomena,we should clarify the real meaning of a name,in case that we confuse name and object because of imprudence.

Key words: Qian Zhongshu, relationship between name and object, relationship between word and meaning, linguistic philosophy