This paper investigates the semantics of the adverb jiu in Mandarin Chinese. In the spirit of Paris, we claim that the nuclear meaning of jiu is to build up a relation between two units; more precisely, between the asserted value and its alternatives, between the actual value and the reference value, between the asserted value and the relevant open sentence, and/or between two successive events. Based on this, we argue that according to its semantics the adverb jiu can be classified into three: focus adverb jiu, sufficiency operator jiu and jiu with the 'close to' meaning. Focus adverb jiu can be further divided into exclusive adverb jiu, scalar adverb jiu and jiu indicating emphatic assertion according to its semantic properties. When jiu takes the 'close to' meaning, it either acts as a temporal adverb or implies two events happened/will happen in quick succession.
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