Since the 1980s, explorations into the mechanism of metaphor processing result in the proposition of three distinct theoretical models: Class Inclusion Theory, Structure Mapping Theory, and Conceptual Metaphor Theory. This paper begins with a brief introduction to these three models and then analyzes their interpretative power with reference to examples from Chinese literary works. It is assumed that our brain not only stores the knowledge of attributes and relations regarding matters, but is also capable of schematization these stuff at a deeper cognitive level. Class Inclusion Theory can explain metaphors on matters’ attributes, while Structure Mapping Theory metaphors on matters’ relations. Conceptual Metaphor, in contrast, deals with metaphors at the deeper schematization level. The three models are not contradictory to each other, but rather complementary to each other.