The item de subordinating modifiers of different categories to the head noun occupies a prominent place among the unresolved puzzles in Chinese linguistics. Taking den Dikken and Singhapreecha's (2004) " linker " analysis of de as a starting point, I will argue in general against proposals analysing the modifier XP in terms of an underlying predicate, located in a small clause (den Dikken and Singhapreecha 2004, den Dikken 2006) or a relative clause (Sproat and Shih 1988, 1991, Duanmu 1998, Simpson 2001, 2003). The aim is to pave the way for an analysis of de that is in accordance with the overall syntax of Chinese.