Writing and Literacy in Early China

Writing and Literacy in Early China PDF Author: Feng Li
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295804505
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
The emergence and spread of literacy in ancient human society an important topic for all who study the ancient world, and the development of written Chinese is of particular interest, as modern Chinese orthography preserves logographic principles shared by its most ancient forms, making it unique among all present-day writing systems. In the past three decades, the discovery of previously unknown texts dating to the third century BCE and earlier, as well as older versions of known texts, has revolutionized the study of early Chinese writing. The long-term continuity and stability of the Chinese written language allow for this detailed study of the role literacy played in early civilization. The contributors to Writing and Literacy in Early China inquire into modes of manuscript production, the purposes for which texts were produced, and the ways in which they were actually used. By carefully evaluating current evidence and offering groundbreaking new interpretations, the book illuminates the nature of literacy for scribes and readers.

Writing and Literacy in Early China

Writing and Literacy in Early China PDF Author: Feng Li
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295804505
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

Get Book Here

Book Description
The emergence and spread of literacy in ancient human society an important topic for all who study the ancient world, and the development of written Chinese is of particular interest, as modern Chinese orthography preserves logographic principles shared by its most ancient forms, making it unique among all present-day writing systems. In the past three decades, the discovery of previously unknown texts dating to the third century BCE and earlier, as well as older versions of known texts, has revolutionized the study of early Chinese writing. The long-term continuity and stability of the Chinese written language allow for this detailed study of the role literacy played in early civilization. The contributors to Writing and Literacy in Early China inquire into modes of manuscript production, the purposes for which texts were produced, and the ways in which they were actually used. By carefully evaluating current evidence and offering groundbreaking new interpretations, the book illuminates the nature of literacy for scribes and readers.

Chinese Writing

Chinese Writing PDF Author: Xigui Qiu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 584

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Book Description


A History of Writing

A History of Writing PDF Author: Steven Roger Fischer
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1861895887
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
From the earliest scratches on stone and bone to the languages of computers and the internet, A History of Writing offers an investigation into the origin and development of writing throughout the world. Illustrated with numerous examples, this book offers a global overview in a format that everyone can follow. Steven Roger Fischer also reveals his own discoveries made since the early 1980s, making it a useful reference for students and specialists as well as a delightful read for lovers of the written word everywhere.

The Origin of Chinese Characters

The Origin of Chinese Characters PDF Author: Kihoon Lee
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 1628943238
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description


Finding God in Ancient China

Finding God in Ancient China PDF Author: Chan Kei Thong
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310292387
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Finding God in Ancient China is a sweeping historical, cultural, and linguistic tour through the history of China that seeks to connect the God of the Bible with ancient Chinese language, traditions, and rituals.

Warp and Weft

Warp and Weft PDF Author: Keekok Lee
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing
ISBN: 1606932470
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
This book attempts to deconstruct certain key clusters of Chinese characters and words to make them yield fascinating tales about the country's culture and history.

Ancient Chinese Warfare

Ancient Chinese Warfare PDF Author: Ralph D. Sawyer
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465023347
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
The history of China is a history of warfare. Rarely in its 3,000-year existence has the country not been beset by war, rebellion, or raids. Warfare was a primary source of innovation, social evolution, and material progress in the Legendary Era, Hsia dynasty, and Shang dynasty -- indeed, war was the force that formed the first cohesive Chinese empire, setting China on a trajectory of state building and aggressive activity that continues to this day. In Ancient Chinese Warfare, a preeminent expert on Chinese military history uses recently recovered documents and archaeological findings to construct a comprehensive guide to the developing technologies, strategies, and logistics of ancient Chinese militarism. The result is a definitive look at the tools and methods that won wars and shaped culture in ancient China.

Kingdom of Characters (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)

Kingdom of Characters (Pulitzer Prize Finalist) PDF Author: Jing Tsu
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735214743
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST A New York Times Notable Book of 2022 What does it take to reinvent a language? After a meteoric rise, China today is one of the world’s most powerful nations. Just a century ago, it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, as the world underwent a massive technological transformation that threatened to leave them behind. In Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu argues that China’s most daunting challenge was a linguistic one: the century-long fight to make the formidable Chinese language accessible to the modern world of global trade and digital technology. Kingdom of Characters follows the bold innovators who reinvented the Chinese language, among them an exiled reformer who risked a death sentence to advocate for Mandarin as a national language, a Chinese-Muslim poet who laid the groundwork for Chairman Mao's phonetic writing system, and a computer engineer who devised input codes for Chinese characters on the lid of a teacup from the floor of a jail cell. Without their advances, China might never have become the dominating force we know today. With larger-than-life characters and an unexpected perspective on the major events of China’s tumultuous twentieth century, Tsu reveals how language is both a technology to be perfected and a subtle, yet potent, power to be exercised and expanded.

The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System

The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System PDF Author: William G. Boltz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Originally published in 1994 (hardcover now out of print), this volume has been reprinted in a new paperback format that will make it more attractive and affordable for use in the classroom. The work sketches with extraordinary precision the history of the Chinese writing system from the late Shang (ca. 1200 B.C.) when Chinese characters are first in evidence down to the script's standardization and codification a millennium later in the Ch'in and Han (221 B.C.-A.D. 220). Prof. Boltz takes in part a comparative approach to the origin and early structure and development of Chinese writing, suggesting that in its general principles the process was matched pari passu by the way writing first arose in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and among the Mayas (for example, that the Chinese script records the sounds of words, not ideas). The author also examines the question of why the Chinese script never became alphabetic, in spite of hints of such tendencies in the third and second centuries B.C. Kidder Smith, of Bowdoin College, said of the original publication: "... this book will be highly valued by anyone concerned with the relationships of language to writing, and should become the point of reference for all discussions of these questions as they pertain to ancient Chinese" (Religious Studies Review Vol. 21, No. 4, October 1995).

Oxford Bibliographies

Oxford Bibliographies PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description