The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Language and Culture

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Language and Culture represents the first English anthology that delves into the fascinating and thought-provoking relationship between the Chinese language and culture, exploring various macro and micro perspectives. Chinese culture boasts a history of ten thousand years, while the Chinese language's recorded history spans at least three thousand years, dating back to the Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions (OBI). This handbook is comprised of 17 chapters from 18 scholars including Victor Mair and William S-Y. Wang. Many chapters approach their respective topics with a comprehensive and historical outlook. Certain extensive subjects are addressed in multiple chapters, complementing one another. These topics include: - The languages and peoples of China, and the southern Chinese dialects - Mandarin's evolution into a national language and its related writing reforms - Language as a propaganda tool in the Cultural Revolution and in contemporary China - Chinese idioms and colloquialisms This book offers an approachable exploration of the subject, appealing to both specialists and enthusiasts of the Chinese language and culture.

Liwei Jiao is Senior Lecturer of East Asian Studies at Brown University. His research interests include Chinese phraseology, lexicography, language and culture, and language instruction. His publications include a series of Routledge dictionaries, such as 500 Common Chinese Idioms, 500 Common Chinese Proverbs and Colloquial Expressions, and A Cultural Dictionary of the Chinese Language. He has also contributed three entries, including one on Yuen Ren Chao, to the Encyclopedia of China (third edition, 2022).

List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements Contributors Introduction Part I Writing, Sounds, and Culture 1 Chinese Manuscript Culture 2 A Century of Chinese Writing Reform 3 Chinese Phonology and Cross-Cultural Exchange in History 4 Monosyllabicity of Chinese in a Quadripartite Classification of World Languages: Exceptions Explained Part II Philosophy, Politics, and Culture 5 The Linguistics of Chinese Philosophical Keywords 6 Power and Persuasion: Language and Politics in China 7 Chinese Exceptionalism: Linguistic Construction of a Superpower 8 Distinguishing between Early Modern and Modern Chinese Lexicons: Mandarin's Journey to Becoming a national language Part III Words, Expressions, Discourse, and Culture 9 Chinese Idioms and Culture 10 Colloquialisms and Chinese Culture 11 Place Name as Personal Identification 12 Chinese Emotions: Words, Meaning and Culture 13 Classroom Discourse in Chinese as a Second Language Part IV China, Chinese, Dialects, and Culture 14 Sinophone Studies 15 A Dynamic Perspective on the Languages and Peoples of China 16 On the Origin of Han Chinese and Chinese Dialects of South China 17 The Common Language, Dialects and Chinese Cultural Traditions Index