The Chinese Writing System in Asia

The Chinese Writing System in Asia: An Interdisciplinary Perspective integrates a diverse range of disciplinary approaches in examining how the Chinese script represents and actively shapes personal and social identities in and beyond Asia. It is an ideal read for students and scholars interested in a broad and culturally rich introduction to research on the Chinese writing system. It can also serve as the main text of an undergraduate course on the subject. Key features of this volume include: - Insights from studies of the Chinese writing system in linguistics, script reform and technology, gender, identity, literature, and the visual arts; - Examples embedded in inquiries of the cultural history and contemporary society of Asia; - Rigorous yet accessible discussions of complex concepts and phenomena that assume no prior knowledge of Asian languages or linguistics; - Supplementary multimedia materials and resources, including instructional support, available online.

Yu Li is Assistant Professor of Chinese in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Loyola Marymount University, USA. Her research interests include Chinese linguistics, Chinese language pedagogy, East Asian calligraphy, and the Chinese linguistic landscape in the diaspora.

Part I Linguistic Preliminaries Chapter 1 Foundational concepts Chapter 2 What is writing? Chapter 3 What kinds of writing systems are there? Chapter 4 Pinyin tutorial Part II Writing Chinese Chapter 5 The Chinese speech Chapter 6 Written Chinese Chapter 7 The Chinese writing system Chapter 8 Demythifying the Chinese script Part III Borrowing the Chinese writing system Chapter 9 Chinese characters in Asia: An overview Chapter 10 Writing Korean Chapter 11 Writing Japanese Chapter 12 Writing Vietnamese Part IV Reforming the Chinese script Chapter 13 Phonetic writing before pinyin Chapter 14 Pinyin Chapter 15 Simplification of Chinese characters Chapter 16 Writing and technology in modern China Part V Identity and gender in writing Chinese Chapter 17 Handwriting and personhood Chapter 18 Sexism in the Chinese writing system Chapter 19 Nushu: Women's script Chapter 20 Script choice in writing Japanese Part VI Chinese Characters in art and literature Chapter 21 Chinese calligraphy Chapter 22 A calligraphy workshop Chapter 23 Modern calligraphy in China Chapter 24 Chinese Characters in Avant-garde art Chapter 25 Chinese Characters and Western Modernist poetry