The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Language and Culture (Routledge Language Handbooks)

by: Liwei Jiao (Editor)

Publisher: Routledge
Edition:1st

Publication Date: 26 Mar. 2024

Language: English

Print Length: 286 pages

ISBN-10: 1138052477

ISBN-13: 9781138052475

Book Description

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 southe Chinese dialectsMandarin’s evolution into a national language and its related writing reformsLanguage as a propaganda tool in the Cultural Revolution and in contemporary ChinaChinese idioms and colloquialismsThis book offers an approachable exploration of the subject, appealing to both specialists and enthusiasts of the Chinese language and culture.