The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Language and Culture
About this ebook
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.
About the author
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).
