The legal institutions of the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE) have been vilified by history as harsh and draconian. Yet ironically, many Qin institutional features, such as written statutory law, were readily adopted by subsequent dynasties as the primary means for maintaining administrative and social control. This book utilizes both traditional texts and archeologically excavated materials to explore how these influential Qin legal institutions developed. First, it investigates the socio-political conditions which led to the production of law in written form. It then goes on to consider how the intended function of written law influenced the linguistic composition of legal statutes, as well as their physical construction. Using a function and form approach, it specifically analyses the Shuihudi legal corpus. However, unlike many previous studies of Chinese legal manuscripts, which have focused on codicological issues of transcription and translation, this book considers the linguistic aspects of these manuscripts and thus their importance for understanding the development of early Chinese legal thought. Writing Chinese Laws will be useful to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, as well as Asian law and history more generally.

This book offers a completely new sequence for learning Chinese writing. If foreign students start learning to write Chinese by first inputting Radicals on the computer, they will make faster progress in being able to remember the vocabulary, and their transition to writing Chinese by hand will be more successful. At every stage in this carefully thought out sequence, the student should be encouraged to also practice what they have learnt on computer by writing the characters out by hand. The biggest problem that students have with learning Mandarin Chinese is being able to write Chinese. It is a daunting task because of the sheer number of different characters involved and also because until now each character has been treated as a unique and separate entity. The time needed to commit all this vocabulary to memory and gain fluency and facility in writing Chinese is immense, but using this method it will make learning faster.

Mastering Chinese characters in reading and writing is the key to mastering vocabulary and all the practical language skills involved in Chinese language study. This book introduces the reader to the 2436 Chinese characters for the six levels of the official Chinese Language Proficiency Exam (HSK) by offering information on their pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin, their basic English meaning definitions, their stroke order and other relevant information. Exercise sheets are included for each character entry with gray shaded lines that allow to draw along the character lines with a thin pencil in the correct stroke order. For HSK exam preparation, the book may be used to concentrate on Chinese characters not yet known while disregarding those already known. Other students who are not preparing for the exam may benefit from this dictionary and book of exercises as well.

Chinese, Japanese, South (and North) Koreans in East Asia have a long, intertwined and distinguished cultural history and have achieved, or are in the process of achieving, spectacular economic success. Together, these three peoples make up one quarter of the world population.They use a variety of unique and fascinating writing systems: logographic Chinese characters of ancient origin, as well as phonetic systems of syllabaries and alphabets. The book describes, often in comparison with English, how the Chinese, Korean and Japanese writing systems originated and developed; how each relates to its spoken language; how it is learned or taught; how it can be computerized; and how it relates to the past and present literacy, education, and culture of its users.Intimately familiar with the three East Asian cultures, Insup Taylor with the assistance of Martin Taylor, has written an accessible and highly readable book. Writing and Literacy in Chinese, Korean and Japanese is intended for academic readers (students in East Asian Studies, linguistics, education, psychology) as well as for the general public (parents, business, government). Readers of the book will learn about the interrelated cultural histories of China, Korea and Japan, but mainly about the various writing systems, some exotic, some familar, some simple, some complex, but all fascinating.

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.

Suitable for college and high school students and those learning on their own, this fully illustrated coursebook provides comprehensive instruction in the history and practical techniques of Chinese calligraphy. No previous knowledge of the language is required to follow the text or complete the lessons. The work covers three major areas: 1) descriptions of Chinese characters and their components, including stroke types, layout patterns, and indications of sound and meaning; 2) basic brush techniques; and 3) the social, cultural, historical, and philosophical underpinnings of Chinese calligraphy—all of which are crucial to understanding and appreciating this art form. Students practice brush writing as they progress from tracing to copying to free-hand writing. Model characters are marked to indicate meaning and stroke order, and well-known model phrases are shown in various script types, allowing students to practice different calligraphic styles. Beginners will find the author’s advice on how to avoid common pitfalls in writing brush strokes invaluable. Chinese Writing and Calligraphy will be welcomed by both students and instructors in need of an accessible text on learning the fundamentals of the art of writing Chinese characters.

One of the most civilized nations in history, China has a long-standing writing tradition and many Chinese texts have become world treasures. However, the way the Chinese teach writing in various countries in contemporary times is little known to the outside world, especially in Western countries. Undoubtedly, the Chinese have had an established traditional method of writing instruction. However, recent social and political developments have created the perception amongst both practitioners and researchers of a need for change. Whilst certain socio-political changes, both in Mainland China and in the territories, acted as agents for reform of the teaching of composition, the shape these reforms are taking has been due to many different influences, coming both from inside the countries themselves and from foreign sources. Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore have each developed their own approach to the teaching of composition. Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas aims to provide an accurate picture of the diverse composition teaching contexts and approaches in these four regions and countries. This is the first book that systematically introduces recent developments in teaching composition in Chinese-speaking areas. It outlines current theories and paradigms originating both in the West and in China and Chinese-speaking territories and the way in which these have been adapted to suit the various cultural contexts and learning environments. The overview is of relevance not only to the East, but throughout the world.

This book introduces Chinese creative writing to the English-speaking world, considering various aspects of literary and creative theories in research in Chinese writing. It covers recent trends such as cross-media practices, pedagogy in creative writing in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, specifically, and looks at how Chinese classical culture brings new interpretations to creative writing within a global context. Consisting of 14 chapters by established scholars and experts, writers, and poets working in various genres within the Chinese writing tradition, the book presents data accrued from personal reflections, classroom teaching, video games, museum studies, radio dramas, TV series, and cyber-literature. The book includes leading Chinese leading scholars’ reflections on research and the field, providing an omnibus perspective on theories of creative writing. It focuses on the interconnection between Chinese creative writing and pedagogy and examines different writer-training methods in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, offering a comparative perspective that deepens the understanding of institutional effects on the development of creative writing. It unpacks the interaction between Chinese creative writing and multimedia and ascertains the possibilities of incorporating media studies into writing practices. It also presents new interpretations of Chinese classical culture assets to new creative or literary manuscripts, such as TV series adaptation and Internet literature. Relevant to researchers, teachers, and students working Chinese creative writing and Chinese literature, it is also a landmark text in exposing English-speaking creative writing scholars to the wealth of Chinese creative writing, in English.

Andy Kirkpatrick and and Zhichang Xu offer a response to the argument that Chinese students’ academic writing in English is influenced by “culturally nuanced rhetorical baggage that is uniquely Chinese and hard to eradicate.” Noting that this argument draws from “an essentially monolingual and Anglo-centric view of writing,” they point out that the rapid growth in the use of English worldwide calls for “a radical reassessment of what English is in today’s world.” The result is a book that provides teachers of writing, and in particular those involved in the teaching of English academic writing to Chinese students, an introduction to key stages in the development of Chinese rhetoric, a wide-ranging field with a history of several thousand years. Understanding this important rhetorical tradition provides a strong foundation for assessing and responding to the writing of this growing group of students.

This edited volume focuses on writing Chinese as a second language (L2). It provides readers with cutting-edge empirical research and insightful teaching methods and strategies for effectively developing L2 writing competence in L2 Chinese classroom contexts. The themes encompass heritage versus foreign language writers, individual versus collaborative writing, writing as process versus writing as product, writing-focused intervention and written corrective feedback in L2 Chinese classrooms, as well as online writing instruction during and beyond the pandemic. In addition to providing meaningful and innovative contributions for graduate students and researchers who wish to further explore learners’ writing development in L2 Chinese, each chapter offers practical, detailed and insightful pedagogical recommendations to assist language teachers and educators, graduate students and research scholars in making well-informed decisions on writing instruction in L2 Chinese and to facilitate the implementation of writing-focused activities within classrooms.