Description
Xing Lu examines language, art, persuasion, and argumentation in ancient China and offers a detailed and authentic account of ancient Chinese rhetorical theories and practices within the society's philosophical, political, cultural, and linguistic contexts. She focuses on the works of five schools of thought and ten well-known Chinese thinkers from Confucius to Han Feizi to the the Later Mohists. Lu identifies seven key Chinese terms pertaining to speech, language, persuasion, and argumentation as they appeared in these original texts, selecting ming bian as the linchpin for the Chinese conceptual term of rhetorical studies.
Lu compares Chinese rhetorical perspectives with those of the ancient Greeks, illustrating that the Greeks and the Chinese shared a view of rhetoric as an ethical enterprise and of speech as a rational and psychological activity. The two traditions differed, however, in their rhetorical education, sense of rationality, perceptions of the role of language, approach to the treatment and study of rhetoric, and expression of emotions. Lu also links ancient Chinese rhetorical perspectives with contemporary Chinese interpersonal and political communication behavior and offers suggestions for a multicultural rhetoric that recognizes both culturally specific and transcultural elements of human communication.
Author: Xing Lu
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: 09/24/2011
Pages: 376
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.21lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.83d
ISBN13: 9781611170535
ISBN10: 1611170532
BISAC Categories:
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Rhetoric
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Communication Studies
- Philosophy | Eastern
About the Author
Xing Lu is a professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University. A native of China, Lu received her undergraduate degree in China, her M.A. in Australia, and her Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. She is also the author of Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.