Description
Routledge, London, [Published Date: 2014]. Softcover, viii, 221 pages : black and white illustrations ; 23 cm. First paperback edition.
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
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Condition & notes
In very good condition. Glossy green illustrated paper covers have some sticker residue in the upper left hand corner of the front cover and light overall scuffing. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. Not Ex-library. No remainder marks. [From back cover] Drawing on both written material and on ethnography of popular conceptions, Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society aims to show that calligraphy and writing in China is a highly empowered cultural form through which power is articulated, social relations lubricated, deep knowledge extracted and one's relationship with the world is interpreted, ultimately indicating and formulating Chinese personhood. However, have popular conceptualizations of Chinese calligraphy and writing been transformed as a response to technological, commercial and political changes? In imperial times calligraphy's power was inseparable from the fact that hand writing was seen to be embroiled with the notion of personhood, but has the relationship between calligraphy and power been challenged in the modern era? Yen argues that, being essential to the definition of 'Chineseness', Chinese writing continues to be a focus of indigenous cultural critique, and far from being banished as technologically obsolete it has been, in effect, recharged for the new millennium. Yuehping Yen is an anthropologist and freelance writer. She received her doctorate in anthropology from the London School of Economics in 2000.