Historical Chinese Letter Writing

Daniel Z. Kadar (Author)

Paperback ~~£37.99~~ £34.19 Hardback ~~£170.00~~ £153.00 Ebook (PDF) ~~£34.19~~ £27.35 Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ~~£34.19~~ £27.35

Quantity

In stock

£34.19 RRP £37.99 Website price saving £3.80 (10%)

Add to basket

Add to wishlist

This product is usually dispatched within 10-14 days

Delivery and returns info
Free UK delivery on orders £30 or over

Description

Dániel Z. Kádár was awarded with the Academy Award for Young Outstanding Scholars by
the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for this book.

Letter writing is a pivotal yet neglected medium of historical Chinese communication. The epistolary format is key to sinological research. As historical letters have a specific vocabulary and rhetorical structure it is difficult to read them without the supporting apparatus of specialised study.

This compendium fills the gap in Chinese studies by providing a bilingual Chinese-English edition of a corpus of Chinese letters, prepared for advanced students of Classical Chinese as well as academics with an interest in historical Chinese epistolary art. The book has a broad and general introduction, systematically constructed vocabulary sections as well as detailed grammatical and philological explanations.

It focuses on Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) letter writing, a high point of pre-1911 epistolary activity in Chinese, and will appeal to Chinese scholars and Sinologists at a broad range of academic levels.

Preface
Part I: Family Letter Writing
1.Family Letter Writing I: Letters of Zheng Banqiao
2. Family Letter Writing II: Letters of Zeng Guofan
Part II: 'Specialized' Epistolary Discourse
3. 'Specialized' Epistolary Discourse I: Literary Letters of Jin Shengtan
4. 'Specialized' Epistolary Discourse II: Scholarly Letters of Gu Yanwu
Part III: Non-family 'Social' Letter Writing
5. Non-Family 'Social' Letters I: Letters of Xu Jiacun
6. Non-Family 'Social' Letters II: Letters of Gong Weizhai Joint Exercise for Chapters 5 and 6
Part IV: Political Letter Writing
7. Political Letters: A Long Letter of Yuan Shikai
Postscript: What next?
Appendix I: The Chinese Texts (printed in a punctuated form) Appendix II: Chronological List of Chinese Dynasties Glossary of Epistolary Expressions, Honorifics and Grammatical Words
Index

Product details

Published	27 Oct 2011
Format	Paperback
Edition	1st
Extent	284
ISBN	9781441180360
Imprint	Continuum
Dimensions	234 x 156 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Daniel Z. Kadar

Dániel Z. Kádár is a Research Fellow at the Resear…

"The author is an expert in the field and this is a particularly valuable contribution to a previously neglected, but important topic. There is a wealth of literary and historical detail here." - Professor Andy Kirkpatrick, Department of English, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong
"Daniel Z. Kádár's work is a landmark in Chinese epistolary scholarship: not only is it the first major collection of Chinese historical letters presented in the English language, but it is also a meticulously compiled textbook for anyone who has a vested interest in ancient Chinese civilization. The author's strong background in discourse pragmatics is thoroughly reflected in the design of the book, which will serve the reader well. This book is a welcome addition to classical Chinese materials for readers ranging from undergrads to accomplished scholars." - Hongyin Tao, Professor of Chinese Language and Linguistics & Applied Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, USA