Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society

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ISBN: 9780415317535 | 0415317533
Cover: Hardcover
Copyright: 3/1/2005

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This unusual and interesting book is a fascinating account of the world of Chinese writing. It examines Chinese space and the political and social use of writing as propaganda, a publicity booster and as a ladder for social climbing.

List of figures

Acknowledgements

Brief chronology of Chinese history

Introduction: the abode of calligraphic inscriptions

(14)

First encounter with social calligraphy

(3)

Modern technology spells the end of Chinese writing?

(1)

Writing and calligraphy - an anthropological lack

(2)

The ambiguity of Chinese calligraphy - where function meets aesthetics

(3)

Some methodological considerations

(5)

1 Dances with power: Public calligraphy and its social effects

(18)

Public calligraphy

(9)

Art or not: a matter of social manipulation

(6)

The power brush

(1)

2 Becoming a person through wen

(24)

Mingong: anything that city people are not

(10)

The notion of wenhua

(6)

Ascending the tower of deep knowledge

(7)

3 Handwriting and personhood

(24)

Fascination with handwriting

(7)

Handwriting and personhood

(11)

Calligraphy or handwriting as the extension of the body-person

(6)

4 Body-person engineering through ink and brush: Brush techniques and calligraphic composition

(26)

Anthropological literature on personhood and embodiment

(2)

Brush techniques

(7)

The composition of calligraphy

(14)

The moral brush

104

(3)

5 Brush work: Alternative bodybuilding

107

(28)

Practising calligraphy: the cultivation of a good body and a sound mind

107

(9)

The learning process magnified

116

(9)

The embodied brush and the production of subjectivity

125

(7)

Calligraphic paradox as the locus of social manipulation

132

(3)

6 Ideograms and knowledge

135

(21)

Written characters as the base of knowledge?

135

(4)

The modern script reform in China and its implication for Block's thesis

139

(10)

Linguistic myth turned into social reality

149

(7)

7 Characters reloaded

156

(15)

Re-inventing calligraphy: characters are still good to think with

159

(2)

The ever-evolving relationship with power

161

(5)

The re-enchantment of calligraphy - the agency of calligraphy

166

(5)

Notes

171

(17)

Bibliography

188

(15)

List of Chinese characters for terms used in the text

203

(11)

Index

214

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Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials