Calligraphy and power in contemporary Chinese society / / Yuehping Yen

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910783601703321
• Autore: Yen Yuehping <1969, >
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: London ; ; New York : , : RoutledgeCurzon, , 2004
• ISBN: 1-134-37061-X; 0-203-34884-2; 1-134-37062-8; 1-280-05904-4; 0-203-59060-0
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (232 p.)
• Collana: Anthropology of Asia
• Disciplina: 745.6/19951
• Soggetti: Calligraphy, Chinese - Social aspects; Personality and culture - China; China Civilization 1976-2002
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of figures; Acknowledgements; Brief chronology of Chinese history; Introduction: the abode of calligraphic inscriptions; First encounter with social calligraphy; Modern technology spells the end of Chinese writing?; Writing and calligraphy - an anthropological lack; The ambiguity of Chinese calligraphy - where function meets aesthetics; Some methodological considerations; 1 Dances with power: Public calligraphy and its social effects; Public calligraphy; Art or not: a matter of social manipulationThe power brush; 2 Becoming a person through wen; Mingong: anything that city people are not; The notion of wenhua; Ascending the tower of deep knowledge; 3 Handwriting and personhood; Fascination with handwriting; Handwriting and personhood; Calligraphy or handwriting as the extension of the body-person; 4 Body-person engineering through ink and brush: Brush techniques and calligraphic composition; Anthropological literature on personhood and embodiment; Brush ; techniques; The composition of calligraphy; The moral brush; 5 Brush work: Alternative bodybuildingPractising calligraphy: the cultivation of a good body and a sound mind; The learning process magnified; The embodied brush and the production of subjectivity; Calligraphic paradox as the locus of social manipulation; 6 Ideograms and knowledge; Written characters as the base of knowledge?; The modern script reform in China and its implication for Bloch's thesis; Linguistic myth turned into social reality; 7 Characters reloaded; Re-inventing calligraphy: characters are still good to think with; The ever-evolving relationship with power; The re-enchantment of calligraphy - the agency of calligraphyNotes; Bibliography; List of Chinese characters for terms used in the text; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: 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.