This volume presents recent and unpublished research by Chinese scholars from China and the US on ways in which Chinese culture influences and intersects with communication theory and practice in China. It focuses on communication and cultural concepts as they function in Chinese society, in the media, in the workplace, and in the way people think. It includes historical analyses of Mao's political rhetoric before and during the Cultural Revolution as well as political rhetoric by Deng Xiaoping, all with a cultural emphasis.

Many varying factors contribute to the dynamics of Chinese communication, which both resembles and differs from its Western counterparts. In this provocative new collection of essays, an international group of scholars challenges the conventional notion of Chinese culture as static, recognizing the causes of cultural change and strategies of resistance. Examining communication contexts in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Chinese Communication Studies: Context and Comparisons considers the relationship between culture and communication in Chinese political, gender, family, and media contexts, providing the reader with insight both into how enduring Chinese cultural values are, and how they are being appropriated to meet political and economic goals. Moreover, comparisons and distinctions are made between Chinese and Western communication concepts and practices on the issues of human rights, world opinions, pedagogical approaches, and instruction of rhetoric. In a work sure to be of value to many disciplines, the authors trace the historical development of ideas and value systems of both cultures, rendering an understanding of similarities and differences in both communication and cultural mindsets.

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.

This volume offers unique interdisciplinary views on issues in communication and culture with a central focus on Chinese perspectives as China and the world face the 21st century. These perspectives are based upon comparative data and East-West cross-cultural experience. Seventeen chapters, plus an introductory chapter that places the topics in perspective, report and interpret data here for the first time. The majority of the contributors are Chinese scholars from various disciplines, who now share their research on communication with Western as well as Eastern readers. The common thread of the essays is the way in which communication influences culture and cultural dimensions impact the processes of communication. The authors represent scholars from education, communication studies, mass communication, intercultural communication, sociology, rhetoric, literature, law, linguistics, telecommunications, international relations, journalism, and sociolinguistics. Part I presents cultural perspectives on ethics, East-West relations, translation issues, cross-cultural competence, persuasion, journalistic acculturation, and gender representation in advertisements. Part II addresses international and intercultural communication as seen in comparative campus cultures, cross-cultural interaction between Chinese and Americans, the practice of taijiquan, the media depiction of watching, the legal implications of the internet, and the issues of nation building. Part III focuses on mediated communication issues in Chinese films, China's media campaign for the olympics, Chinese youth's use of Western media, talk radio in China, and the use of new technologies in the post-Cold War era.

Annotation Addresses the state of Chinese communication studies, including its achievements, problems, challenges, and potential for advancement in a globalized 21st century.

A startling look at revolutionary rhetoric and its effects Now known to the Chinese as the "ten years of chaos," the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–76) brought death to thousands of Chinese and persecution to millions. In Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution Xing Lu identifies the rhetorical practices and persuasive effects of the polarizing political language and symbolic practices used by Communist Party leaders to legitimize their use of power and violence to dehumanize people identified as class enemies. Lu provides close readings of the movement's primary texts—political slogans, official propaganda, wall posters, and the lyrics of mass songs and model operas. She also scrutinizes such ritualistic practices as the loyalty dance, denunciation rallies, political study sessions, and criticism and self-criticism meetings. Lu enriches her rhetorical analyses of these texts with her own story and that of her family, as well as with interviews conducted in China and the United States with individuals who experienced the Cultural Revolution during their teenage years. In her new preface, Lu expresses deep concern about recent nationalism, xenophobia, divisiveness, and violence instigated by the rhetoric of hatred and fear in the United States and across the globe. She hopes that by illuminating the way language shapes perception, thought, and behavior, this book will serve as a reminder of past mistakes so that we may avoid repeating them in the future.

The anniversary edition marks thirty years of offering an indispensable review and analysis of thinkers who have exerted a profound influence on contemporary rhetorical theory: I. A. Richards, Ernesto Grassi, Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca, Stephen Toulmin, Richard Weaver, Kenneth Burke, Jürgen Habermas, bell hooks, Jean Baudrillard, and Michel Foucault. The brief biographical sketches locate the theorists in time and place, showing how life experiences influenced perspectives on rhetorical thought. The concise explanations of complex concepts are clear, engaging, insightful, and highly accessible, serving as an excellent primer for reading the major works of these scholars. The critical commentary is carefully chosen to highlight implications and to place the theories within a broader rhetorical context. Each chapter ends with a complete bibliography of works by the theorists.