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Literature and Popular Culture - Writing: The Human Pattern

6 important questions on Literature and Popular Culture - Writing: The Human Pattern

Why is Chinese often thought to be different from other languages? (although inaccurately)

Because of its tonality and its pictorial elements.

Why did the Chinese written language have such a big influence on the (il)literacy?

The written Chinese language did not develop into a phonetic system and because it involved thousands of distinct characters, it was very hard to learn to read and write it, even in the earliest times.

How is the practice of divination related to the foundation of the Chinese written language?

During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the practice of divination was an official ritual with great political significance. It required developing and preserving common symbols. Divination became the foundation for the use of images in the Chinese language.

Later on (Zhou dynasty), fortune-telling relied on a standard manual of interpretation; human situations were divided into a finite number of possibilities. A random toss of stalks indicated the appropriate situation, which the manual associated with a vivid image. The diviner would then use this image to answer the question.

Describe how early Daoists thought about the role of language.

They were skeptical about it; they questioned the ability of human language to transmit truths.

Describe how Confucius and his followers thought about language.

They thought language could connect humanity with universal truths. They had great faith in language, which made them somewhat anxious to apply it. This made them careful editors, compilers and interpreters of texts.

Why did the Confucian approach to language have such great impact on the development of literature?

In their compilation of the Classic of Poetry, they gave political and moral interpretations of even the most oridinary-sounding folk song. These interprations may or may not have been justifiable, but it lead to a tradition of reading and writing that took interpretive leaps for granted. Their attitude toward literature and writing helped set the pattern for the relationship between elite and popular cultures.