research-article

An audible China: Speech and the innovation in modern Chinese writing

  • CHEN Pingyuan
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  • Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Published date: 05 Jun 2009

Copyright

2014 Higher Education Press and Brill

Abstract

The image of an “audible China” is one opposed to the traditional China’s as “voiceless.” Not only does it refer to the survival of modern Chinese out of the abandoned Classical Chinese, it also provides a new means to examine modern China’s cultural transformation and development in terms of “voice.” This essay will discuss mainly how speech, one of “the three best tools for spreading civilization,” together with newspapers and magazines and schools, contributes to the success of the Vernacular Chinese Movement (Baihuawen yundong 白话文运动, CE 1917–1919) and the innovation in modern Chinese writing (including Chinese academic writing style).

Cite this article

CHEN Pingyuan . An audible China: Speech and the innovation in modern Chinese writing[J]. Frontiers of Literary Studies in China, 2009 , 3(2) : 270 -320 . DOI: 10.1007/s11702-009-0012-y

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