ABSTRACT

An innovative text which adopts the tools of cultural studies to provide a fresh approach to the study of Chinese language, culture and society. The book tackles areas such as grammar, language, gender, popular culture, film and the Chinese diaspora and employs the concepts of social semiotics to extend the ideas of language and reading. Covering a range of cultural texts, it will help to break down the boundaries around the ideas and identities of East and West and provide a more relevant analysis of the Chinese and China.

chapter |23 pages

How to Read Dragons

The Politics of Understanding Chinese Culture

chapter |22 pages

Reading Style

Interacting the Chinese Way

chapter |23 pages

Writing and the Ideological Machine

Chinese characters and the construction of gender

chapter |27 pages

Grammar as Ideology

Critical Linguistics and the Politics of Syntax

chapter |23 pages

Living with Double-Think

Ambiguity in Discourse and Grammar

chapter |24 pages

The Cult of the Hero

Masculinity and Popular Culture

chapter |30 pages

Breaking the Square

Film and Representations of China