ABSTRACT
There are four popular English translations for the term “Xie3 Zuo4 Xue2”2 in China: “writingology,” “theories on writing,” “writing studies,” and “writing research.” “Writingology” is chosen here as it best matches the concept of its Chinese equivalent, which refers to a branch of social sciences that studies the laws lying behind the act, the art, the process, and the product of writing. According to the Xinhua Chinese Dictionary, writing is a human-specific activity, the narrow sense of which refers to writing texts specifically-i.e., penning or forming letters or words to record, transmit ideas or to express emotions or feelings, including writing school compositions-and the broad sense also covers translating and compiling activities and creating artistic products, such as music, drawings, and movies. However, “writingology” only studies writing in its narrow sense, and the disciplinary architecture covers both (specific) studies and (abstract) theories on literary works, rhetoric, and school compositions. Two opinions exist concerning the division of the history of Chinese “writingology.” Some researchers support a two-stage development, namely, “ancient writingology” and “modern writingology”; the “5.4 Movement” (1919) being the dividing line. Others support a three-stage division, with the 5.4 Movement separating “ancient writingology” from “traditional writingology” and the founding of the China Writing Society in 1980 separating “traditional writingology” from “modern writingology.” This chapter follows the latter opinion. Chinese “ancient writingology” originated from literary writing. Despite the constant turbulence from shifts of political power and frequent wars in ancient China, literature flourished. There were many great literary and philosophical masters, including Confucians who produced the earliest theories on writing. Confucius’ (Confucius: 551-479 bc) remarks on writing poetry played an important role in guiding the development of Chinese “writingology.” However, later feudal governments chose officials or offered scholarships based on applicants’ performance at exams at which examinees were required to improvise “eight-legged” (Baku) texts of a fixed format and a limited number of words in ancient Chinese rather
than contemporary daily Chinese. As time went by, such texts became so archaic and difficult for later generations to understand that education was (and even now is still) necessary for interpretation, which greatly affected the spread of knowledge and information. To change this situation, some great writers (e.g., Hu Shi and Lu Xun) initiated the “Vernacular Movement” a few years prior to the 5.4 Movement in 1919, proposing to replace ancient Chinese with contemporary daily Chinese in writing. It was not only a reform in linguistic expression, but also a reform in the content and conventions of writing. The reformation received great resistance from those who argued that writing in ancient Chinese was real scholarly writing. Despite this, the reformers struggled and pushed forward the reformation during the 5.4 Movement. The 5.4 Movement was started by students in Peking on May 4, 1919 and later extended to other parts of the country. In the Movement, out of patriotism, students fought against the government, opposing the offering of land and territories to other countries. Many famous writers, including those reformers in the Vernacular Movement, were also actively involved in the 5.4 Movement and supported the Movement via writing articles to criticize the government. For propaganda purposes, they wrote in vernacular contemporary Chinese so as to be understood by common people, and thus they became very popular and influential. In this way, archaic ancient Chinese was mostly replaced by vernacular (contemporary daily) Chinese. As a result, theories on archaic ancient Chinese writing could no longer provide satisfactory explanations for phenomena in contemporary writing, and accordingly new theories were needed to guide the practice and teaching of writing. Having no ready theories, leaders of the Vernacular Movement introduced theories on grammar, stylistics, and rhetoric from Western countries (the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, and Italy) and literary theories from the Soviet Union. Combining these theories with Chinese writing practice, Chinese writing scholars gradually built a new system of knowledge on writing. Therefore, the 5.4 Movement in 1919 is generally considered the dividing line of Chinese “ancient writingology” and Chinese “traditional writingology” (or the dividing line of “ancient writingology” and “modern writingology” to some researchers). In “traditional writingology,” literary studies still remained in the spotlight, and rhetoric studies began to draw increasing attention. Although both ancient writing scholars and traditional writing researchers have produced numerous theories on writing, few of them are aware of the disciplinary construction of “writingology.” In the late 1970s, modern Chinese writing scholars created the concept of “writingology” and proposed constructing “writingology” as an independent discipline. Thereafter, they founded the first professional organization of writing in China-the China Society of Writing-in 1980 and issued the first professional journal, Writing, in 1981. Ever since, Chinese “writingology” has entered a new, organized era. Although traditional literary studies remain
powerful, rhetoric studies have made great progress. Therefore, the founding of the China Society of Writing is widely considered an epoch-making event that marked the beginning of “modern writingology.” A careful search among publications in English shows that no studies have touched upon the introduction of Chinese “modern writingology.” This chapter focuses on Chinese “modern writingology,” aiming to make known recent progress in Chinese theoretical writing studies and to show what contributions Chinese scholars have made to writing studies in the world.
