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2.1 Introduction

The focus of the present chapter is on the cultural and social effects of Chinese written script in ancient China. Specifically, we highlight the cultural, political, and social interactions that occurred in ancient times because of or related to the unique characteristics of Chinese written language. In Chap. 1, we briefly reviewed some relevant characteristics of Chinese writing. In the present chapter, we focus on aspects of life in Chinese society that were affected by the nature of the written script.

We have adopted a sociocultural literacy and historical perspective for the present chapter (Gee 2007; Resnick and Resnick 1977). This perspective posits that literacy resonates with and is in response to the institutional, cultural, and social superstructures of a given society. We apply this perspective to our analysis of the roles of Chinese written language in China’s history, particularly the role of linguistic features that facilitated social and cultural functions of character writing.

2.2 Characteristics of Chinese Characters

While we refer the reader to Chap. 1 of this book for an overview of the unique characteristics of Chinese written script, we would like to highlight here that Chinese written language is single-syllabic, character-based, multi-homophonic, and ideographic. Unlike alphabetic languages, Chinese written language does not rely on phonemes to configure words. But its structural components (strokes), morphemic components (radicals), and syllabic units (characters) constitute the basis of Chinese script. These features have significance for learning to read and write in Chinese, but they also have ramifications for Chinese society. All written languages record and sustain human civilizations. Chinese written language is no exception. It crystallized Chinese civilizations, captured history, and offered an effective means for sustained social and cultural activities. Moreover, the nature of Chinese written language provided a context in which social and cultural phenomena peculiar to Chinese society took shape.

2.3 Cultural, Social, and Political Roles of Chinese Written Language

In this section, we discuss the sociocultural and political implications of Chinese written language in ancient China. While we divide the following into two subsections for the convenience of presentation, they should be viewed as fundamentally interrelated in that they show a complex picture of ancient Chinese culture, society, and people as contextualized in Chinese language.

2.3.1 Chinese Written Language: A Means of Cultural and National Identity

Written language, as a means of extending the capacity of oral language spatially and temporally, provides a necessary foundation for any civilization that sustains and evolves through a process of continuously building on its heritage and maintaining and improving its social, cultural, and political infrastructures and superstructures. In other words, written language constitutes the very means by which civilization has been carried on and evolves (Havelock 1976; Ong 2002; Goody 1987). Without a written language, any large-scale coordination of core social activities would not be possible, and any civilization would not see its traditions being handed down over a sustained period of time. Given the diverse populations and dialect situation across such an expansive territory as China, Chinese written language has served cultural, political, and social purposes of maintaining national identity, communicating, and governing various regions where people speak extremely different dialects. Transcending these dialect differences, Chinese written language has served as the only official written script for China. It even extended beyond China’s historical borders and served as a written script for some of its Asian neighbors, such as Japan and Korea, who have had very different oral languages. Chinese was sometimes nicknamed the “Latin of the Far East” but was much more sustainable than Latin in the Middle Ages in Europe (Fischer 2003). While the power of Chinese civilization was undeniably the main force fostering the formation and popularity of Chinese written language, the logographic/ideographic characteristics of the written script also contributed to the lasting and dominant use of Chinese script in China and some neighboring countries (Chu 1973).

2.3.2 Capacity of Chinese Script to Accommodate Different Dialects and Oral Languages

A brief overview of the history of Chinese written script shows that from oracle bone characters to the Qin Zhuan [篆], Han Li [吏], Cao [草], Kai [楷], and Xing [行] styles, different character styles appeared at different times, eventually settling on the Cao, Kai, and Xing styles in the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties (220–589) and formal Kai style in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Since then, the only salient style modification to Chinese written script was the introduction of the print font style, the Song or Fan-Song fonts in the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan dynasty (1206–1368) that catered to the needs of block printing (Zhu 2005). Modern Chinese script still uses these styles that retain the logographic/ideographic nature of writing in their squared characters (Chu 1973; Xu 2009). In other words, Chinese written script has continuously been used by people speaking different dialects over more than 3,000 years without metamorphosing into a script that could capture in its visual form the phonological aspects of oral language in the same way its alphabetic counterparts did.

It would be inconceivable that no one was aware of the cumbersome nature of using the ideographic/logographic script to represent the thoughts and concepts coded in different dialect sounds. Indeed, there were several major scholarly and governmental efforts in ancient China to impose some uniformity onto the means of written communication. The character book 史籀篇 during the Zhou Dynasty was one of the earliest efforts known to make characters uniform (Hu 2005). Later, the Qin Dynasty’s (221–206 BC) edict to use only the Zhuan style launched the most comprehensive campaign to streamline character use for the sake of consolidating dynastic rule (Sun 1991). Dictionaries were also made starting around 100 ad to strengthen “correct” character writing and weed out other forms (Liu 2004). Efforts were also made to promote a universal oral language to facilitate oral communication, particularly on formal diplomatic or scholarly occasions (Wilkinson 2000). During Confucius’ time Ya Yan was made the literary language (Confucius, 479 BC/1980). In later times dynastic rulers promoted their own universal oral language, usually dialects spoken around their dynastic capitals (Duanmu 2000). All these efforts point towards an awareness that China would need consistency in a writing system and intelligibility in speaking to support its civilization and society. Yet, these efforts never touched on the nature of logographic/ideographic script itself, the non-alphabetic nature of the writing system. In fact, until later in ancient China, Chinese written script never went in the direction of regularly matching its visual representations to its sounds, as alphabetic languages do.

One may wonder whether the Chinese in ancient times were informed of advantages of capturing spoken sounds through limited visual figures, such as letters to form words. In fact, ever since Buddhism was introduced into China during the later years of the Han Dynasty around the third century AD, the Chinese were aware of the existence of such written languages through Sanskrit. Shortly afterwards, serious study of the phonology of Chinese script began and resulted in a Chinese character sound-indexing system called fanqie (反切), a technique using two Chinese characters to indicate the sound of a target character (Zhou 2004). This method effectively analyzed a target character into its onset and rime, with the first character indicating the onset and the second indicating the rime and tone. This type of insight into character pronunciations might have led to an alphabetized script. But it never happened in China due to reasons we will discuss in the following sections.

2.3.3 Chinese Characters as Representations of Cultural Identity

One of the main reasons Chinese written language retained its logographic/ideographic nature may lie in the Chinese people themselves, particularly Chinese scholars who felt the squared characters reflected their cultural identification. Chinese writing held a cultural status that compared to nothing else at the time. Over a long period in ancient China, Chinese written language, among other cultural creations, was a proud artifact to be imitated and learned (Chu 1973). From the Tang Dynasty onwards, China enjoyed a highly advanced society, both economically and culturally the envy of its neighbors. Neighbors of China, such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, all adopted Chinese written language as their national written language for a lengthy period of time (Chu 1973). In a fundamental sense, the written script so adopted showed its capacity for accommodating various oral languages and dialects, as well as its prestige in being the carrier of a rich heritage. Identification with this script was a source of great pride for scholars. This could be best shown through Chinese calligraphy, an essential artistic skill for traditional Chinese scholars (Lee 2000; Wang 1988).

2.3.3.1 Chinese Calligraphy as an Art Form

Character writing as an art matured around the same time as the phonological analysis of Chinese characters was developed and paper of various types was made available for painting and writing (Lu 2009; Pan 1983). Poetry began to benefit from the clear delineation of rhyming and tonal patterns, an intended result of phonological analysis (Hu 2005). It was in the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty that calligraphy in several of the most common styles became the norm for scholars. Masters of calligraphy emerged who were emulated and followed over the next 1,300 years to the present time (Pan 1983; Wilkinson 2000). Dynasties after the Tang Dynasty each produced some historically famed calligraphers, but none seemed to command more prestige than the calligraphers of the earlier times. A calligrapher in ancient China enjoyed high artist status, and still does in modern China and several Southeast Asian countries. In fact, calligraphic writing in ancient China was an art that shared the same origin as painting and used similar tools (Schirokauer 1989). This was unique in that the spatial configurations of Chinese characters paralleled those of Chinese painting since both emphasized using lines to create spatial configurations.

The nature of Chinese written script allowed this special attribute of character calligraphy. It took years of consistent calligraphic practice to skillfully and appropriately use a Chinese brush pen, adequately mix and apply ink on absorbent papers, and express oneself through lines formed through this unique process. The importance of character writing also was reflected in civil service examinations in which participant scholar candidates were subjected to rigorous scrutiny of their calligraphic character writing (Wang 1988). Therefore, calligraphy in a sense was not merely associated with painting but was also officially endorsed as an attribute needed for a government scholar-official. In addition, calligraphic skill captured one’s personality and expressed one’s character (Schirokauer 1989). That might be the reason the government official selection system included calligraphy as an important qualification.

But perhaps more importantly, it became a common practice in ancient Chinese culture to judge the merit and character of individuals by their handwriting. Wang Xizhi (303–361) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty serves as an excellent example of the Chinese cultural admiration for calligraphy. Even in modern China, his essay 兰亭集序 (A preface to the collection of poems composed in Lan Ting), written some 1,600 years ago, is well known mainly because of its beautiful Xing style calligraphy and his Taoist personality. A reverse example is the hated Prime Minister Cai Jing of the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1279), who, because of his notoriety as a traitor, was later removed posthumously from history books as one of the four noted calligraphers in the Song times (Pan 1983). Culturally, the calligraphic characters became a scholar’s identity in ancient China, and consequently, a representation of Chinese cultural identity. To substantiate these anecdotal examples, we can see this emphasis on Chinese character writing in the government’s use of stone carvings for important laws, the emperors’ writings, calligraphic examples, poems on scenic spots, and in the ubiquitous practice of almost all Chinese families of placing poetic couplets on their door frames for Chinese New Year.

Such cultural associations with Chinese written script were both facilitative and prohibitive forces for written language practices and innovations. When the movable printing technique was first invented in China around the eleventh century (Shen 1090/1997), it was never put to serious use until late in the nineteenth century, partly because of its inability to convey the calligraphic power in writing Chinese characters, which was literally preserved in block printing (Tsien 1985). This fascination with character writing was one reason the innovative movable printing technique was overlooked. For an alphabetic language, such innovations would certainly be viewed more from a cost-effective economic perspective (Eisenstein 1980) than from an aesthetic perspective as in ancient China.

On a positive note, emphasis on character writing had its reward. In ancient Chinese education, writing, particularly brush pen writing, was a required practice (Lee 2000). In addition to the functional importance of writing for communication among speakers of various dialects, high esteem commanded by the handwriting itself undoubtedly facilitated the educational practice of emphasizing writing from the very beginning of literacy learning. This educational practice, in turn, was beneficial to learners in their language acquisition and proficiency. Character recognition was seldom divorced from character writing in ancient Chinese education (Chi 1998).

2.3.3.2 Effects of Ideographic Feature of Characters on Daily Life

Aside from character writing as an art, the ideographic feature of Chinese characters has had a profound effect on the daily life of Chinese people and on Chinese culture as a whole. The practice of using implicit morphemic radicals or characters to indicate or hint at an unspoken character has permeated almost all walks of life in China and Chinese communities. We will use some examples from the classic Chinese novel 三国演义(The Strives of Three Kingdoms) to illustrate how the ideographic nature of characters was deftly explored by scholars in their interactions (Luo 1400/1992). In one instance, General Cao Cao 曹操 inspected a newly built garden and left a character 活 (live) on its entrance gate. No scholars accompanying him could figure out what it meant except for one. That one scholar told them that the general complained the gate was too broad since the character broad 阔 is a compound character, with the character 活 inside the character 门. A similar instance was described when the general left three characters 一合酥on a case of sweet soft cake in a single column, a usual way of writing Chinese until fairly recently (Xu 2009). No other scholars knew why he described the cake on its case except for the same scholar who took a bite out of the cake and invited others to join him, explaining that the general wanted them to have a piece of it. Since the second Chinese character 合 could actually be divided into three different characters as 人一口, the whole sentence could then be read from top to bottom as 一人一口酥, which literally meant that everyone takes a bite of the cake. Both examples utilized the radicals either in combining or segmenting indicative characters to arrive at their intended meaning.

Such examples are not limited to the scholarly community. A common practice of a similar kind is the character riddles that can be played on various occasions, particularly during the Spring Lantern Festival in the middle of the first month of every Chinese New Year. We will use two examples to show the popularity of using ideographic character features (Luo 2002). The first example is a riddle phrase 身残心不残 (literally meaning “truncated body with a non-truncated heart”). The answer is the character 息 (rest), which is formed by two radicals, 自 and 心. The radical 自 looks like the character 身 (body) except it is missing the lower half, while the radical 心 is complete. Thus, deciphering the character riddle requires insight into both the ideographical and pictorial elements of Chinese characters.

Another example uses a similar strategy of character segmentation, but it focuses more on ideographic than pictorial understanding. The riddle is the phrase 两人同去一人归 (literally meaning “two persons went and only one returned”). The answer to the riddle is the character 丙 (third). The character 两 has two person radicals inside it while 丙 has only one person radical. Therefore, moving from the character 两 to the character 丙 is to change from having two person radicals to having only one person radical. Almost all literate Chinese participate in and enjoy these riddle games during the popular Spring Lantern Festival.

Other commonly observed applications of ideographic features of Chinese characters, such as introducing a homophonic family name, occur in social interactions. An example would be a situation where people are first introduced to each other. There are two family names pronounced “zhang” (章 and 张). Mr. 章 may introduce himself by saying, “I am 章, 立早 (pronounced “li zao”) 章.” Mr. 章describes his family name as 立早 zhang, separating the character 章 into its two radicals 立 and 早, rather than 弓长 (pronounced “gong chang”) zhang, which would be a homophone for his surname, a common Chinese surname 张. Using radicals orally to distinguish among most common homophones, particularly in homophonic surnames, is a widely observed practice in Chinese culture, deeply rooted in the ideographic feature of characters.

In sum, we suggest that if there is something unique that helped consolidate the Chinese people as a culture and a nation, it must be Chinese written script that overcame dialect barriers (Wang 2004), crystallized elements of China’s history (Yin and Wang 2008), and demonstrated unparalleled calligraphic capacity (Pan 1983) because of its logographic/ideographic visual representational nature.

2.3.4 Chinese Written Language: A Means of Institutional Maintenance

While Chinese characters provided a unique foundation for communicating and uniting people with diverse regional and dialect differences, its social and cultural function of identity creation also lent itself conveniently to rulers who wanted to maintain the status quo through formal written representations of themselves and their reign. Rulers and scholars of ancient China, over its long and continuous history, paid meticulous attention to its written records. A brief survey of Chinese history would reveal numerous histories written and recorded over the past 2,500 years (Wilkinson 2000). In the following section, we briefly delineate how history writing in ancient China bestowed prestige on the role of written language. We also discuss the pivotal function of Chinese characters in politics and culture as captured in verbal taboo practices.

2.3.4.1 Role of Written Script in History Writing

Ever since written language came into being in ancient China, it was used on important occasions, such as royal rituals and for recording royal chronicles and lineages. Consequently, ancient Chinese histories recorded rulers, court events, wars, and important lessons associated with dynastic processes and changes (Ng and Wang 2005). For example, 尚书 (Book of History), one of the earliest extant histories consisting of a cumulative collection of various court documents, rituals, and other state business starting with the Shang Dynasty (about 1,600 BC) and focusing on the Western Zhou Dynasty (1,100 to 771 BC), was exclusively court-centered (Jian 1983). Almost all known historians in ancient China were court appointed, with their main responsibilities being to record in archives the whereabouts, daily activities, and events of the royal families and to summarize from archival records for dynastic histories (Ng and Wang 2005).

Great ancient historians, such as Sima Qian (author of 史记, History), Ban Gu (author of 汉书, History of Han), and Sima Guan (author of 资治通鉴, Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government) were masters at using written language to capture history with unequivocal stances (China’s Social Science Academy 1983). Even those great historians had to work within the constraints of serving royal purposes while still adhering to their highly sensitive consciousness of reflecting historical reality. Therefore, there were always tensions in Chinese histories between legitimizing the ruling class and faithfully capturing historical reality. True historians should have been able to represent history in unambiguous words that would impact social development. This can be seen vividly in Mencius’s comment on the political effect of Confucius’ 春秋, a book of history of State Lu: “When Confucius finished the writing of The Spring and Autumn Annals, the rebellious ministers and undisciplined subjects were in a panic” (Mencius, 372-289 BC/1990, p. 125). Confucius had used wording that explicitly expressed his moral stance towards historical events during that warring period, thus highlighting the important nature of historical writing.

To have control over this type of potentially damaging written record of themselves and their reign, rulers in ancient China usually discouraged and even banned private history writing and to a great extent had achieved a monopoly on official history. Abuse of histories occurred often in ancient China (Yu 1993). Yet, private histories kept showing up in such forms as 笔记 (notes and essays), particularly when block printing spread literacy widely and enabled the market to entertain various forms of literary output (Liu 1988). This was an important source for future generations to triangulate historical data. On the other hand, while official histories were meticulously selective when written about the current ruler, many histories commissioned by rulers were more realistic about previous dynasties. Despite this, histories in ancient China tended to be controlled and manipulated by the ruling classes.

Such a tendency was also obvious in the ways rulers treated other writings, including philosophical works and poetry. In order to consolidate his rule, Qin Shihuang (259–210 BC) ordered hundreds of Confucian scholars in the capital to be buried alive and Confucian writings burned, due to their daring opposition to his governing policy and the potentially disruptive effects of the writings on his power and rule (Jian 1983). Later emperors used scholars in the court and academies to compile strictly selected collections of past works, both with the intention of purposively preserving the past, but more importantly with a focus on impressing later generations with their own righteousness and legitimacy. The largest collection ever in China’s history of various works of Chinese philosophy, history, literature, sciences, and other areas was 四库全书 in the eighteenth century. This was the most comprehensive collection of Chinese works even though the selection criteria still reflected the Qing rulers’ will to weed out rebellious and taboo words (Zhang 2004). Opposite views and their representative writings were often destroyed together with the authors and promoters of such thinking. Each new succeeding dynasty would deliberately eliminate or distort some historical records of the past and would re-write the history of the past dynasty to legitimize their ruling of the country (Yang 1961). History writing or re-writing was regarded as a legitimate way of consolidating one’s rule in ancient China.

2.3.4.2 Homophone Taboos

All of the situations we have discussed so far could have happened in other countries and with other languages. In fact, Socrates would be a good example in Western history of a philosopher being persecuted due to his threatening “heresy.” However, there was another situation that was only possible with Chinese characters: persecution through homonyms, particularly homophone taboos. These played upon the homophonic overlapping of numerous characters that could be extremely different orthographically and morphemically. Due to the tremendous number of homophones in the Chinese language, as well as the spatial configurations of characters, this type of cultural and political taboo could only occur in the Chinese context. Ancient China witnessed numerous occasions when such taboos were exercised, many times resulting in political persecution (Shanghai Bookstore Press 2007; Zhang 2004). We will discuss this phenomenon in terms of two types of taboos: individual prohibition as part of the cultural heritage and political persecution of officials.

Cultural taboos with regard to homophones and character configurations were popular throughout China’s history, due to the importance attributed to written language, the overwhelming number of morphemically different but homophonic characters, and the ability of some characters to be further divisible into smaller components. These cultural taboos shared the same Confucian origin—to maintain existing social hierarchy, social stability, and harmony. To Confucius, it was necessary to have name taboos for elders and superiors (Zhang 2004). Such a practice was intended to maintain the status quo of a society so it would remain peaceful and harmonious. An ideal society would keep its social order through the efforts and understanding of each member sticking to his/her own position and fulfilling his/her own duties (Qian 2005). Any deviations beyond one’s corresponding duties and positions, whether filial or societal, would disrupt the status quo. Therefore, “rectification of names” was an essential principle for Confucius to restore the ideal social order (Confucius, 479 BC/1980). Consequently, as a crucial procedural means, name taboos would establish a mentality of respect for elders and superiors, in addition to sustaining order within the immediate family, community, or society.

Chinese characters nurtured a fertile ground for the existence of such taboos. These taboos included, for example, avoidance of using the names of one’s elders or superiors, avoidance of homophonic characters used in one’s elders’ or superiors’ names, and avoidance of using any characters or words that pointed to or hinted at negative attributes of one’s elders or superiors (Wang 1997). Some well-known examples have already become part of Chinese language usage. In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Li Shimin (李世民), with given names shi (世) and min (民), created verbal taboos that changed forever the use of these two characters in very specific ways. Shi (世) was replaced from the then high-frequency phrase referring to “generations” (about 30 some years) by the character dai (代), and the character hu (户) was substituted for the character min (民) in the title of the Ministry of Revenue (户部). This title remained in use in ensuing dynasties. Such examples are plentiful in China’s history and show how rulers capitalized on the abundance of homophones for the sake of maintaining political stability through name taboos (see Wang 1997; Zhang 2004).

The above social etiquette taboos were realized through the homophonic nature of Chinese characters. The following examples demonstrate the extensive impact such sensitivity to homophones has had on Chinese culture and the everyday life of Chinese people. While not as abrupt and disruptive as the taboos about one’s elders and superiors, these taboos could have a profound influence on social and cultural communications. For example, in the southern part of China where many people depended on rivers for their livelihood in ancient time, they were always afraid of being late or afraid their ships would be too slow. Since the Chinese word “chopsticks” 箸 was pronounced “zhu,” the same pronunciation as “stop” 驻, ship crews changed the character 箸 to 筷, the same pronunciation as 快 “quick,” hinting at the good speed they hoped for their ships. Subsequently, the old taboo pronunciation for chopsticks used by ship crews receded into oblivion and the substitute term has been embraced by the general population of China ever since (Zhang 2004). Another similar case of a popular daily taboo relates to the word clocks (钟, pronounced “zhong”). Giving a gift of clocks to friends or relatives is taboo, due to the similar pronunciation of clocks and the character 终, meaning “the end of one’s life.” There are numerous instances of these popular taboos made possible by multiple homophonic characters in Chinese. This sensitivity to homophones is necessary cultural knowledge.

In addition, political utilization of the homophonic taboos was a convenient means of getting rid of one’s political opponents. As the absolute power symbol of the country, an emperor or a dynasty could justify political purges in the name of Confucian tradition. So numerous were the instances of political persecution that later generations created a term for these political cruelties: 文字狱 (verbal persecution). We will cite two examples to make our point here. The first case occurred at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) when the first Ming emperor exercised extreme control and employed unimaginable measures to consolidate his rule, frequently subjecting official scholars to a cruel death on very shaky accusations (Fairbanks and Goldman 1998). According to the Ming practice, all local government units would send verbal tributes to the emperor on ceremonial occasions. Official scholars would try their best to use the most respectful words in their tributes. One official scholar from Beiping (nowadays Beijing) used the following phrase to praise the emperor: “垂子孙而作则” (set examples for the sons and grandsons). The character 则 (pronounced /ze/, example) was similar in sound to the character 贼 (pronounced /zei/, thief) and was interpreted by the emperor as a negative comment about him. Consequently, the scholar was executed (Zhang 2004).

A similar execution happened to a Hangzhou official scholar who wrote “光天之下, 天生圣人, 为世作则” (a saint is born into this bright world who sets examples for all). The character 光 (bright) also carried the meaning “bald.” The characters 圣 (pronounced /sheng/, saint) and 则 were, respectively, interpreted as 僧 (pronounced /seng/, monk) and 贼 (thief). In the context of the whole phrase, the emperor interpreted it as insinuating that in his past he was a head-shaved monk and that he was being accused of being a thief (Zhang 2004). In the case of this emperor, since his native dialect pronunciation of these characters was almost identical, the homophonic taboo offered him a good opportunity to show off his despotic authority at the time when he was stabilizing his government (Jian 1983).

The second case was equally brutal, absurd, and predicated upon the ideographic configuration of Chinese characters. It is representative of the harsh punishments that ran rampant in the Qing Dynasty (1616–1911) and often ended in cutting short the lives of those who were punished (Shanghai Bookstore Press 2007). During the short reign of Yong Zheng (雍 正), verbal persecutions were notoriously severe (Wang 2007). A representative case happened when a scholar official who was dispatched to Jiangxi to oversee the triannual civil service examinations adopted a phrase from the classic Book of Poetry “维民所止” (the land is for people to dwell and live on) as the essay title for the civil service examination candidates’ policy essay. However, two of the characters (维, 止) from this phrase happened to be part of the royal title of the emperor Yong Zheng (雍正). The two characters were, respectively, two and one top-positioned strokes short of the emperor’s title. Evil-minded opponents seized the opportunity to create a forced and false interpretation of the intent of such an essay title, saying the title contained the top-removed (or beheaded) characters used in the emperor’s title. Consequently, the scholar official was executed and his extended families exiled on the charge that he was implying the symbolic act of beheading the emperor in the essay title. Such a far-fetched interpretation culminated in the cruel execution of the scholar official and explicitly illustrates how Chinese characters are capable of insinuated interpretations due to their configuration of strokes.

Verbal persecution originated from the Confucian tradition of verbal taboos and was conveniently wrought through the unique characteristics of Chinese characters, including both their homophonic similarities and configurative proximities. Abundant examples were reported in various books. Wang’s (1997) collection of about a thousand verbal taboo instances in past history represents a recent effort to document the widespread effects of the practice, particularly its political usage. Verbal persecutions lent a convenient hand to the government’s institutional maintenance, ridding itself of political opponents, sending a warning message to other potential opponents, and justifying its own ruling status. The extent and scale of such convenient political persecutions would not be possible without the homophonic and stroke-based characteristics of Chinese written script. While we are not claiming that such political persecutions could not happen in the context of alphabetic languages, we are making the argument that convenient political persecutions through verbal means at the character level was certainly a unique Chinese practice.

2.4 Conclusions

Before we proceed to the conclusions and implications, we need to point out that Chinese script, itself, could not exert such a great influence on the cultural, social, and institutional structures of a country. We believe that the cultural and social purposes served by written language in ancient China were the direct result of social and cultural trends that worked their way into the fabric of the society and were abetted by the unique features of the written language. Without the social and cultural foundations, it would not be possible to make social and cultural use of the features of the written language. However, the written language not only satisfied the cultural and social needs of ancient China, but it actually was able to consolidate and carry on social, cultural, and political traditions, as well as practices.

As we have discussed in the above sections, Chinese written language was used to exert a significant influence on the Chinese people—creating a sense of cultural and national identity and maintaining social order and stability. It was not surprising that whoever came into power in ancient China was eventually enculturated into Chinese culture through the written language (Qian 2005). It was equally amazing to see the same written language being used by people speaking extremely different dialects, making it possible for these people to share the same sense of identity and belonging. The characteristics of Chinese written language allowed the cultural and national identity to overlook regional dialect differences such that functional communication, as well as cultural heritage, was shared and passed on among these people. Furthermore, the rulers were highly conscious of the power of the written language and saw to it that its power was maximized to consolidate their rules. Vestiges of such practices are still visible in cultural and social practices and provide evidence of the role of Chinese written language in ancient times.

2.5 Implications

We believe there are several different ways to examine the implications of the nature of Chinese script for modern Chinese policy makers, Western readers, and educational professionals. First, it behooves policy makers to take into consideration the uniqueness of Chinese written language in understanding the nature of Chinese culture and society. For example, understanding the multi-dialect situation of modern China through the perspective of the unique role of written language in ancient China provides a better view of modern efforts at literacy promotion, Romanization of Chinese characters, popularization of a universal language, and the role of dialects in communication and popular media.

Second, Western readers can benefit from knowledge of the verbal taboo practice in ancient China when examining some modern day practices of character use in Chinese culture. Even though the practice is no longer officially sponsored and exercised, it should be understood that verbal taboos of various types permeate Chinese culture and societies even today. Accommodating or appreciating these cultural specificities can allow outsiders to interact better with the culture and the people.

Third, education professionals can benefit from understanding the social and cultural roles Chinese written language played in sustaining the culture and society in ancient China. This would serve as more than a necessary piece of background knowledge in educational practice. The capacity of the written language to accommodate cultural and institutional needs through its unique features can be a powerful tool for literacy education. The verbal taboos we discussed above shed some light on the social nature of language acquisition that could be capitalized on in literacy education. The study of homophones, for example, could be an instrumental approach to heighten students’ appreciation of Chinese written language, creating verbal contexts in which students could practice their knowledge of the language in authentic situations.

Fourth, understanding the roles written language used to play in ancient China can offer some insight into identity issues Chinese students in a foreign country might experience. For example, when the written language is still serving as a link to one’s cultural and national identities, losing touch with the language can be a devastating blow to one’s sense of identity. It is beneficial for educators to be keenly aware of the possibility of lost identity and to try to provide language and linguistic supports that can function to transition immigrant students into the roles they will assume in the new culture.

Fifth, the power of written language in ancient China can provide some food for thought for literacy educators both in modern China and in foreign countries. Literacy is not merely a functional tool for communication but also an aesthetic means to experience the beauty and necessity of writing, consequently establishing an atmosphere of respect for the written language, as well as a desire to put forth effort to engage in character writing. Such respect and emphasized practice of basic written script can certainly be a force in enhancing literacy acquisition. This can go hand in hand with the current practice of engaging beginning readers in beginning writing processes in order to facilitate their literacy acquisition.

Last but not least, we offer some advice to readers who tend to take for granted the abstract nature of alphabetic languages in accentuating the role of phonetics. The Chinese written language, though phonologically-prone in the final analysis (Chen 1999), is complex in that meanings are accessed both through sounds and visual configurations. That phenomenon should at least alert us to the possible hypothesis that different aspects of a written language interact with the oral and dialect capacity of users and learners in realizing its functional purpose of communication. Therefore, it is not the nature of a written language that decides its communication and acquisition efficiency, but the utilization of the characteristics of a written language that makes it efficient in communication and acquisition. In the case of Chinese written language, understanding the role of character configuration, including both phonetic and semantic structural components, will be beneficial for learners and users.

In short, the present chapter has offered some historical cases for a better understanding of the nature of Chinese written language in the context of Chinese culture and society. We also believe we have provided some comparative perspectives for Western readers, particularly for those who interact with Chinese culture and for educators who are involved with Chinese immigrant students in their classrooms.