What do you think?
Rate this book
Chinese Characters across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese
276 pages, Paperback
Published March 18, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 24, 2025
Good introduction to and overview of the development, spread, and usage of Chinese characters. It is an enjoyable read although one has to be a linguist or really into languages to go through it. Sometimes the comparison with Latin or English is a bit too much, although this is expected given the perceived audience.
July 22, 2026
4.75
The main goal of the book is to explain why and how Chinese Characters were spread to other regions in Asia, specifically the Korean peninsula, the Vietnam region, and Japan. One of the sub goals is to explain how Chinese characters were used in these regions. Another is to explain if Chinese Characters can be considered a universal language.
My main reason for reading this book was to dive deeper into why Chinese characters made its way to the peninsula of Korea, with a secondary goal of finding out how it made its way to the islands of Japan. Everything else was a delightful bonus.
The book is presented in a logical journey from definition of what is a spoken language, what is a written language, spoken languages vs written language, and from no written language existing to the invention of Chinese and how it was spread. Often times the author tried to conceptualize what those civilizations must have been going through or how they thought to come up with the systems they did to be able to use Classical Chinese and adapt it. Each civilization had different constraints that reflected in how they adapted the written language.
The author often poses a question or problem and then walks the reader slowly through the concept of anything related to the answer until you arrive at the answer. Sometimes he zigs and zags and it would have been better if he stated the answer and then explained why. I sometimes got lost, forgetting that we were on a journey to find the answer to a question he posed pages ago.
I also think that some of the information in chapter 2 “Chinese Writing: From Antiquity to the Present”, should have been moved to chapter 7, “Chinese Characters in the Modern Era: Today’s Written Chinese”. The information overlaps, so maybe they should have just been combined. I spent days/weeks working my way to chapter 7 and when I got there, I felt like it was missing information and the book was quickly being wrapped up. This was mostly because he already went over the information I was looking for briefly in chapter 2. Which leads to something else that happened a lot in the book: lots of repetition. There were times I noticed the author touched on a subject briefly in a previous chapter and then again at the end of that chapter. The author then finally went into details in the current chapter I was reading. By that point, I felt like the information was already explained, why was it being brought up again.
When learning a new language, teachers of that language usually advise students not to learn the language from songs. This is because songs use cheats and tricks of the language to say what they mean and are often poetic. This is too difficult for beginners to learn and comprehend. Poems usually have meanings that can’t be understood just by reading the words. And yet, the author used poems to show and explain to the reader how the scholars and artists of each region adapted Classical Chinese to work with their spoken language. A easier piece of text should have been used.
I understand that the author is a Linguist and Chinese Language Professor, so the book tried to explain the migration of the language from the viewpoint of Linguistics. However, when explaining why Chinese characters are no longer used, it was glossed over or not fully explained. Most of the reasons why Chinese characters are no longer used is for political reasons. The reason why the language is no longer used in Korea and Vietnam are both for political reasons. The book should have just presented it as facts without going too far into it, instead of just glossing over it and making it seem like it went away because of time and minor issues.
But besides all of what was stated above, this is great book to read to understand why Chinese characters have found their way into the history and present of many different countries. This book is also great to use as an academic resource. I am thoroughly glad I found this book while researching master’s programs at UW and decided to read this book. As much as I tagged and annotated the book, I see myself re-reading this book in the near future.
The main goal of the book is to explain why and how Chinese Characters were spread to other regions in Asia, specifically the Korean peninsula, the Vietnam region, and Japan. One of the sub goals is to explain how Chinese characters were used in these regions. Another is to explain if Chinese Characters can be considered a universal language.
My main reason for reading this book was to dive deeper into why Chinese characters made its way to the peninsula of Korea, with a secondary goal of finding out how it made its way to the islands of Japan. Everything else was a delightful bonus.
The book is presented in a logical journey from definition of what is a spoken language, what is a written language, spoken languages vs written language, and from no written language existing to the invention of Chinese and how it was spread. Often times the author tried to conceptualize what those civilizations must have been going through or how they thought to come up with the systems they did to be able to use Classical Chinese and adapt it. Each civilization had different constraints that reflected in how they adapted the written language.
The author often poses a question or problem and then walks the reader slowly through the concept of anything related to the answer until you arrive at the answer. Sometimes he zigs and zags and it would have been better if he stated the answer and then explained why. I sometimes got lost, forgetting that we were on a journey to find the answer to a question he posed pages ago.
I also think that some of the information in chapter 2 “Chinese Writing: From Antiquity to the Present”, should have been moved to chapter 7, “Chinese Characters in the Modern Era: Today’s Written Chinese”. The information overlaps, so maybe they should have just been combined. I spent days/weeks working my way to chapter 7 and when I got there, I felt like it was missing information and the book was quickly being wrapped up. This was mostly because he already went over the information I was looking for briefly in chapter 2. Which leads to something else that happened a lot in the book: lots of repetition. There were times I noticed the author touched on a subject briefly in a previous chapter and then again at the end of that chapter. The author then finally went into details in the current chapter I was reading. By that point, I felt like the information was already explained, why was it being brought up again.
When learning a new language, teachers of that language usually advise students not to learn the language from songs. This is because songs use cheats and tricks of the language to say what they mean and are often poetic. This is too difficult for beginners to learn and comprehend. Poems usually have meanings that can’t be understood just by reading the words. And yet, the author used poems to show and explain to the reader how the scholars and artists of each region adapted Classical Chinese to work with their spoken language. A easier piece of text should have been used.
I understand that the author is a Linguist and Chinese Language Professor, so the book tried to explain the migration of the language from the viewpoint of Linguistics. However, when explaining why Chinese characters are no longer used, it was glossed over or not fully explained. Most of the reasons why Chinese characters are no longer used is for political reasons. The reason why the language is no longer used in Korea and Vietnam are both for political reasons. The book should have just presented it as facts without going too far into it, instead of just glossing over it and making it seem like it went away because of time and minor issues.
But besides all of what was stated above, this is great book to read to understand why Chinese characters have found their way into the history and present of many different countries. This book is also great to use as an academic resource. I am thoroughly glad I found this book while researching master’s programs at UW and decided to read this book. As much as I tagged and annotated the book, I see myself re-reading this book in the near future.
May 28, 2025
I am teaching Hebrew and learning how to teach English as a second language. I have been studying linguistic vocabulary to pass an ESL licensing exam, which I did. I wish I had read this book first! This book does an amazing job of explaining how writing systems have developed. While I loved getting to fit the hard-won vocabulary to the concepts in the book, it would have been easier to go the other direction!
I have held a lot of common misconceptions about Chinese writing and about Japanese use of kanji. It has held me back from attempting to learn Japanese for sure. I realized I was wrong to be afraid of learning another print concept. But that wasn't the most pleasurable part of the book, to me. I loved the way the transition from pictures to writing was captured here. It would be fun for people to read the old Scott McCloud book Understanding Comics alongside this book. (I know McCloud has written at least two more books on the theory of comics. I just read Understanding Comics with my kid when she was young and that's why I am thinking about that.)
Linguistics de-exoticizes speakers of other languages and changes everything. I was moved thinking about that. The dream is not of a common language (<==get it) but of having time to learn more languages. It's not that we have a common language but that the experience of making and using language is something we hold in common.
I have held a lot of common misconceptions about Chinese writing and about Japanese use of kanji. It has held me back from attempting to learn Japanese for sure. I realized I was wrong to be afraid of learning another print concept. But that wasn't the most pleasurable part of the book, to me. I loved the way the transition from pictures to writing was captured here. It would be fun for people to read the old Scott McCloud book Understanding Comics alongside this book. (I know McCloud has written at least two more books on the theory of comics. I just read Understanding Comics with my kid when she was young and that's why I am thinking about that.)
Linguistics de-exoticizes speakers of other languages and changes everything. I was moved thinking about that. The dream is not of a common language (<==get it) but of having time to learn more languages. It's not that we have a common language but that the experience of making and using language is something we hold in common.
April 27, 2025
This is a great and accessible introduction to how Chinese characters work, how it evolved, and how Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese/Zhuang made them work for themselves.
The book was a bit repetitive here and there, but I guess if you are totally new to this script, it's important to drive home the message that (a) the shock of being confronted with writing as a new technology influences the way you can adapt / "reinvent" a writing system, (b) Chinese characters are not some universal language à la Ricci or Bacon, (c) the human mind is great at creative adaptation and likes to experiment, seeing what will persist over time.
The chapters on Vietnamese and Zhuang were the most revelatory to me, but that's also because the Japanese and Korean adaptations are just much better known or disseminated. Makes me interested in reading Handel's Sinography (2019), which is the academic precursor to this book.
The book was a bit repetitive here and there, but I guess if you are totally new to this script, it's important to drive home the message that (a) the shock of being confronted with writing as a new technology influences the way you can adapt / "reinvent" a writing system, (b) Chinese characters are not some universal language à la Ricci or Bacon, (c) the human mind is great at creative adaptation and likes to experiment, seeing what will persist over time.
The chapters on Vietnamese and Zhuang were the most revelatory to me, but that's also because the Japanese and Korean adaptations are just much better known or disseminated. Makes me interested in reading Handel's Sinography (2019), which is the academic precursor to this book.
June 26, 2026
This is the best explanation and analysis of the nature of Chinese characters and their role in China (as well as in the Sinosphere) I have every read. A very lucid and sufficiently detailed account of their workings and their expansion to non Sinitic languages.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews