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Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture volume 1
• Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture are concepts and keywords or phrases Chinese people have created or come to use that are fundamentally pertinent to Chinese philosophy, humanistic, spirit, way of thinking and values.
• This series has 9 volumes in total and 3 of them have been published. Each volume includes 100 key entries selected and explained by over 80 distinguished scholars from China and West.
• This series is a promotion of genuine literacy on Chinese philosophy, history, literature, art, and translation within the western academia.
• All entries are interpreted in both Chinese and English, and furnished with citations for easier understanding of their meanings and usages in Chinese history.
• For people in other countries, these key concepts open the door to the spiritual world of contemporary China and the Chinese people, including those living overseas.
• This series has 9 volumes in total and 3 of them have been published. Each volume includes 100 key entries selected and explained by over 80 distinguished scholars from China and West.
• This series is a promotion of genuine literacy on Chinese philosophy, history, literature, art, and translation within the western academia.
• All entries are interpreted in both Chinese and English, and furnished with citations for easier understanding of their meanings and usages in Chinese history.
• For people in other countries, these key concepts open the door to the spiritual world of contemporary China and the Chinese people, including those living overseas.
Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 2016
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December 2, 2019
This book is great, but only for a specific demographic. If you have a fair understanding of Chinese philosophical traditions (i.e., you know your Confucians from your Daoists and Legalists), then this a good book for you.
The book gives brief introductions to a plethora of terms and shows how the concepts of different schools apply to ethics, metaphysics, and aesthetics. Although each idea only gets a page or so, the definitions are concise and informative.
The book serves more like a collection of samples that will give direction to further reading rather than as something independently substantive.
For example, I have found that the Beikai style of poetry from the Tang dynasty appeals to me more than the styles in the Han or Qing. Similarly, I also discovered an interest in the way that China's ancient Zongfa feudal system interacted with the new Xuanju system of selection based on academic or moral competence. That said, there is not enough here for me to claim any genuine knowledge of either subject. Still, there is more than enough for me to see where my literary, philosophical, political, and even musical interests might lie.
I think that the biggest flaw in the book is the alphabetical layout, it means that we jump between wildly different times and subjects as we move from page to page. I think something more thematic and chronological would have been easier to conceptualize.
The book caters to Chinese language learners by providing both English and Chinese explanations as well as Pinyin for all key terms and accessible Chinese simplification in brackets for any Ancient Chinese sections.
Overall, I would say that this book is excellent for those with a fair to middling understanding of Chinese culture that are looking to go a little deeper but unsure where to start. The book would also be great practice for any competent Chinese language learner with an interest in matters literary or philosophical.
The book gives brief introductions to a plethora of terms and shows how the concepts of different schools apply to ethics, metaphysics, and aesthetics. Although each idea only gets a page or so, the definitions are concise and informative.
The book serves more like a collection of samples that will give direction to further reading rather than as something independently substantive.
For example, I have found that the Beikai style of poetry from the Tang dynasty appeals to me more than the styles in the Han or Qing. Similarly, I also discovered an interest in the way that China's ancient Zongfa feudal system interacted with the new Xuanju system of selection based on academic or moral competence. That said, there is not enough here for me to claim any genuine knowledge of either subject. Still, there is more than enough for me to see where my literary, philosophical, political, and even musical interests might lie.
I think that the biggest flaw in the book is the alphabetical layout, it means that we jump between wildly different times and subjects as we move from page to page. I think something more thematic and chronological would have been easier to conceptualize.
The book caters to Chinese language learners by providing both English and Chinese explanations as well as Pinyin for all key terms and accessible Chinese simplification in brackets for any Ancient Chinese sections.
Overall, I would say that this book is excellent for those with a fair to middling understanding of Chinese culture that are looking to go a little deeper but unsure where to start. The book would also be great practice for any competent Chinese language learner with an interest in matters literary or philosophical.
Displaying 1 of 1 review