Speaking of Chinese: A Cultural History of the Chinese Language

by Raymond Chang, Margaret Chang

"This pleasant, unpretentious account [is] a small stream leading to the ocean of the culture of China."― Scientific American Not a how-to text, this beguiling book is instead a fascinating look at Chinese language and culture. Ranging through history, literature, folklore, linguistics, and sociology, this is a breezy, straightforward primer of surprising breadth.

Genres: Language, China, Nonfiction, History, Anthropology, Linguistics

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1978

About the author

Raymond Chang was an emeritus professor at Williams College in the Department of Chemistry and a textbook author. His most popular textbook was titled Chemistry, which was published up to the thirteenth edition. He also published a few children's books.
He was a naturalized American citizen who came from Hong Kong to America to start graduate studies at Yale University. There he received both his master's and PhD degrees. His family was originally from Shanghai, but Chang was born in Hong Kong as a result of his family's deportation in 1937. They left to escape the Japanese invasion of China. However, in 1941, Chang and his family returned to Shanghai for eight years before they again re-returned to Hong Kong. As a result of his forced movement through different regions of China Chang became fluent in many Chinese dialects. At the age of seventeen, Chang followed his sister to London. He received his B.Sc. with a first-class honors degree in chemistry from the University of London and Ph. D. from Yale University. He completed his postdoctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis and served as a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York, prior to joining the faculty at Williams College in 1968.
On August 3, 1968, he married Margaret A. Scrogin. They had one daughter, Elizabeth Chang.

Reviews

[Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a bit dated in its attitudes toward the PRC, the book is a good introduction to the Chinese language for people who are curious but untrained. If you have studied Chinese, as I have, you probably know most of this already or have come across the information elsewhere. (I did learn a few things I wasn't aware of before or had forgotten, so it was still worth the read for me.)

ETA: I see there are newer editions of this book. The one I read is one I've owned for decades, published in 1978, so it's possible that some of the material has been updated for later editions.

[Luca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that DEFINITELY whetted my interests in Chinese. An overview of the history that created such a unique and influential language which includes its quirks that have required many changes this last century. I must admit, my five star rating is largely due to my lack of exposure to this eloquent language and history that left me astounded; experiencing it for the first time has been an enriching experience. Regardless, this book shan't be ignored!

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, enjoyable book about the Chinese language by a married couple (a chemistry professor from Hong Kong and Shanghai who settled in the US in the 1960s and his American-born librarian/professor wife), aimed at a late-70s American audience whose only contact with China is Chinese-American food and Nixon's trip in 1972. 'A Cultural History of the Chinese Language' implies something much more academic and scholarly than what this is, which is definitely a history but also folklore and anecdotes and bits of linguistics and personal opinion. It was very pleasant to read and I wish Chang and his wife had written much more like it.

[Jeremy Rios · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, short book into Chinese linguistic history, with some fascinating cultural insights along the way. I enjoyed it especially since I've studied a (very!) little Chinese and many of the chapters filled in gaps or reinforced things I'd learned already. A solid book, recommended for anyone interested in Chinese language and cultural history.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat surreal kind of thing to read.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good.

[Evin Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Language has always fascinated me, but I never attempted to learn the Chinese language because of all the horror stories you hear about those that have learned it; they say the language is very complicated and takes longer to master than other languages. However, when I read the back of this book—”Here is the book for the person who wants to know more about Chinese without learning to speak or write it, or who is about to begin learning it”—I decided to give it a read.

Interestingly, the language was created very carefully to assert male dominance over woman in China. Many words are made up of several symbols put together. For example, the word for male is made up of the symbols for force or muscle and field—so right off the bat you see that Chinese men where expected to be the strong, forceful, working-in-the-field-all-day type according to their language. Here are some more examples:

Take + female / female + home = marry
“When a man marries, Chinese write…take, above, and…female, below. This combination means literally take a woman. Now, when a woman marries, the Chinese write the female symbol to the left of the character meaning home or family. A Chinese woman submissively joined her husband’s family…while a Chinese man forcefully took a wife” (18-19).
Female + son = good
With this one you see that women are for making babies and male babies are better—good— than female (19).
Female + female + female = adultery or rape
This one seems to say: only women can be raped and only women practice infidelity (20-21).

[Emily Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been interested in the Chinese language in the last two years, ever since hosting an exchange student from Malaysia who spoke Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay as well as English. I've taken a year of Mandarin Chinese and hope to get the chance to improve my language skills!

Speaking of Chinese was a fascinating book because it talked about the Chinese language and culture. It answered some questions I had and I was pleased to learn that I already knew some of the answers. Did you know that Mandarin and Cantonese use the same characters but the characters are said differently? For example, a Cantonese-speaker would be able to communicate with someone who spoke Mandarin by writing characters, but not by voice.

I definitely found this book useful, and better yet, I didn't take long to read it. I had some other books to read that I read in between, but when I picked up Speaking of Chinese, I was interested in what was said and I didn't want to put it down. I find most non-fiction books hard to read, but not this one!

[Sherry Chiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle sounds daunting, doesn't it? But this clever little book is so well written, in a friendly, colloquial voice, that you'll turn the pages as quickly as you might while reading a frothy novel. At the same time, the book is jammed with information--about the basics of the Chinese language and how it has managed to survive without an alphabet; about various dynasties; about Chinese folklore and everyday life. If you're thinking of visiting China, if you're interested in languages, or if you've adopted a child from China, this book is a wonderful introduction to a land and culture that we Westerners tend to dismiss.

[Julie Reece · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a lifelong student of Chinese and a Chinese teacher, I really enjoyed this book. It is easily accessible to people who do not speak Chinese but are interested in the language from a cultural and anthropological perspective. At times it seemed a bit dated and simplistic but still worth the read. It is full of interesting facts and examples.

[Azaghedi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and breezy survey of some of the aspects of the Chinese language. Deals about half-and-half with language development and the culture surrounding language. The comparisons between China and the West were sometimes a bit facile and unfair to the latter, but then again, I expect a little chauvinism from a book dedicated to singing the praises of a certain language and culture.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a bit cutesy. It's a hard book to do because you want to appeal to readers who don't know much of squat about Chinese, and not insult those who do, for whom much of what they'll read they knew already. Ach! Good luck.

[Nathan Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

As it says, it's good for people who have never studied Chinese or who plan not to. It's very simple. Kind of outdated for some things, especially the technology section. This was written before Unicode, and Chinese seemed impossible to print.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a somewhat dated overview of the Chinese language and its origins from wenyan onward. Too detailed for someone that is not studying the language.