Oracle bones to the Chinese Classics: beginnings of writing in East Asia

Catalog description

China is one of several world regions where writing and literacy emerged independently. This course looks at the evidence for the beginnings and first 1000 years of writing in China, from the earliest records of divinations and gift-giving by the Shang kings, through to the establishment during the Han dynasty of the core of China's literary tradition - the "classical" texts that all subsequent educated East Asians knew. Although no prior knowledge of Chinese language is required, we will look at the functioning and early evolution of the Chinese script, and learn to read simple inscriptions. Longer texts will be read in English translation. These will include commemorative inscriptions on bronzes, and varieties of early specialist or technical writings that were buried in tombs with their owners: literature on medicine, handbooks for lawyers, and models for philosophical debate. The course emphasizes the materiality of these writings - their history as physical objects, and the tombs, buildings, and other archeological contexts in which they are found - and a comparative perspective that sets early literacy in East Asia together with similar and contrasting histories of early literacy in other part of the Ancient World.