The Politics of Script and Language - (Language, Writing and Literary Culture in the Sinographic Co) by Fei Chen (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

For over a millennium, sinographs and Literary Sinitic dominated written communication across East Asia. Yet within the span of a single century, their prominence unraveled. This edited volume explores how the seismic upheavals of the twentieth century, especially the turbulent currents of imperialism and nationalism, hastened the eclipse of sinographs as a common script and ended the role of Literary Sinitic as a scripta franca. It illuminates both the convergencies and divergences in how East Asian societies transformed their scripts and languages in response to shared historical contingencies.
Contributors are: Fei Chen, Chien-shou Chen, Gina Anne Tam, Tze-ki Hon, Hok-yin Chan, Yuen Mei Fanny Li, Edoardo Gerlini, Kimiko Kono, Daniel Pieper, and Ross King.

About the Author

Fei Chen, is a professor at the Institute of Modern Chinese History, Central China Normal University, and the author of China Reborn, 1895-1912: Localism, Japanese Knowledge, and the Qing Empire's Reconfiguration (Oxford University Press, 2026).