The History of Chinese Rhetoric

This book challenges the misconception that there was no rhetoric in ancient China. It provides evidence from public speeches in Xia dynasty, oracle bone inscriptions in Shang dynasty, to public debates about government policies in Han dynasty to show that persuasive discourse and rudimentary rhetorical techniques existed in ancient China.

Weixiao Wei has been working with Taiyuan University of Technology as a lecturer at the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures for nine years since she obtained her MA degree in 2010. In July 2017, she obtained a visiting scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to visit Swansea University, UK, for a year. Since then, she has published a monograph and five book chapters with Routledge. In addition to preparing research papers and edited volumes for further publication, she has been pursuing her PhD study in rhetoric and composition at the University of Houston since 2020.

Introduction Chapter 1. Rhetoric in the West versus Xiuci in Chinese history Chapter 2. Rhetoric of OBI and Inscriptions on Bronzes in Shang-Western Zhou (1600-771 BC) Chapter 3. Rhetoric of the Eastern Zhou (770-256 BC) Chapter 4. Rhetoric of Han-Jin Dynasties Chapter 5. Rhetoric of Tang-Song Dynasties Chapter 6. Yuan-Ming-Qing Dynasties Index