Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Early China Chronology

Map of Important Archaeological Sites

Introduction: Writing as a Phenomenon of Literacy / Li Feng and David Prager Branner

Part One | Origins and the Linguistic Dimension

1. Getting “Right” with Heaven and the Origins of Writing in China / David W. Pankenier

2. Literacy and the Emergence of Writing in China / William G. Boltz

3. Phonology in the Chinese Script and Its Relationship to Early Chinese Literacy / David Prager Branner

Part Two | Scribal Training and Practice

4. Literacy to the South and the East of Anyang in Shang China: Zhengzhou and Daxinzhuang / Ken-ichi Takashima

5. The Evidence for Scribal Training at Anyang / Adam Smith

6. Textual Identity and the Role of Literacy in the Transmission of Early Chinese Literature / Matthias L. Richter

Part Three | Literacy and Social Contexts

7. The Royal Audience and Its Reflections in Western Zhou Bronze Inscriptions / Lothar von Falkenhausen

8. Literacy and the Social Contexts of Writing in the

Western Zhou / Li Feng

9. Education and the Way of the Former Kings / Constance A. Cook

Part Four | The Extent of Literacy in the Early Empire

10. Soldiers, Scribes, and Women: Literacy among the Lower Orders in Early China / Robin D. S. Yates

11. Craftsman’s Literacy: Uses of Writing by Male and Female Artisans in Qin and Han China / Anthony J. Barbieri-Low

Abbreviations

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

About the Author

Li Feng is professor of early Chinese history and archaeology at Columbia University. David Prager Branner is retired as a professor of Chinese at the University of Maryland. The other contributors are Anthony Barbieri-Low, William Boltz, Constance Cook, Lothar von Falkenhausen, David Pankenier, Matthias Richter, Adam Smith, Ken-ichi Takashima , and Robin Yates.

Reviews

"Elucidate[s] the origins, early development and structure of the Chinese script, but also discuss[es] material aspects, practical uses, and social contexts ... fascinating." --Oliver Weingarten, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies