The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Language and Culture

Liwei Jiao (University of Pennsylvania, USA)

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English

Routledge
26 December 2025

Sociolinguistics; Language Teaching (non-ELT); Regional studies

Series: Routledge Language Handbooks

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Language and Culture represents the first English anthology that delves into the fascinating and thought-provoking relationship between the Chinese language and culture, exploring various macro and micro perspectives.

Chinese culture boasts a history of ten thousand years, while the Chinese language’s recorded history spans at least three thousand years, dating back to the Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions (OBI).

This handbook is comprised of 17 chapters from 18 scholars including Victor Mair and William S-Y. Wang. Many chapters approach their respective topics with a comprehensive and historical outlook. Certain extensive subjects are addressed in multiple chapters, complementing one another. These topics include:

The languages and peoples of China, and the southern Chinese dialects Mandarin’s evolution into a national language and its related writing reforms Language as a propaganda tool in the Cultural Revolution and in contemporary China Chinese idioms and colloquialisms

This book offers an approachable exploration of the subject, appealing to both specialists and enthusiasts of the Chinese language and culture.

Edited by: Liwei Jiao (University of Pennsylvania USA)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 246mm, Width: 174mm,
ISBN: 9781032687674
ISBN 10: 1032687673
Series: Routledge Language Handbooks
Pages: 286
Publication Date: 26 December 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Liwei Jiao is Senior Lecturer of East Asian Studies at Brown University. His research interests include Chinese phraseology, lexicography, language and culture, and language instruction. His publications include a series of Routledge dictionaries, such as 500 Common Chinese Idioms, 500 Common Chinese Proverbs and Colloquial Expressions, and A Cultural Dictionary of the Chinese Language. He has also contributed three entries, including one on Yuen Ren Chao, to the Encyclopedia of China (third edition, 2022).