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A Study of Hu Shih's Rhetorical Discourses on the Chinese Literary Revolution: 1915-20

Wei, Shu-lun
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1570783750511512

Abstract Details

1979, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, Communication Studies.
In the Literary Revolution, which marked a very important milestone in modern Chinese history, Hu Shih, an outstanding scholar, succeeded in substituting the vernacular for the long established and highly refined classical style of writing. The old ways had become an inefficient medium for modern communication. This study analyzed the ideational process in which Hu directed his rhetorical discourses toward the audience and the revolutionary operation by which he adjusted the audience to his ideas. The study concluded that the nature of Hu Shih's discourses was "instrumental" in Dewey's meaning of the word. His achievement was in the changing of the linguistic tool. He did not create a literary tool. His rationale was built on a historical evolutionary theory which maintained that language and literature are a function of the time in which they are used. The ascertainable sources of his ideas are traced to Confucianism, Ibsenism as well as the thoughts of Darwin, Huxley, and Dewey. Particularly relevant to the Literary Revolution were Hu's speech background and his use of gradualism. It was further found that the significance of Hu's discourses was not confined to language and literature. The linguistic cognitive dissonance, that Hu had aroused in the audience, was psycho-socio-cultural and would affect the future transformation of the whole Chinese linguistic symbolic system.
John T. Rickey (Advisor)
Communication; History

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wei, S.-L. (1979). A Study of Hu Shih's Rhetorical Discourses on the Chinese Literary Revolution: 1915-20 [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1570783750511512

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wei, Shu-lun. A Study of Hu Shih's Rhetorical Discourses on the Chinese Literary Revolution: 1915-20. 1979. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1570783750511512.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wei, Shu-lun. "A Study of Hu Shih's Rhetorical Discourses on the Chinese Literary Revolution: 1915-20." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 1979. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1570783750511512

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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