The famous boat singers of Zhouzhuang, lower Yangtze delta, China. December, 2004.
For most of China’s imperial history, literate culture was the preserve of the elite. The Chinese imperial bureaucracy relied on the learning of classic Confucian texts but the majority of the population were illiterate. A rich oral culture provided the main means for the transmission of cultural knowledge well into the twentieth century. Storytelling, drama, songs and ritual, were accessible to everyone and served as the principal means of communication for the commoner classes (see Chinese Oral Culture).
The central task of this project is to map the social impact of the transformations in communication technology during the late imperial period. This period saw the broadening of readerships after the mid fifteenth century (On The Reception Of Popular Printed Texts) and the formation of new narrative genres, based to an extent on oral performance models (China’s Earliest Novel: Print And Genre Formation).
Another goal is to recuperate little known aspects of non-elite culture, such as Women’s Script [Nüshu] and Chinese Women’s Oral and Ritual Culture. Women’s role in ritual culture was particularly striking at the time of marriage (Chinese Marriage & Bridal Laments and The World of Nanhui Bridal Laments).
In the post-Mao era, the Chinese state has reappraised the role of Chinese traditional culture. The new post-socialist nationalism seeks to instil patriotism by preserving and reconstructing aspects of Chinese regional traditions (Nationalism and Regional Identities).
Chinese communication technologies have been transformed in the internet age (Chinese Cyberculture). The state has sought both to control the internet and to use it to effect social change in approved directions, for example, to improve the status of women (see Targeting Chinese Women). In the private sphere, commercial websites cater to new consumer tastes and subvert traditional values. For an example of an elaborate online fantasy game, see Virtual Marriage.
On women’s issues in traditional and contemporary China see Anthologies of studies on Chinese women and gender issues.