19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ian Myles Slater on: Revealing Meaning, January 31, 2005
This review is from: Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought (Routledge Dictionaries) (Paperback)
"A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols" is the work of Wolfram Eberhard (1909-1989) A German-born Sinologist and sociologist, and a political refugee from Hitler, he spent eleven years in Turkey introducing Sinology to that country at Ankara University, and then most of the rest of his career (1948-1976) at the University of California at Berkeley, in the then-new Department of Sociology. He published in German, English, and Turkish, on both standard Sinological subjects and Chinese and comparative folklore, and the local cultures of China and adjacent areas. His "Dictionary of Chinese Symbols" is based on a lifetime of study, and an unusual diversity of experience.
The bulk of Eberhard's publications (thirty-five books, 195 articles, 300-some book reviews) are usually fairly technical, or, if popular, rapidly becoming obsolete. (His "History of China," first published in German in 1948, was last revised in 1977, just before an explosion of archeological and other work.) However, his "Folktales of China" (1965), part of University of Chicago Press series aimed at both college students and the general public, should be accessible to most readers, if a copy is available. The present volume was also apparently aimed at a wider public, although it was well-received by Sinologists.
The 1983 German edition of "Lexicon chinesischer Symbole," translated by G. L. Campbell, as "A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols," was his last major work. It is the condensed -- in some ways perhaps too condensed -- product of a lifetime of study. It is organized not around the meaning of Chinese art motifs as such, but around the symbolic associations of the written characters of classical China, with their fully pictorial counterparts as supporting data; and it includes primarily verbal symbolisms as well. (More exactly, while the Chinese script isn't pictographic, some pictures are "read" as if they were phonetic -- so that a picture of a "lu" (a deer), which often stands for "longevity," may also be seen instead as "the exact phonetic equivalent" word "lu" meaning "good income," and interpreted as "riches" instead (see Deer, page 79, and cross-references.)
It is primarily historical, and, inevitably, very selective: "no more than an introduction to the subject," according to the author. A topic is always given its Chinese character, or set of characters; and many are illustrated from traditional art, mostly reproduced rather well. Eberhard uses the traditional, or "full" forms of Chinese characters, rather than the recent simplified forms, pointing out that the symbolic associations may depends on the perceived imagery of at least part of the character, as well as on, or in addition to, its phonetic reading. (He doesn't get into the real history, which may be different, given shifts in the spoken language and development of the written forms.)
Eberhard does use survival of ideas into modern times -- by which he apparently means the first part of the twentieth century -- as an important criterion of selection. There is, however, no attempt made to include specifically *modern* China, whether the mainland or Taiwan, in any systematic way. The reader who is interested in classic Chinese literature, or traditional art probably will be far better served than those interested in twentieth-century innovations or drastic adaptations. A history encompassing millennia is given priority over recent decades. But, if modernity as such is given short shrift, Eberhard often notes the geographic and cultural distribution of a concept or image within China, instead of offering an impression of "all Chinese ... at all times." To those without access to the primary and secondary sources (the latter of which include some of Eberhard's own publications), this feature is very important all by itself.
First published at a time when the mainland government was pressing the claims of its official "Pinyin" system for Romanizing Chinese as the international standard, the transliteration used in the book, at least in its English-language version, represents a compromise. It uses the character set of Pinyin, instead of the old Wade-Giles system (or a German equivalent), but breaks up the long polysyllabic forms of the official version with hyphens, in the Wade-Giles manner. This is, I am sure, annoying to those who know and like the Pinyin system, but it is a practical compromise. The uninitiated, faced by, say, "huijiaotu" (Muslims) are, I would think, at least as likely to try pronouncing it as huiji-aot-u as they are to read it as hui-jiao-tu, the form given here.
Eberhard was very much aware of theoretical issues, and raises some in his brief Introduction, which deals with written Chinese as itself a symbolic system. He mentions, with regret, that he was not able to include the symbolic systems of Chinese craftsmen, and explains that Buddhist and Taoist symbols are included only if they are meaningful to ordinary Chinese. He adds that the full range of Chinese symbolism, and its functions, remains to be explored and evaluated, but he does not turn a dictionary into a vehicle for promulgating his own theories.
The main purpose of the "Dictionary" is to present useful information in a condensed fashion. It succeeds at this quite brilliantly. While not as all-encompassing as Williams' antiquated (and not always reliable) "Outlines of Chinese Symbolism," and lacking the sheer beauty of Fang Jing Pei's "Symbols and Rebuses in Chinese Art: Figures, Bugs, Beasts, and Flowers," it is dense with relevant, and authentic, information. The simple indication of a cross-reference, an arrow pointing at the head-word of another article, is usually less distracting than common alternatives, such as the use of italics, small capitals, or boldface, although in a few articles their abundance becomes an obstacle to reading.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative but..., January 24, 2004
This review is from: Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought (Routledge Dictionaries) (Paperback)
It seems to be general consensus that this is one of the only books of its kind. While its content is concise and informative, it does seem to be dated. I had to double-check that it had indeed been originally published in 1983 because stylistically speaking (in addition to the weird romanization issues and lack of "modern" symbology that others have mentioned), it seems to stuck in the early 20th century and perhaps a little tainted with the Edward Said notion of "Orientalism." I can't help but get the feeling that it is from an "outsider looking in" perspective, meaning I wish it was written in a more intimate and warmer way, and that if it were, perhaps the text would become more alive.
I also found the method of cross-referencing information (by peppering the text with a lot of arrows -->) fairly distracting, and that the descriptions of individual symbols did not really "flow," but rather were written in a piecemeal fashion.
Again, I am grateful that this information has been compiled and assembled in this text; however, I wish that it could be updated.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
