China: Empire of Living Symbols (1989)

by Cecilia Lindqvist

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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278	5	101,489	(4.3)	2
The origins of Chinese ideographs were not known until 1899, when a scholar went to an apothecary for some medicine made of "dragon bone." To his surprise, the bone, which had not yet been ground into powder, contained a number of carved inscriptions. Thus began the exploration of the 3000-year-old sources of the written characters still used in China today. In this unparalleled and deeply researched book, Cecilia Lindqvist tells the story of these characters and shows how their shapes and concepts have permeated all of Chinese thought, architecture, art, and culture.… (more)

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A creative look at the development and use of Chinese characters, by someone who loves the language and its expression. Lindqvist shows how many of the Chinese character were originallyy written and then evolved. She has an uncanny look at Chinese civilization. (

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vpfluke | Dec 1, 2011 |

I was extremely taken with this book. The author is honest about the sometimes contested or unclear explanation of some of the characters but she mostly comes up with well researched explanations or at least very educated and convincing theses. When you say it's a book about the Chinese symbols for writing - people think it sounds fearfully dull and technical and academic. I know nothing about China but found this an incredibly approachable and fascinating book that really was eye-opening about the different ways of seeing and representing the world. Magical.

saligo | Dec 14, 2009 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Lindqvist, Cecilia	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Ingervo, Arto	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Ingervo, Kirsti	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Meij, Bertie van der	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Tate, Joan	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Augustpriset (Winner – Skönlitteratur – 1989)

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Canonical title

China: Empire of Living Symbols

Original title

Tecknens rike : en berättelse om kineserna och deras skrivtecken

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1989 (Swedish original)

1991 (English translation)

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Epigraph

Dedication

First words

One summer's day in 1889, Liu E., an author and scholar, went into the Da Ren Tang apothecary to buy medicine for his friend Wang Yirong, who was ill with malaria.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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Original language

Swedish

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Cecilia Lindqvist

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The origins of Chinese ideographs were not known until 1899, when a scholar went to an apothecary for some medicine made of "dragon bone." To his surprise, the bone, which had not yet been ground into powder, contained a number of carved inscriptions. Thus began the exploration of the 3000-year-old sources of the written characters still used in China today. In this unparalleled and deeply researched book, Cecilia Lindqvist tells the story of these characters and shows how their shapes and concepts have permeated all of Chinese thought, architecture, art, and culture.

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