Print, Profit, and Perception: Ideas, Information and Knowledge in Chinese Societies, 1895-1949

Print, Profit, and Perception examines the dynamic cross-cultural exchanges occurring in China and Taiwan from the first Sino-Japanese War to the mid-twentieth century. Drawing examples from various genres, this interdisciplinary volume presents nine empirically grounded case studies on the growth in the production, dissemination and consumption of texts, which lay behind a dramatic expansion of knowledge. The chapters collectively address the co-existence of globalization and localization processes in the period. By taking into account intra-Asian cultural encounters and tracing the multiple competing forces encountered by many, this book offers a fresh and compelling take on how individuals and social groups participated in transnational conceptual flows.

Chapters include CULTURAL CONNECTIONS IN A NEW GLOBAL SPACE: LI SHIZENG AND THE CHINESE FRANCOPHILE PROJECT IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, by Paul J. Bailey HEALTH AND HYGIENE IN LATE QING CHINA AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF JAPANESE TRAVELERS, by Che-chia Chang MODERNITY THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION: LU XUN AND THE MODERN CHINESE WOODCUT MOVEMENT, by Elizabeth Emrich TECHNOLOGY, MARKETS, AND SOCIAL CHANGE: PRINT CAPITALISM IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY CHINA, byTze-ki Hon MEDICAL ADVERTISING AND CULTURAL TRANSLATION: THE CASE OF SHENBAO IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY CHINA, by Max K. W. Huang PLANET IN PRINT: THE SCIENTIFIC IMAGINATION IN ZHENG KUNWU'S FICTION DURING TAIWAN'S COLONIAL PERIOD, by Mei-e Huang SHAPING PERCEPTION OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR: A STUDY OF TEXTBOOKS IN TAIWAN IN THE 1940s, by Shi-chi Mike Lan ENVISIONING THE READING PUBLIC - PROFIT MOTIVES OF A CHINESE-LANGUAGE TABLOID IN WARTIME TAIWAN, by Pei-yin Lin THE FIRST CASUALTY: TRUTH, LIES AND COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNISM IN CHINESE NEWSPAPERS DURING THE FIRST SINO-JAPANESE WAR, by Weipin Tsai