Many varying factors contribute to the dynamics of Chinese communication, which both resembles and differs from its Western counterparts. In this provocative new collection of essays, an international group of scholars challenges the conventional notion of Chinese culture as static, recognizing the causes of cultural change and strategies of resistance. Examining communication contexts in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, "Chinese Communication Studies: Context and ComparisonS" considers the relationship between culture and communication in Chinese political, gender, family, and media contexts, providing the reader with insight both into how enduring Chinese cultural values are, and how they are being appropriated to meet political and economic goals.

Moreover, comparisons and distinctions are made between Chinese and Western communication concepts and practices on the issues of human rights, world opinions, pedagogical approaches, and instruction of rhetoric. In a work sure to be of value to many disciplines, the authors trace the historical development of ideas and value systems of both cultures, rendering an understanding of similarities and differences in both communication and cultural mindsets.

A systematic examination of Chinese communication scholarship and comprehensive critique of its theories and methodologies are long overdue, and in this new collection of essays by a multicultural group of scholars, both aims are achieved. Focusing on such relatively new fields as Chinese health communication and Chinese communication on the internet, the volume addresses key questions about the state and the future of its field. Both challenging and complementing the Western views of communication, it advances theories of cultural and intercultural communication while at the same time broadening our understanding of the relevance of Chinese communication studies to communication studies overall, and the ways in which this subdiscipline points the way toward a new and more complicated future. The essayists, whose origins include the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, bring their many perspectives to bear on what is the most comprehensive and inclusive review of Chinese communication research literature published in English. Of great benefit to Western and Eastern communication theorists, philosophers of social science, and Asian studies scholars, Chinese Communication Theory and Research is an invaluable guide to an increasingly complex and significant field of study.

Wenshan Jia demonstrates that a true liberation of Chinese civic discourse can start with a focus on indigenous cultural practices, such as face practices--the understanding that every human face offers a distinct cultural grammar for acting, speaking, and feeling. Chinese character and identity, the author argues, are primarily functions of communication, and as such, these practices are of enormous consequence to the necessary reconstruction of Chinese identity in the changing socioeconomic context of the 21st century. In this way, Jia finds a middle ground between the advocacy of complete Westernization and radical Chinese nationalism: as a pragmatic alternative, communication is key. Never before has facework research been approached so systematically from the standpoint of its relationship to character and identity. Jia's work substantially advances the literature on Chinese communication and presents a unique perspective on its relationship to social transformation. This new paradigm of facework--including analytical methods such as Circular Questioning in addition to major case studies--challenges traditional views while pointing the way toward a new and valuable social-constructionist view.

The reader Intercultural Communication: Adapting to Emerging Global Realities teaches readers how to adapt to new, emerging global realities. The selected readings focus on significant, new players in the global political economy, most notably the BRICS nations, to enhance knowledge and communicative competence of all parties at stake. The first several units of the text are geared to specific countries and geographical regions. In addition to extensive material on Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the material addresses communicative issues related to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa as a whole. The final units are dedicated to exploring challenges confronting the United States as a global power, global communication theory, and specific training and consulting for global communicative capabilities. Featuring the writing of authors from many diverse disciplines, nations, and cultures, Intercultural Communication cultivates global citizenship and improves professional communication skills. The anthology is suitable for use in both undergraduate and graduate level classes in intercultural and global communication, international and global business, and international and global studies.

State-society relations and governance are closely related areas of study and have become important topics in the social sciences in the past decades, not only in developed countries but also in the developing world. In China, state-society relations have been changing in the new era of reform and opening, and governance has become a central concern in policy practice and in academia. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, written by scholars from both inside and outside China, the contributors explore the complexity of the changing state-society relationship and the modes and practices of governance in China by combining theoretical exploration and empirical case studies.

China's growth in the past few decades has been unprecedented, and continues to stay strong as it expands its influence around the globe. However, in many ways, the once insular China is still looking to find its footing as an international player in the globalization game. Greater China in an Era of Globalization looks at the success of China and its surrounding territories of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau and asks the question "What is Chinese globalization?." The contributors in this volume look to answer this question by examining China's role both in its immediate sphere of influence and in the greater world. In doing so, the contributors argue that its push to globalize has had as much effect on the country itself, both politically and culturally, as it has had on the world. The contributors further the argument by analyzing China's influence on the rising nations in Africa and Latin America, before ending the book with a comparative analysis between it and the historic rise and fall of influence of its European counterparts.

Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is a topical examination of some of the most recent developments in Chinese politics. Featuring a roster of international scholars, the book comprosises an assortment of essays focusing on a particular dimension or specific issue of political culture, political economy, foreign policy, environmental and social challenges. The editors, Sujian Guo and Baogang Guo, have divided the essays into five pairs: Political Legitimacy, Political Economy, External Challenges, Environmental Challenges, and Social Challenges. Each of these dimensions serves as a window through which the reader can glimpse various challenges in Chinese political development in the new century.Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is suitable for all levels of students and researchers of Chinese Politics.

Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is a topical examination of some of the most recent developments in Chinese politics. Featuring a roster of international scholars, the book comprosises an assortment of essays focusing on a particular dimension or specific issue of political culture, political economy, foreign policy, environmental and social challenges. The editors, Sujian Guo and Baogang Guo, have divided the essays into five pairs: Political Legitimacy, Political Economy, External Challenges, Environmental Challenges, and Social Challenges. Each of these dimensions serves as a window through which the reader can glimpse various challenges in Chinese political development in the new century.Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is suitable for all levels of students and researchers of Chinese Politics.

Wenshan Jia demonstrates that a true liberation of Chinese civic discourse can start with a focus on indigenous cultural practices, such as face practices--the understanding that every human face offers a distinct cultural grammar for acting, speaking, and feeling. Chinese character and identity, the author argues, are primarily functions of communication, and as such, these practices are of enormous consequence to the necessary reconstruction of Chinese identity in the changing socioeconomic context of the 21st century. In this way, Jia finds a middle ground between the advocacy of complete Westernization and radical Chinese nationalism: as a pragmatic alternative, communication is key.

Never before has facework research been approached so systematically from the standpoint of its relationship to character and identity. Jia's work substantially advances the literature on Chinese communication and presents a unique perspective on its relationship to social transformation. This new paradigm of facework--including analytical methods such as Circular Questioning in addition to major case studies--challenges traditional views while pointing the way toward a new and valuable social-constructionist view.