| The study traces the rhetorical antecedents for contemporary persuasive discourse in the People's Republic of China from Confucius to Deng Xiao-ping. The seminal influence of Confucian thought and its governance of content, structure, and context of persuasive discourse is central to the rhetorical analysis of contemporary samples of argument. In addition to Confucianism, the influence of Mencius, Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, Mo-tzu, Hui-Sze, Kung Sun-lung, Chu Hsi, Wang Fu-chih, Hu Shih, the May Fourth Movement, and Mao Tse-tung is discussed in reviewing the literature. The persistence of traditional rhetorical modes in contemporary Chinese persuasive discourse is determined by a content and feature analysis of China Daily and People's Daily editorials during a sixth month period from December 1985 through May 1986. The sample was analyzed according to Liu's (1975) bi-directional paradigm: universe-writer-work-reader, with special focus on Deng's Four Modernizations campaign and its major influence on the content of contemporary persuasive discourse in China. Other features considered include rhetorical mode, the number of signed, unsigned, and pseudonymous articles, Lin's (1984) analysis of Chinese thought patterns, Cheng's general-to-specific pattern (1984) and Kaplan's (1976) disputed paradigmatic gyres of "oriental logic." Twelve editorials, four translated by this researcher in collaboration with a Chinese informant, were analyzed according to Hsiung's (1984) four discursive aspects: topical statement, lateral elaboration, twists and turns in the argument, and convergence. Conclusions, based upon taped interviews with Chinese informants, strongly indicate the persistence of traditional discursive forms in contemporary persuasive discourse including historical and literary allusion, analogical reasoning, proverbs, parallelism, among others. Thematic concerns from antiquity also prevail, including didactic virtues such as patience, modesty, social responsibility, saving face, filial piety, reverence for age, emulation of masters, and submersion of individual in group identity. |
