A Critique Of Tan Xuechun's Reception Rhetoric: A Diachronic Perspective

Out of the regret that rhetoric had long neglected the dimension of reception, Tan Xuechun, a well-kown rhetorician in China, proposed the new theory of reception rhetoric on the premise that "expression and reception make up the two poles of the rhetoric act". Its publicaion proved an instant success and was hailed as "pioneering". This paper has made a diachronic study of Tan's reception rhetoric by uncovering previous scattered thoughts on rhetoric reception, theoretical resources and the historical background that all contribute to Tan's theory of RR, discussing the main tenets of reception rhetoric, evaluating criticisms of RR and finally proposing further devlopment of RR through more studies on interactive nature of rhetoric.