Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2003

The Emergence of Technical Communication in China—Yi Jing (I Ching)

Daniel D. Ding Ferris State University

Abstract

To promote intercultural understanding in technical communication, this article studies Yi Jing as a technical instructions manual, the first technical communication book in China. After examining the information in Yi Jing and its organization as well as a modern Chinese instructional manual, the author claims that Yi Jing developed the theory that context and individual objects should be seen as a unity and thus established a tradition that Chinese instructional manuals observe: focusing on contextual information instead of action-oriented instructions for task performance. The author compares the Chinese manual and an American one to support his claim that Yi Jing 's philosophy helps us uncover a pattern of meaning in modern Chinese instructional manuals.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2003-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651903017003003
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality technical communication multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Burnett et al. (2025)
    Birthing Genre: Conventions of Rhetorical Situation and Accessibility of Inform…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Ding (2014)
    An Important Link in the Chain Connecting Ancient Chinese Philosophy to Present…
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  3. Zhang (2013)
    Examining Scientific and Technical Writing Strategies in the 11th Century Chine…
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  4. Moran et al. (2012)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
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  5. Yu (2011)
    Visualizing Banking and Financial Products: A Comparative Study of Chinese and …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 9 →
  1. Yu (2011)
    Integrating Technical Communication Into China’s English Major Curriculum
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Ding (2010)
    Introducing China's First Comprehensive Technical Writing Book: <i>On Technolog…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Matveeva (2007)
    The Intercultural Component in Textbooks for Teaching a Service Technical Writi…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Ding (2006)
    An Indirect Style in Business Communication
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (4)

  1. Grobman (1999)
    Beyond Internationalization
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Dragga (1999)
    Ethical intercultural technical communication: Looking through the lens of Conf…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Andrews (1998)
    Guest editor's column: Internationalizing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Artemeva (1998)
    The writing consultant as cultural interpreter: Bridging cultural perspectives …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
CrossRef global citation count: 25 View in citation network →

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