Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2016

Illustrating Beauty and Utility: Visual Rhetoric in Two Medical Texts Written in China’s Northern Song Dynasty, 960–1127

Yuejiao Zhang The University of Texas at Arlington

Abstract

This article examines illustrations in two medical texts written in China’s Northern Song dynasty. Compared with medical books produced in previous dynasties, these two texts incorporated more illustrations with enhanced beauty and usability. These visual features, I argue, carried rhetorical attributes that helped these texts negotiate their way into printing, circulation, and becoming canonical in their own genres. At the same time, they also facilitated efficient and accurate reading through reduced visual clutter and enhanced accuracy, and thus appealed to both the elite and the public readership. The article reviews these visual strategies and their implication for technical communication today.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2016-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0047281616633599
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Topics
rhetorical criticism genre theory technical communication
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

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