Resources on old-style Chinese letters

[Mark Yong]

I would like to enquire if there are any resources (be it books or websites) available on pre-modern Chinese letter-writing, which I understand was prevalent all the way into the early/mid-20th century. This could take the form of either formal letters/edicts or personal correspondences.

Features would include:

1. Literary Chinese (文言文) grammar and vocabulary (or, in the case of the 20th century, strong Literary Chinese elements)

2. Top-down, right-to-left format

3. Salutations (e.g. openings such as 台鑒 and closings such as 不宣, 叩上)

4. Old-style date format at the end of the letter

I realise there are some threads in this format that already address Chinese letter-writing, but I am referring specifically to old-style letters.

[Daan]

There's this monograph, but I'm sure it's not the only one. Maybe someone else would have some further suggestions?

[Kobo-Daishi]

Dear Mark Yong,

According to "Chinese History: A Manual" by Endymion Porter Wilkinson, "letters of famous individuals were often included in their collected works (originals of some famous officials of the late Qing have survived)".

Chinese History

The book says that the journal Renditions also came out with a special double issue dedicated to "Classical Letters" with translations and the original Chinese.

Renditions Archive

Table of Contents

Wilkinson also mentions the earliest extant manual of letter writing dates from the Western Jin and that more than 100 such manuals were found among the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Don't they have the Dunhuang stuff all available online with the Dunhuang Project? You could try searching there. I think several prestigious universities are involved including the British Museum(?).

Wilkinson also mentions a chapter on (official) espistolary (sic) writing in Wenxin Diaolong (Sorry, don't have a Chinese word processor installed on this computer and the MS IME is a real b.tch).

And there's a photographically reproduced copy of a Yuan manual of letter writing titled Xinbian Shiwen Leiyao Qizha Qingqian.

Also, while Googling for the Renditions back issues I came across the web page of one of the translator/contributors to the issue.

David Pattinson

He's a professor at the University of Leeds in the UK who got his BA from Melbourne and his PhD from Australian National University.

He's got his telephone number & e-mail address listed.

You might contact him for more sources.

Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.

[gato]

See here:

http://www.360doc.com/content/09/1228/11/664067_12157447.shtml

文言书信格式

http://www.gudian.net/dispbbs.asp?boardid=43&ID=48122

文言书信的一些常识

[Mark Yong]

Actually, what I was looking for are printed books on the subject. :rolleyes:

The only one I have managed to locate so far is this one:

Historical Chinese Letter Writing by Daniel Z. Kadar

http://www.amazon.com/Historical-Chinese-Letter-Writing-Daniel/dp/0826430880/

Anyone had a look at this book before? Looks like a relatively-new release.

Have not been successful at locating printed material in Chinese on the subject to date.