Introducing China's First Comprehensive Technical Writing Book: On Technological Subjects by Song Yingxing

Abstract

On Technological Subjects, written and completed by Song Yingxing in 1628, is China's first comprehensive technical writing book intended for a general audience. Its 18 chapters cover nearly all the major technological subjects of its time, such as growing grains, weaving clothes, making sugar and salt, and building ships. The book accommodates various audiences' information needs by combining equipment and material descriptions, process explanations, and task instructions.

Entertaining or Functional: An Analysis of Visuals in Chinese and Western Household Appliance Manuals

“…Some researchers attribute the results to different preferences; Chinese users like pictorial information and German prefer texts [21]. China has a long history of involving numerous detail drawings to help users finish their tasks [22]. Some researchers state that Chinese people have a better understanding of graphics than Germans because of their visual comprehension ability caused by Chinese pictographic scripts [16], [17].…”

“…In Chinese manuals, the connection between visuals and the accompanying text is less clear through positioning or labeling than in Western manuals [22], [27]- [29]. This probably stems from the fact that users are expected to comprehend the accompanying text with their background knowledge in a high context culture with many common senses shared while the relationship should be specified in a low context culture [29], [27].…”

Culturally Situated Do-It-Yourself Instructions for Making Protective Masks: Teaching the Genre of Instructional Design in the Age of COVID-19

“…to learn about the salient characteristics of the instructions genre and its applied uses 2. to understand how the audiences and context determine authors' choices in defining and modifying these genre characteristics 3. to understand how authorial credibility is of utmost importance in the online medical contexts of pandemic levels 4. to recognize how genres might be interpreted and applied in diverse cultures and how cultural contexts might guide authors' specific choices about instructions design, content inclusion, and tone or voice While teaching the genre conventions together with design and usability considerations was essential in our introductory courses, equally important was for us to enable students to recognize the culturally situated aspects of these instructions by comparing them across different countries and audiences-lay citizens, medical staff, and industrial workers unfamiliar with mask manufacturing. Because cultural context influences the content and design of instructions (Ding, 2010;Lipus, 2006), noticing the shared similarities across these instructions and thinking about the reasons for differences between these four sets of instructions became central to this assignment.…”

“…While teaching the genre conventions together with design and usability considerations was essential in our introductory courses, equally important was for us to enable students to recognize the culturally situated aspects of these instructions by comparing them across different countries and audiences—lay citizens, medical staff, and industrial workers unfamiliar with mask manufacturing. Because cultural context influences the content and design of instructions (Ding, 2010; Lipus, 2006), noticing the shared similarities across these instructions and thinking about the reasons for differences between these four sets of instructions became central to this assignment.…”

Examining Scientific and Technical Writing Strategies in the 11th Century Chinese Science Book Brush Talks from Dream Brook

“…(Ding, 2003), ancient Chinese scientific and technical texts are valuable materials to further validate technical communication's enduring tradition. By critically studying this Chinese classic, I hope to complement current research on the history of technical writing in China (Ding, 2003(Ding, , 2010 and therefore contribute to the historical map that we have been constructing for technical and scientific communication.…”