Introduction to a Brief History of Media

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 02:34:28 +0000

We begin by asking a deceptively simple question: What is media?

At its core, media is any technology that enables the storage, organization, transmission, and dissemination of information.

When we hear the word today, we tend to think of “mass media” — newspapers, television, the internet — technologies that spread information rapidly across wide distances. Commonly, people imagine the story of media beginning with the invention of the electric telegraph in the early 19th century. But is that really where media begins?

Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China (chapter draft), part 1: Pyromancy and the Invention of the Chinese Writing System

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 17:14:32 +0000

Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China

（chapter draft, part 1）

by Keren Wang, kwang35@gsu.edu

There are increasing calls to give rhetorics that are historically overlooked within Western academia their overdue consideration.[1] Despite growing interest in comparative and alternative rhetorics, insufficient attention has been paid to one category of crucial contribution to the intellectual history of persuasion and propaganda: the study of nonwestern ancient rhetorical traditions.[2] This chapter provides a sneak preview of the intellectual history of persuasion and propaganda in Ancient China, where a rich and distinct rhetorical tradition flourished for more than three millennia. We begin this chapter by addressing the question of why it is necessary to examine comparative perspectives, followed by looking briefly into the historical origin of Chinese characters – the oldest writing system still in use. Our discussion then proceeds to a high-altitude overview of the hundred schools of thought that emerged during a pivotal moment of Chinese intellectual history and profoundly shaped the arc of Sinic civilizational development.

Writing on Keren Wang

Introduction to a Brief History of Media

Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China (chapter draft), part 1: Pyromancy and the Invention of the Chinese Writing System

Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China

（chapter draft, part 1）