Lies That Bind Chinese Truth, Other Truths

by Blum, Susan D.

• ISBN13: 9780742554047
• ISBN10: 074255404X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-19
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

This provocative book explores the ideology of truth and deception in China, offering a nuanced perspective on social interaction in different cultural settings. Drawing on decades of fieldwork in China, Susan Blum examines rules, expectations, and beliefs regarding lying and honesty. She argues that public lying is evaluated within Chinese society by culturally specific moral values. Chinese, for example, might emphasize the consequences of speech, Americans the absolute truthfulness. But many Americans also excel in manipulation of language, yet find a simultaneous moral absolutism opposed to lying in any form. Blum considers Japanese and Jewish traditions as well, which similarly struggle to control the boundaries of honesty. Deception and lying, the book concludes, are distinctively cultural yet universal-inseparable from what it is to be a human being equipped with language in all its subtlety.

Author Biography

Susan D. Blum is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 1
Deception and Truth
Truth, Lying, and Deception: Blum's Maxims for China	p. 11
China Present
Tricks and Traps: Deception and Protective Cleverness	p. 25
For Their Own Good: Benevolent Deception and Flattery	p. 47
State Secrets and Fakes: The True, the Real, the Transparent, and the Squelched	p. 61
Longing for Honesty	p. 77
China Past
Crooked and Straight: Right Action and Strategy in Premodern China	p. 85
A Social Theory of Truth: Language in Revolutionary China	p. 105
Humanity and Language
Truth and Deception across Time and Space	p. 135
Knowing How to Play with Words and Minds	p. 159
Appendix: Theoretical Foundations and Implications	p. 173
References	p. 197
Index	p. 219
About the Author	p. 233
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.