INTRODUCING CHINA'S FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TECHNICAL WRITING BOOK: ON TECHNOLOGICAL SUBJECTS BY SONG YINGXING

摘要

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. To help audiences understand his descriptions and to follow his instructions more effectively, the author integrates 100 full-page detailed drawings. Another mechanism that the author uses to help his audiences complete the described tasks is using names (nouns) instead of action-oriented phrases for most of the chapter titles. Song's book embodies several important features in modern technical communication, especially in China's modern technical communication. The book should help international technical communicators understand China's modern technical communication from the perspectives of audience's awareness, organization of information, and use of visuals.