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Rhetorical Moves in Chinese Sales Genres, 1949 to the Present

UNITEC, Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

This paper examines the development of sales genres in mainland China in the pre-reform period (1949-78) and the reform period (1978 to the present). In the first period, sales qingshi (requests raised by subordi nates), sales pifu (official replies), and sales tongzhi (circulars) were used. In the second period, sales qingshi and pifu disappeared while sales letters and sales invitations began to appear. In addition, sales tongzhi have evolved in response to changes in the economic context.

All of these sales genres are related to the three larger genres in Chi nese written discourse: xiaxing wen (the superior writing to the subordi nate), shangxing wen (the subordinates writing to the superior) and pingxing wen (equals writing to each other). In the history of Chinese written discourse, these three genres reflect the social structure. Changes in the social structure are the fundamental reason for changes in specific sales genres.

Key Words: Sales Genres • Social and Economic Context • Chinese Business Communication • History of Business Communication

Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 37, No. 2, 156-172 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/002194360003700202


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