Intercultural Communication Studies XIV: 1 2005 Xiao Intellectual Communication East and West: A Historical and Rhetorical Approach

The encounter between the East and the West has increasingly been an important subject of study, but the intellectual aspect of this interaction has not yet received serious attention within the discipline of intercultural communication. A study of this aspect requires a historical and rhetorical approach, which has rarely been attempted in the discipline. Based on some observations of the Chinese intellectual transactions with the West, this essay argues that East-West communication scholars who largely focus on the present day face to face practice of communication cannot afford to ignore the intellectual interaction between the East and the West due to their subtle connections. Also discussed are points of view essential to an in-depth historical and rhetorical study of East-West intellectual communication