Volume 10, Issue 1

The word ‘Text’ in Text and Image Studies encompasses sound/ language text, textual body, word/ literary text and image text. ‘Image’ represents not only pictorial illustrations, but also symbols, icons, logos/ trademarks and other forms of visual rhetoric, as well as videos, lines and printed material. Text and Image Studies offers valuable approaches in the investigation and analysis of the complexity of the interplay, interrelations and disjunctions between text and image in various forms of visual media. Chief subjects of interest include creativity and innovation, distribution and dissemination, sociopolitical implications, impact on consumerism, psychological effects on human cognition, etc. The theoretical application of Text and Image Studies in the East Asian cultural exchange discussed in this article is the fruit of almost two decades of research. The article uses a seven-pronged approach - canonization, politicization, conceptualization, abstraction, localization, standardization, modularization- in the study of East Asian cultural exchange in variety of regions, time periods, and genre in an attempt to explore new research ideologies and theories.

Samuel Wells Williams was a well-known missionary, diplomat and sinologist. In his whole life, he never gave up his pursuit on botany, however, there was not much attention to his botanical accomplishment. Williams had a lifelong friendship with Asa Gray, who was the most distinguished American botanist in the 19th century. And because of the contact, Williams related with botany indeed. In order to figure out their friendship and influence, this article is going to use the correspondences between Williams and Gray, besides the related publications. This article first presents Williams’ lifelong friendship with Gray, then, accounts for the plants and seeds which Williams gave to Gray. Finally, it will demonstrate the influence of Gray towards Williams’ contact with Ko Kun-hua, who was the first professor of Chinese descent at Harvard University.