Unpacking Discourses on Chineseness

Shuang Gao is a sociolinguist working at the University of Liverpool, UK. Her research uses ethnographic and discourse analytical methods to understand China under globalization. She is the author of Aspiring to be Global: Language and Social Change in a Tourism Village in China (Multilingual Matters, 2019).Xuan Wang is a Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at Cardiff University, UK. Her research is interdisciplinary, drawing insights from sociolinguistics, cultural studies, digital communication, ethnography and globalisation studies. She has published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

• ContributorsChapter 1. Shuang Gao: Introduction: Chineseness as Competing DiscoursesChapter 2. Jing Huang: Chineseness in Diaspora: Multilingualism, Heteroglossia and Fluid EthnicityChapter 3. Luke Lu: When ‘Chineseness’ Is Not Preferred: Accounts of Academically Elite Students from China in Singapore’s SchoolsChapter 4. Elaine Chung and Xuan Wang: Joseonjok YouTubers: Translating Vernacular Chineseness in South KoreaChapter 5. Jessica Birnie-Smith: Framing Chineseness and Indonesianness on the PeripheryChapter 6. Eric S. Henry: Narrating the Future Self: Strategic Stylisation and Cosmopolitan Stancetaking in Chinese IELTS Preparation Classes        Chapter 7. Shuang Gao: Coffee, Social Space and Middle-Class Romance: Customer Writings in an Independent Coffee Shop in ChinaChapter 8. Mingyi Hou: The Authenticity, Cultural Authority and Credibility of Weibo Public IntellectualsChapter 9. Xiaoxiao Chen: ‘Foreigners’ in One’s Own Land: Analysing Touristic Representations of Chineseness in the New York Times          Chapter 10. Lionel Wee: CommentaryIndex

At a time when China’s global presence is undoubted, this book reminds us of the imperative urgency for interrogating the notion of Chineseness. What makes this volume important is that it compels us to go beyond discussions on what Chineseness is, towards examination of how it’s done and what it does to whom under which sociopolitical conditions.