Negotiating new cultured identities through stylizing Wenyan: the case of young Chinese in China and the Netherlands: the case of young Chinese in China and the Netherlands

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Název: Negotiating new cultured identities through stylizing Wenyan: the case of young Chinese in China and the Netherlands: the case of young Chinese in China and the Netherlands
Autoři: Yan Jia, Suzanne Aalberse, Leonie Cornips
Zdroj: Multilingua. 44:347-371
Informace o vydavateli: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2025.
Rok vydání: 2025
Témata: MIGRANTS, DYNAMICS, (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), MIGRATION, cultured identity, (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), STYLIZATION, migrants, OTHERS, indexicality, non-rebellious youth practice, Hanfu, stylization, (sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)
Popis: This article focuses on cultured identity construction via linguistic stylization among young domestic and external Chinese migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Beijing, China and the Netherlands, this study contends that self-defined Hanfu fans stylize the classical Wenyan register to invoke and align with a persona who is a member of the socioculturally recognizable Chinese literati. During this process, the use of the Wenyan register embodies the higher-order meanings of “cultured,” “elegant,” and distinctly “Chinese,” while Hanfu carries the indexical significance of a cultured distinction, distinguishing educated people, who are expected to be familiar with it, from those who are less educated. Hanfu fans appropriate these cultured attributes to construct a Cainv (lit. ‘talented woman’) identity in the Chinese context but a cultured Chinese identity in the Dutch context. These identities render them distinct from other migrants, thereby linking the cultured attribute to a new migratory identity. Linguistic stylization and the pursuit of a cultured identity are ingrained within the mainstream narrative in China while at the same time transnationally reflecting the efforts of young Chinese to resist the marginalizing stereotypes of Chinese migrants.
Druh dokumentu: Article
Jazyk: English
ISSN: 1613-3684
0167-8507
DOI: 10.1515/multi-2024-0134
Přístupová URL adresa: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/publications/2fa8a0ac-9db3-4532-aa81-d5df45f106b4
https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2024-0134
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11755/1beb7d81-821d-472b-abf3-565353dd3c2a
https://pure.knaw.nl/portal/en/publications/1beb7d81-821d-472b-abf3-565353dd3c2a
https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2024-0134
Rights: CC BY
Přístupové číslo: edsair.doi.dedup.....9456f746d0d65d6b8e448a6e2008e9cc
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Popis
Abstrakt:This article focuses on cultured identity construction via linguistic stylization among young domestic and external Chinese migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Beijing, China and the Netherlands, this study contends that self-defined Hanfu fans stylize the classical Wenyan register to invoke and align with a persona who is a member of the socioculturally recognizable Chinese literati. During this process, the use of the Wenyan register embodies the higher-order meanings of “cultured,” “elegant,” and distinctly “Chinese,” while Hanfu carries the indexical significance of a cultured distinction, distinguishing educated people, who are expected to be familiar with it, from those who are less educated. Hanfu fans appropriate these cultured attributes to construct a Cainv (lit. ‘talented woman’) identity in the Chinese context but a cultured Chinese identity in the Dutch context. These identities render them distinct from other migrants, thereby linking the cultured attribute to a new migratory identity. Linguistic stylization and the pursuit of a cultured identity are ingrained within the mainstream narrative in China while at the same time transnationally reflecting the efforts of young Chinese to resist the marginalizing stereotypes of Chinese migrants.
ISSN:16133684
01678507
DOI:10.1515/multi-2024-0134