Dong Jie - Discourse, Identity, and Chinas Internal Migration

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Discourse, Identity, and Chinas Internal Migration: The Long March to the City/Dong Jie.
Encounters: 1
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Chinese language--Discourse analysis. 2. Sociolinguistics--China. 3. China-- Emigration and immigration--Social aspects. 4. Children of migrant laborers--China.
I. Jie, Dong, 1975
P302.15.C4D57 2011
306.440951dc22 2011015602

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-420-1 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-419-5 (pbk)

Multilingual Matters
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Copyright 2011 Dong Jie.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Printed and bound in Great Britain by Short Run Press Ltd.

This book has grown out of a deep curiosity about migrant workers and their children in Beijing, who play an important role in the rapidly changing society and yet who remain invisible in many ways. My initial thoughts and observations of the migrant community gradually took shape through long discussions with Jan Blommaert, a wonderful colleague and friend. I would like to thank him for supporting me all the way through this project with tremendous sympathy and encouragement. I want to thank Sjaak Kroon for the enormous amount of time he invested in me and in my research, for his trust and confidence and for him being a constant source of inspiration. I also am indebted to Normann Jrgensen who read through the final draft; without his careful readings and critical comments this book would have never reached its present form.

During my stay at the Department of Language and Culture Studies, Tilburg University, I was always positioned in a comfortable academic environment, provided with magnificent facilities for research, and surrounded by friendly colleagues who were always ready to discuss my research and to help with all other issues in life. Kasper Juffermans my officemate was a great example with whom I had many intellectually challenging and enjoyable discussions. In the various stages of this research project, Gao Yihong, Adrian Blackledge, Li Wei, Hans Siebers, Catherine Walter, Ben Rampton, Ad Backus, Han Jialing, Caroline McGlynn, Peter Martin (whom we sadly lost recently), Jeanne Kurvers, Massimiliano Spotti and the people of the NORFACE seminars in 2007 and 2008, among many others whom I found impossible to list in this limited space, gave me valuable advice and supported me in different ways, to whom I wish to express my sincere gratitude. Moreover, the pupils and teachers at the two schools where I did my fieldwork deserve my greatest respect and thanks for their trust, their friendliness and their willingness to be brilliant informants. A special word of thanks should go to Carine Zebedee, the superb departmental secretary who saw my work through the final editing process.

This book is dedicated to my parents, for their unconditional love . I am immensely grateful to my parents whose help with childcare made this book possible. Finally, my son Li Enjia, now 30 months, has been a wonderful witness of this book, and my thanks to him for letting me concentrate on this book while waiting for my company.

Dong Jie
Beijing
16 February 2011

Unless otherwise specified, the translations from Chinese are my own.

Unless otherwise specified, the contents between brackets are my own additions or comments.

Identity is the focus of this research. Identity-making discourses such as he is a Dutchman and she is a teacher frequently circulate in our daily lives. In conferences we wear a badge with our names so that our interlocutors have an idea of whom they are talking to; while travelling abroad, people should remember to carry their ID, that is, passports or identification cards, and be prepared for potential police inspection this can be crucial for groups such as Turks and Africans in some of the Western European metropolises; on meeting new colleagues we often exchange information on where we come from, our nationalities, what jobs did we do before. And as a Chinese, I find myself engaged in a constant task of explaining my name: which is my given name, which is my surname and in what circumstances I would rather use an English name.

Indeed, we are involved in identity rituals around every corner of our life. The question it raises the question of who am I' often touches something dearest to our hearts, something we hold fast, whereas a challenge of it by others can easily offend us. Identity means different things on different occasions who I am depends on whom I am talking to, in what circumstances and from what perspectives. Let me illustrate this point with a metaphor (see ).

the same can be observed from the top. At this level, the distinguishing details of a Coca-Cola can (the logo, the design, etc.) are replaced by a set of more abstract features metal, with an opening ring, and a sentence urging the consumer to recycle the can. It could be a Pepsi can or a beer can. Observing the can from this angle, one could not tell whether the rest of the can its cylinder-shaped body exists or not.

Figure 1.1 (a) Front view, (b) bottom-side view and (c) vertical view of a Coca-Cola can