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A Corpus-based Investigation of Guomin

Cao, Qing

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Abstract

One of the fundamental changes in modern China is the transformation from a traditional dynasty to a modern nation-state. However institutional transformation is often pushed and guided by a system of ideas. Previous studies on late Qing transformation give insufficient attention to the role of language in the ideational world of representation. Based on a corpus-centred empirical study, this article examines the prevalent notion of guomin in late Qing from the perspective of conceptual map and semantic regrouping. It argues that, contrary to the conventional understanding of the term as highlighting such values as liberty and individualism, guomin prioritises obligations of the people to the state to transfer their loyalty from the family to the newly imagined nation-state. Thus, guomin as a newly risen term after the 1895 Jiawu defeat, became an elitist demand for normative behaviours on the part of people as part of China’s nation-state building. The article delineates four levels of semantic meanings of guomin as a statist construction of a new ‘national people’ in order to transform the Qing empire to a modern republic.

Citation

Cao, Q. (2018). A Corpus-based Investigation of Guomin. Zhongguo shehui yuyanxue, 31(2), 13-28

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 28, 2019
Publication Date 2018-12
Deposit Date Nov 3, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics
Print ISSN 1729-5173
Publisher Chinese Society of Socio-Linguistics
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 31
Issue 2
Pages 13-28
Publisher URL https://cstt.cbpt.cnki.net/WKE2/WebPublication/index.aspx?mid=cstt

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