Visual Representation of Internal Migration and Social Change in China

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3839152
AutoresDror Kochan (0000-0001-8143-9610, Department of East Asian Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, autor correspondente)
Ano2009
Volume23
Fascículo2
Páginas285-316
Data de publicação2009-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoChina Information (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0920-203X • E-ISSN: 1741-590X
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0920203x09105128
OpenAlexW2026229499
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas26

During the 1980s and 1990s, a "dominant discourse" of internal migration developed in China, portraying the migrants' contribution to China's economic development while highlighting the social problems associated with rural-to-urban migration. In recent years one can trace a shift, evident in academic research, popular and media rhetoric, and policy formulation, toward a more migrant-centered narrative. This article aims to show that this change was in part the result of an emerging alternative discourse-initially created by a cultural avant-garde-representing a growing interest in migration and an ambivalent and even sympathetic view toward migrants, their social quandaries, impact on urban society, and opportunities for integration. In the examination of this alternative discourse, the article reviews contemporary visual representations of migration and the surrounding discussions (at public events, in scholarly works, and on the internet), which reveal the creation of a sociocultural "public sphere." By unearthing the alternative discourse, the dialectical connection between discourse and social change is brought to light, as these visual works not only reflected a complex reality but also contributed to remodeling it

Ambivalence · China · Dialectic · Epistemology · Internal migration · Linguistics · Media studies · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Population · Public sphere · Rhetoric · Social change · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Gender Studies · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Social Psychology