public lecture of Shi-xu (www.shixu.com)
Centre for Contemporary Chinese Discourse Studies, Zhejiang University
at the Department of Sociology, Mainz University
on April 12, 2010
6:15 pm-7:45pm in building SB-II, third floor, room 03-153, Colonel-Kleinmann-Weg 2, 55099 Mainz
In this paper I study urban development from the point of view of discourse and focus on the particular case of development discourse of Hangzhou, a prosperous tourist city on the east coast of China. Drawing on a locally-grounded and globally-minded framework of discourse studies, I attempt to ascertain and assess what features of public discourse come to shape and consequently impact on the development of the city by examining the various components, processes and interrelations of the relevant discourses. The data for research are collected from many channels of public communication, ranging from newspapers, municipal documents, web publications, posters to museums. Research results reveal, among other things, that in recent decades the discourse of ordinary citizens has literally penetrated into and merged with physical and cultural change of the city, initiating a historic transformation of the erstwhile authoritarian nature of city planning and beckoning hence a democratization of urban development. They also show, however, that, at the same time, a modernist discourse on the part of the municipality as well as elite groups has failed to conserve the city’s cultural and natural character and identity. In conclusion, implications are drawn for the construction and appropriation of urban development discourse for cities in the developing world.
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