Tourist tongues: High-speed rail carries linguistic and cultural urbanisation beyond the city limits in Guangxi, China

Abstract

This article builds upon research which analyses the reconstruction of cities in China as an integral part of image-making discourses competing to attract mobile capital. It extends that literature beyond urban places to urbanisation processes, examining the material and linguistic features of networks and discourses of new high-speed rail infrastructure Guangxi, a poorer, rural, multilingual and multiethnic region of the People’s Republic of China (China) in which tourism – propelled by high-speed trains – has become a pillar of economic development. It argues that these trains produce symbolically powerful discourses which contribute to cultural urbanisation across Guangxi, emplacing urban norms outside city limits in pursuit of profitable sameness, as tourism does not trade only upon difference. Local multilingualism, specifically, is erased as too different, a barrier to tourists’ (and tourism capital’s) mobility. Amongst other ramifications, this reproduces social distance and ideologically displaces local languages.

Perceptions of invisible Zhuang minority language in Linguistic Landscapes of the People’s Republic of China and implications for language policy

“…Nevertheless, these studies share something of the spirit which prompted this author to take a lived landscape approach to LL research, in that they are focused on participants, praxis and the dynamism of meaning. For instance, Lazzari (2011, p. 171) conceptualises preserving cultural artefacts as 'a domain [which] constitutes a specific form of materiality…where social significance arises from a long process of entanglement of people with a lived landscape and the many transactions and durations that shaped it'; this resonates with this article and with the study's materiality-focused analysis on transport and tourism LLs (Grey, 2021a). Setten's (2004, p. 389 ) work, like this study, draws on Bourdieu and raises a question that could expand our analyses if adopted into LL and language policy studies, asking 'how the landscape becomes a means to justify historical and contemporary "natural" practice' (p. 391).…”

“…The broader study (Grey 2017(Grey , 2021a(Grey , 2021b) found that Zhuang is lowly ranked in national and regional sociolinguistic orders, now displaced even in the areas where Zhuang originated by the national language (Putonghua, a standardised variety of Mandarin), Mandarin topolects, and English. This concept of a sociolinguistic order draws on Bourdieu's (1977, p. 665) 'linguistic order' and highlights the role of language practices in organising social categories and hierarchies, that which Jaworski and Thurlow (2010, p. 6) call the 'social order'.…”

“…This concept of a sociolinguistic order draws on Bourdieu's (1977, p. 665) 'linguistic order' and highlights the role of language practices in organising social categories and hierarchies, that which Jaworski and Thurlow (2010, p. 6) call the 'social order'. The roles of legal and material discourses in forming such orders are further explored in Grey (2021aGrey ( , 2021b. Within China, this sociolinguistic order is spatialised in relation to the poorer, less urbanised and more ethnically diverse parts of the country, mainly around the national peripheries.…”

Empirical Study on the Sustainable Development of Mountain Tourism in the Early Stage of High-Speed Railways—Taking the Southwest Mountainous Region of China as an Example

“…An HSR adds an air of modernity to the city where it operates, a collective illusion that should not be wasted [4], because following the changes in accessibility of the served territories, the involved actors are expecting economic dynamism in general and tourism in particular [5]. As a representative of modern transportation, an HSR can improve the efficiency of the tourism industry, bring significant changes [6], and promote tourism to become the pillar of economic development [7]. The impact of HSRs on tourism is reflected in many aspects, such as local economic development [8], knowledge economy [9], sustainable development [10], tourism source market [11], tourism attraction [2,3], spatial spillover and economic growth [12], spatiotemporal accessibility [13], selectivity of tourism destination [14], tourism culture and language communication [7], and accessibility gains [15].…”

“…As a representative of modern transportation, an HSR can improve the efficiency of the tourism industry, bring significant changes [6], and promote tourism to become the pillar of economic development [7]. The impact of HSRs on tourism is reflected in many aspects, such as local economic development [8], knowledge economy [9], sustainable development [10], tourism source market [11], tourism attraction [2,3], spatial spillover and economic growth [12], spatiotemporal accessibility [13], selectivity of tourism destination [14], tourism culture and language communication [7], and accessibility gains [15]. Moreover, on a positive note, it should be noted that mountainous areas are safe and reliable due to the fact that they have managed to overcome the negative impacts of earthquakes [16], wind load [17], and long slopes [18] in both railway infrastructure and locomotive and wagons.…”