“Dangers” and “Opportunities” in Contemporary Chinese: Perspectives from Social, Cultural, and Applied Linguistics

“Crisis” is a term often used to describe major issues surrounding contemporary Chinese/Huayu. For example, in the 21st century, books titled Chinese in a Crisis were published; “Defending the Chinese Language” was among the sensational media headlines; “Increasingly vulgar Chinese” made intellectuals worry about “the rupture of civilisation”. In addition, the decay of major dialects such as Shanghainese and Cantonese has caused uproar in public opinion. Finally, on the international stage, Chinese is considered to represent a weak voice. Is contemporary Chinese really in danger? What are the “opportunities” in the “crisis”? This talk will attempt to offer some rational accounts for those and similar phenomena.

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