Research On Discourse Of Urban Renewal From The Perspective Of Linguistic Landscape

This study chose a mixed research methodology by combining Chinese/Oriental Discourse Research and Critical Discourse Analysis together.Data collection took place at South Luogu Lane(Nanluoguxiang)area in Beijing,including visits and observations,case interviews of residents and literature research.Different types of data are analyzed mainly according to the three-dimensional framework from Critical Discourse Analysis.The study found that the linguistic landscape of the main street in South Luogu Lane,on the one hand,follows traditional ways of using Chinese language and specific characters,while on the other hand,tends to break away from local knowledge,for creating special brand features.By analyzing the existence of diverse kinds of discourse,it was found that municipal regulatory discourse of the government shows features of intertextuality,technologization,and soft power.Daily life discourses made by residents is more of a combination of different sub-types,such as tourism discourse,prejudice discourse,nostalgic discourse,and imaginary discourse about "Siheyuan".In addition,the imagination of the ‘Other' about Oriental culture made by Western media discourse has been absorbed into Chinese media discourse,which is used to build up local meaning as a model of tourism and sightseeing,reflecting an imbalance of discursive power behind.The study further concludes that different kinds of discourse co-exist and compete in tension during the process of space construction,forming a situation that can be concluded as “one leader while others unseen”.Moreover,during the process of gentrification happening in contemporary China,capital is involved in space construction inevitably.Meanwhile,the culture of consumption among the whole world speeded up the commodification of space,which follows the logic of capital and further derived the problem of spatial homogenization.Based on such social background,culture discourse nowadays is actually influenced by Western ideology and value orientation in many ways.Self-reflection is absolutely needed,or urban renewal will turn into a stiff mode,which is difficult to display the essence of "history" and "culture".The purpose of this study is to improve that discourse can play a positive role in the study of social issues according to discussion based on discursive evidence which may reveal how language helps to shape practical activities and space meaning.Also,the study provides a linguistic path for the study of urban renewal while asking for self-reflection on the construction of cultural discourse.