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The China English fallacy

A terminology turf war

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2023

Yiyang Li Open the ORCID record for Yiyang Li [Opens in a new window]
Yiyang Li*
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Bryant University-Beijing Institute of Technology Zhuhai
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Extract

Over the past decades, the pageantry of selecting the appropriate terminology for representing the Chinese English variety has evolved into a movement promoting the widely celebrated term, China English. In He’s (2020: 14) book of Chinese English in World Englishes: Education and Use in the Professional World, an old Chinese saying, ‘without a legitimate name, without authority to the words’, is conjured to justify the rebranding of the Chinese English variety. However, initially, the term ‘China English’ did not automatically win the bid; many other terms were also pitched for being the representative terminology, including ‘Chinese colored English’ (Huang, 1988), ‘Chinese-style English’ (Gui, 1988), ‘Sinicized English’ (Zhang, 1997; Jin, 2002; Jiang, 2003), and even the widely criticized ‘Chinglish’ (Wang, 1999; Zhuang, 2000; Qiong & Wolff, 2003) had its day in the sun. Gradually, scholarly endorsements of China English begin to grow. However, one might wonder: What is the uniqueness of English in China that could trigger such decades of efforts to assert the ownership of an English variety through a mere terminological update?

Type
Shorter Article
Information
English Today , Volume 39 , Issue 3: Special Feature: Chinese English - What's in a name? , September 2023 , pp. 186 - 189
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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