The Symbol Strength of Naming and the Sovereign Imagination in the International Disputes

Gan Lihao

Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2015, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (9) : 6-22.

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Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2015, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (9) : 6-22.

The Symbol Strength of Naming and the Sovereign Imagination in the International Disputes

  • Gan Lihao, associate professor of Communication school, East China Normal Universtiy, and visiting scholar of Linguistics department, University of California-Berkeley. Email: ganlihao@126.com.
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Abstract

The naming conflicts between China and his neighboring countries have greatly increased in the recent years. However, the significance of the naming’s strategic position has not received enough attention and fair judgement. Some government officials, the media presses and scholars consider naming as the label of reality, ignoring that naming can construct reality. In fact, “TianXia View" of China has been impacted by Western colonial expansion and nationalism since the 19th century. Then many neighboring countries of China began to declare their sovereignty through “desinification” of naming. Meanwhile the Chinese people have gradually lost their sovereign imagination about the disputed areas. So maybe those important topics like how can China effectively control the naming behavior, sinify naming again, and construct the international sovereign imagination worth further study.

Key words

Naming / territory / theory of construction / desinification / sinify again

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Gan Lihao. The Symbol Strength of Naming and the Sovereign Imagination in the International Disputes[J]. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2015, 37(9): 6-22

Funding

This paper is a part of the research project “The discourse strategies of the government image restoration responding to sudden crisis” (Project Number: 13CXW040), subsidized by National Social Science Foundation of China.
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