How university students of Mandarin Chinese experience ‘Chinese culture’: an interculturality and small cultures perspective

ABSTRACT

This article draws on interview data to report how students of Mandarin in UK universities were exposed to and responded to ‘Chinese culture' during their studies. The experiences that the students shared and the ways they responded demonstrated their understanding of cultural complexity, incorporating a fluid and dynamic view of culture as interculturality. Participants interviewed tended to move beyond talking about cultural differences. They showed their transnational sensitivity and awareness of cultural diversity, and some reflexivity. Key to understanding participants' responses was their negotiation with discourses about ‘Chinese culture’, engagement with their personal life and their experience of sojourning abroad.

本文利用访谈数据来报告英国大学学习中文的学生在他们的学习中如何接触“中国文化”并做出回应。 学生们分享的经验以及他们的回答方式表明了他们对文化复杂性的理解，并融入了流动的和动态的文化观点，一种interculturality的意识。受访参与者倾向于不谈论文化差异。 他们表现出跨国敏感性和对文化多样性的认识，以及一定程度的反思性。 理解参与者反应的关键是他们与有关“中国文化”的话语进行的谈判，与他们个人生活的互动以及他们在国外的学习居住经历。

KEYWORDS:

• Small cultures
• interculturality
• Mandarin Chinese
• reflexivity
• personal agency
• social structures

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank John O'Regan, Richard Fay, Alex Moore, the editor Malcolm MacDonald, and the anonymous reviewers for comments they made on an earlier draft of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Tinghe Jin joined School of Education and Lifelong Learning, UEA following the award of a postdoctoral fellowship from the British Academy. She completed her PhD as a Centenary Scholar at UCL Institute of Education. She then became an Assistant Professor in research at Durham University with the British Academy postdoctoral fellowship award. Her research specialises in intercultural education, specifically in relation to the teaching and learning of Chinese. She has published several articles and book chapters on Chinese language education and teachers’ professional development, and has co-edited books and journal special issues which address issues and developments in Chinese educational research. She is also the founding president of the Chinese Educational Research Association in the UK.