Coffee and 18 years of endeavour: stances towards white-collar migrants in China

Abstract

Against a backdrop of economic development and rapid urbanisation in China, huge numbers of population in China choose to migrate from the countryside to urban and coastal areas. This study examines a public debate concerning the perceived inequalities experienced by the white collar migrant workers in China. This debate was initiated from a magazine article ‘我奋斗了 18 年才和你坐在一起喝咖啡’ (I'm finally able to drink coffee together with you after 18 years of endeavour) originally published by China Youth. Drawing on a number of theories concerning the sociolinguistic construction of identity, social circulation of media discourse, and stance-taking, more importantly, Eastern paradigms of discourse studies, this study examines the debate with the focus on stance-taking towards the white collar migrant workers around the media circulation of the two phrases (i.e. he kafei and 18 nian de fengdou) in Chinese media discourse. By categorising the stances of three social groups, namely ‘insiders’, ‘public intellectuals’, and ‘outsiders’, this study highlights the dynamic inclusive and developing nature and characteristics of contemporary Chinese discourse.