On the traditions and trends of ethnosemiotics in China: an interview with Prof. Hongwei Jia

Abstract

Abstract Charles Sanders Peirce highlights that “the entire world is perfused with signs.” That is, nothing can exist without signs. Ethnology is no exception in this light. Up to now, ethnology has not been exhaustively examined in terms of semiotics, nor has it combined with semiotics effectively and efficiently in China, with its multiple ethnic groups and multi-millenary tradition of knowledge. To promote the further development of ethnology in China in terms of semiotics, as well as the development of Chinese ethnosemiotics at the embryonic stage, I conducted an interview with Prof. Hongwei Jia, a semiotician based at Capital Normal University in Beijing and meanwhile serving as the founding Director of the Center for Semiotics and Cultural Studies at Shinawatra University in Bangkok. This interview focuses on the relationship between ethnology and semiotics, as well as the origin, application, and development of ethnosemiotics in China, in order to inspire further related research and promote the future development of this area.