Visual multilingualism and the making of Chinese space in Nepal

Abstract

The signing of the memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Nepal in 2019 have received increased attention in Nepal’s political and media discourses. Although the broader goals of these events seem economic and political, they have implications for understanding the nexus of sociolinguistics and globalization in Nepal. Taking an ethnographic approach to the sociolinguistics of globalization (Blommaert, 2010), this chapter aims to provide an analysis of the recent spread and use of Mandarin Chinese in various domains (e.g., restaurants, stores, and streets) in Kathmandu’s spaces. Then it will specifically examine the use of semiotic-material resources in Kathmandu during Xi’s visit. We will focus on how the Chinese language and culture in Nepal is primarily motivated by the commodification value of the language in business and tourism. In addition, we also analyze how the pro-China discourses written in Chinese, in both online and offline venues, by Nepali people during Xi’s visit demonstrate the case of mobilizing linguistic resources to achieve the goal of civic diplomacy. We argue that such a diverse use of the language presents the case of visual multilingualism and linguistic fetishization (Kelly-Holmes, 2015) by and for people who do not necessarily understand the language. Overall, the study about the flow of the language and culture not only has implications for recognizing the role of Chinese in Nepal, but also offers important insights into understanding the power of China and Mandarin in the era of neoliberal globalization.