| Summary/Abstract |
How can minority writers within China assert their own ethnolinguistic distinctiveness whilst also writing in Chinese? Ethnic minority works fall into two groups: writing in standard Chinese, and works in native scripts. Most ethnic minority writing that can go beyond the local level to connect with a national or even global audience is published in Chinese – hence the label ‘Sinophone’ writing. The Bai people are one such minority nationality within China, who live in and around the city of Dali in ethnically-diverse Yunnan Province. Despite having their own language, they are often cited as one of the most ‘Sinicised’ of China’s ethnic groups. This means that the Bai are caught between two linguistic and cultural worlds: a situation that is reflected in their writing. As they write in Chinese, they translate their own language and culture, inserting non-Chinese words and cultural context, creating a new hybrid written form.
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