Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic saw a sharp rise in social media communication trafficking in divisive stereotypes. The article traces and analyzes the translingual and cross-cultural dialogues around the racist term “Chinese virus” on Twitter and its Chinese counterpart, Weibo. For that purpose, a corpus of online translated texts related to the dissemination and reception of “Chinese virus” was constructed. Analysis found that the strategies of transliteration, literal translation, hybrid translation, acronyms, semiotic translation and coinage were used by Chinese netizens to engage in active resistance against racism. Through the improvisational use of the semiotic resources of different languages, resistance strategies emerged in active online translingual and cross-cultural communication, challenging and even de-centering English-language hegemony, and empowering voices against anti-Chinese racism during the pandemic. Translation as a venue for both racism and anti-racism, however, is evident in the increased occurrence of language violence and the rise of nationalism and xenophobia.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 129-148 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Translation and Interpreting Studies |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 Aug 2025 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Funding
The authors acknowledge support from Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences ( 广东社科规划2025年度常规项目一般项目 ) [Grant No. GD25CWY17 ] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Jinan University ( 暨南大学中央高校基本科研业务费项目 ) [Grant number: 23NJYH07].
Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic
- racism
- social media
- translation
- “Chinese virus” resistance
