6.1 Rhematization: Hutong as an icon
6.1.1 Hutong’s qualia and physical environment
As is discussed in the examples illustrated in the last chapter, all taken-to-be signs in Peter Hessler’s ideological frameworks are fitted into either one or the other side of the differentiation axis. One anchor (inside/outside) can be employed to signal location, built form, lifestyle, people’s speech style, and disposition. Once they are assigned to one side of the axis, the narrator confirms the resemblances in quality among each other. At the same time, those on the other side can also share similar qualities themselves. Yet, such objects are ontologically different. Hence, the primary purpose of this part is to explore what processes create these unlikely similarities.
The aforementioned qualitative contrasts in Peter Hessler’s report justify that he has perceived the differences in built form, speech style, persona, and lifestyle. After that, the narrator’s conjectures would be mobilized to explain those phenomena “by reasoning with the qualia they have posited through rhematization” (Irvine & Gal, 2019, p. 125). In the first excerpt (see 6-1) of the report, when Peter Hessler describes the hutong environment he lived in, the contrast starts from inside hutong building is “old” and outside hutong building is “modern,” which is made parallel to inside hutong households equipped with “public toilets” and outside hutong buildings has “private toilets.” It comes to be in accord with the formation of an indexical icon: the parts of one analogous to the parts of the other, which allows for rhematization (Gal, 2013). In that configuration, the contrasting abstract qualities, oldness, and modernity were said to be enacted from the built form + equipment type (see Figure 6-1).
Chapter Seven Conclusion
7.1 Major findings
Firstly, the distinctive built-form features of the hutong that index the hutong environment and residents are taken as iconic representations of them. In addition to the qualia of hutong’s physical and social environment in the case of Hutong Karma, hutong people’s persona can also be an ideological site filled up with comparisons through rhematization, repeatedly highlighting Beijing hutong’s narrowness, closeness, and oldness. Therefore, based on the resemblance to the physical environment, social context, and local residents, Beijing hutong indexes old, traditional, and slowly developed characteristics.
Secondly, the study finds out that with shifts of perspective and inclusive parameters, the original inside/outside hutong axis can be subdivided into other two axes: a fractal inside/outside hutong in the spatial dimension and old/new hutong in the temporal dimension. At the same time, it can conflate into supercategories that are exemplified as the distinction between China and America. In this process, the same qualia that appeared in the preceding distinction can be reused as criteria for semiotic differentiation.
Thirdly, the narrator’s perspective shift and stancetaking along the inside/outside axis are brought into focus in his interpretation of hutong. With the compared parameter constantly changing in fractal recursivity, Peter Hessler is conveying his alignment and constructing his identity. No matter taking a stance on inside/outside hutong distinction or old/new hutong fractal axis, he always chose the former “gaze” as primary attention to pick up scenes for scrutiny. It implies that Peter Hessler aligns with his Chinese readers and writes reports from an Eastern perspective in the upscaling of inside and old hutong ideological sites. That is, the derivation of supercategory and subcategory of the original axis evoke the narrator’s stance and identity, supporting to construct a “Chinese” identity that rarely praises “American” values.
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