China Media Research, 15(2), 2019 ISSN: 1556-889X http://www.chinamediaresearch.net 1 editor@chinamediaresearch.net Understanding Chinese Communication from the Peripheral: An Introduction Hsin-I Sydney Yueh, Northeastern State University, USA Abstract: While the East-West dichotomy is often used to compare Chinese communication and Western communication, this dichotomy tends to result in a monolithic view of Chinese communication. However, Chinese communication can be understood beyond the center, the mainstream, and the nationality; it can be examined from the peripheral, the marginal, the hybrid, or a community outside of China. This special section aims to examine diverse communication practices that are marginalized in the dominant definition of Chinese communication. In this introduction, I intend to have a conversation with the existing scholarship in China Media Research by exploring the following three questions: (1) How can Chinese communication be studied critically? (2) What can be added into the current Chinese communication theoretical model? (3) How can we study Chinese communication from the peripheral? The five selected articles in this special section demonstrate the attempt to develop the new direction. [Hsin-I Sydney Yueh. Understanding Chinese Communication from the Peripheral: An Introduction. China Media Research, 15(2):1-8] 1 Keywords: Chinese communication, China Media Research, critical intercultural communication, Asiacentricity, Sinophone When teaching intercultural communication at my current institution in the United States, at the end of each semester I always arrange a unit that allows students to discuss what American culture is. I situate the question in the given context: how would they present American culture when they encounter a foreigner or a cultural outsider? As Hall (2005) defines, there are four levels of cultural manifestations from the most concrete to the most abstract; that is, artifacts, norms, values, and worldviews. I asked students to list ten “American” cultural artifacts, and then divided them into four or five small groups to discuss their answers and vote for a new list of ten. Finally, each group wrote down their group list on the whiteboard. It was fulfilling to witness students filling out the whiteboard with the 40 or 50 items; but unsurprisingly, the initial answers were those famous people, historical events, foods, and holidays that represent the mainstream white America. Some students would soon notice the uneven representations within the list, and they proposed to change their answers. “What about Native Americans?” “We need more Black/Asian/Latino artifacts!” “Should we talk about racism?” They came to realize how the dominant culture shapes their understanding, and how readily they tend to speak for the mainstream, even though not all of them are self-identified with that privileged group. In order to see the whole picture of American culture, they learned that they have to add those hidden, voiceless, or underprivileged parts to the list. The revised list reflected the students’ ideal of a diverse and tolerant American culture. The reconsideration made those neglected but significant cultural elements visible, and enriched the representations of the American experience and culture. This classroom activity is designed to enable American students in the U.S. classroom to understand intercultural communication following the spirit of a critical communication perspective. Intercultural communication is not only about interactions with other cultures, but also involves a deep understanding of one’s own (Yueh & Copeland, 2015). I believe that this way of examining American culture can be adopted to examine any other concept, including Chinese communication. When I was invited to serve as a guest editor for China Media Research, this critical perspective prompted me to come up with the theme: “Understanding Chinese Communication from the Peripheral: The Marginalized Voices.” The core question I intend to examine is how to deconstruct, complicate, and reconstruct the concept of Chinese communication in a variety of comparative axials, so that we do not observe merely the dominant, mainstream, and centralized representations of Chinese communication. While the main purpose of the journal is to serve as a bridge between Chinese media/communication studies and those of the rest of the world, this dichotomy tends to result in a monolithic view of Chinese communication. I argue that Chinese communication can be examined from the peripheral, the marginal, the hybrid, or a community outside of China. Therefore, this special section aims to present diverse communication practices that are marginalized in the dominant definition of Chinese communication. This special section also aims to provide a critical self-reflective perspective that allows readers of China Media Research to converge more creative and productive research on Chinese