ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews sociolinguistic research in China in the 21st century, focusing on two major developments. The first is the internationalization of sociolinguistics, in which Chinese sociolinguists were sent abroad for training while internationally established sociolinguists were invited to lecture in China. This effort has broadened the scholarly horizon for Chinese sociolinguists and improved their productivity in scholarship covering themes, such as language identity, contact and variation, linguistic diversity, and linguistic landscape. The second is the nativization of sociolinguistics that encouraged scholarship to generate from the Chinese context and meet China’s needs. This effort is mainly represented by a school of scholarship, named “language life”, which promotes the study of language alive in society, the bridge between micro-level research and macro-level research, and the construction and maintenance of a harmonious language life. In short, Chinese sociolinguists have closed the gap in research in China and in the international community but still need to make progress in critical thinking and creativity.
