标题：Unpacking the symbolic power of the Chinese Englishbuzzword “city walk”
作者：张勇晨 (上海外国语大学语言科学研究院，中国外语战略研究中心)、赵蓉晖 (上海外国语大学语言科学研究院，中国外语战略研究中心)
摘要：This study investigates the constructed meanings and symbolic functions of the Chinese English buzzword 'city walk', which has evolved into a significant cultural phenomenon for young urbanites in China. The term gained popularity as the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the emergence of micro-tourism. Drawing on an adapted framework of the symbolic power of language (Kramsch 2020), the researchers conducted a thematic analysis of the metapragmatic discourse of 'city walk' from Xiaohongshu, a popular Chinese social media platform. The findings reveal two key symbolic dimensions: (1) 'city walk' functions as a symbol of global imagination and cultural taste, with its meaning reconstructed to index users' pursuit of fashion and cosmopolitanism; and (2) it serves as a form of ritual resistance against the 'sense of powerlessness' against societal pressures like overwork culture, while its resistive meaning has been complicated by its subsequent incorporation into consumerism and tourism promotion narratives. These findings reveal how 'city walk' functions as a symbolic resource for young people to articulate and negotiate complex identities that bridge global imaginations and specific local socio-economic contexts, underscoring language's role as a dynamic mirror of social change.
关键词：city walk; Chinese English; language and symbolic power; global imagination; cultural taste; ritual resistance; sociolinguistics
来源：English Today 2026, 1-9
欢迎引用：Zhang, Y., & Zhao, R. (2026). Global imagination, cultural taste and ritual resistance: Unpacking the symbolic power of the Chinese English buzzword city walk. English Today, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078426101321
