French Literature Reviews - 2026

Sinophonies
Francophone and Oral Literatures

While the notion of "francophonie" is well known in France, that of "sinophony," which emerged at the beginning of the 21st century, is much less so. This concept is not limited to the study of the variations and creolizations of the Chinese language within its multiple diasporas: it invites us to view sinophone communities through lenses other than the sole prism of mainland China. Grounded in critical race theory and postcolonial studies, sinophone studies thus propose to read and understand Qing Empire China and the People's Republic of China as colonial empires, operating under logics comparable to those of Western empires. They seek to deconstruct the political imaginaries conveyed, both inside and outside of China, through "Mandarin," which is itself, it is worth recalling, a 20th-century linguistic construction. The journal Critique dedicates its latest issue to Sinophonies, focusing in particular on the example of Taiwan.

(Illustration: Lantern Festival in February 2012, in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, Getty Images)

While the notion of francophonie is well known in France, that of sinophony, which emerged at the beginning of the 21st century, is much less so. This concept invites us to view sinophone communities through lenses other than the sole prism of mainland China, drawing on critical race theory and postcolonial studies to examine Qing Empire China and the People's Republic of China as colonial empires. The journal Critique dedicates an issue to Sinophonies, focusing in particular on the example of Taiwan.

Readers interested in contemporary cultural studies, postcolonial critique and the geopolitical reframing of Asian literary traditions may find this issue of Critique a relevant exploration of these evolving theoretical horizons.