Representing the imagined city: Place and the politics of difference during Guangzhou's 2010 language conflict

► This research focuses on the scholarship of place and the politics of difference. ► The paper concretizes the thesis of a global sense of place into a local politics of difference. ► We analyze the production of place politics in Guangzhou's 2010 language conflict. ► There is a co-presence of both exclusionary and progressive discourses of place meanings. ► We also advocate an ethical responsibility of co-presence and interdependence.