Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics: Online-First ArticlesFrom “them” to “us”?
The changing representation of China in the South China Morning Post 20 years on
This study provides an account of how the representation of China has changed diachronically in the South China
Morning Post (SCMP), the leading liberal English-language broadsheet in Hong Kong, since the sovereignty
transfer in 1997. Adopting a corpus-based approach to critical discourse studies, we analyse two corpora of news reports about China in the
newspaper, one for 1997–2000 and the other one for 2015–2018. It is found that the representation of China has changed from very negative
representations focusing on human right problems in the first period to largely positive representations centring upon China’s global and
economic power in the second period. The changes may suggest that the SCMP has to a certain extent shifted its positioning
of China from “them” to “us”, though an ambivalent stance is observed. The ambivalence is discussed in relation to the economic convergence
and political divergence between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Studies on the press representation of China
- 3.Theoretical background and methodology
- 4.Findings
- 4.1Key themes
- 4.2Human rights
- 4.3Global/regional power
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
References (54)
Ahmed, Rabeeia. 2023. “News
Framing of CPEC during Covid-19: An Analysis of the Leading Pakistani Press (2020–2021).” Pakistan Journal
of International
Affairs 6 (1): 30–44.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anthony, Laurence. 2022. “AntConc
(Version 4.2.0) [Computer Software].” Tokyo: Waseda University. Retrieved from [URL]
. 2009. “The
BE06 Corpus of British English and Recent Language Change.” International Journal of Corpus
Linguistics 14 (3): 312–337. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baker, Paul, Costas Gabrielatos, Majid Khosravinik, Michał Krzyżanowski, Tony McEnery, and Ruth Wodak. 2008. “A
Useful Methodological Synergy? Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to Examine Discourses of Refugees and Asylum
Seekers in the UK Press.” Discourse &
Society 19 (3): 273–306. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barboza, David. 2015. “Alibaba
Buying South China Morning Post, Aiming to Influence Media. The New York
Times, December 11, 2015. [URL]
Cao, Xiuling, Danqi Zhang, and Qianjun Luo. 2022. “Attitudinal
Stance towards the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in China Daily and South China Morning Post: A
Corpus-Assisted Comparative Analysis.” Journal of Language and
Politics 21 (1): 60–80. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey, The Chinese University of Hong
Kong. 2016. Public Evaluation on Media Credibility: Survey
Results. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
. 2022. Public Evaluation on Media Credibility: Survey
Results. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chan, Chi Kit. 2021. “China’s Influence on Hong Kong’s
Media: Subduing Press Freedom.” In China’s Influence and the Center-Periphery Tug
of War in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific, ed. by Brian C. H. Fong, Jieh-min Wu, and Andrew J. Nathan, 121–138. London: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chan, Joseph Man, and Chin-Chuan Lee. 1991. Mass
Media and Political Transition: The Hong Kong Press in China’s Orbit. New York: The Guilford Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chan, Joseph Man, and Francis L. F. Lee. 2007. “Media
and Politics in Hong Kong: A Decade after the Handover.” China
Perspectives 49–56. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Winnie, Chris Greaves, and Martin Warren. 2006. “From
N-Gram to Skipgram to Concgram.” International Journal of Corpus
Linguistics 11 (4): 411–433. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chernin, Kelly. 2023. “Reimagining
Western Media Portrayals of China.” In China, Media, and International
Conflicts, ed. by Shixin Ivy Zhang, and Altman Yuzhu Peng, 192–208. Oxon: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
China Institute at the University of
Alberta. (2019). China in Canadian Newspapers – January 2015 to May 2018: A Mass Data
Analysis – The Calm before the Storm. Edmonton: The China Institute at the University of Alberta.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ching, Frank. 1998. “The
Hong Kong Press: Will it Remain Free after 1997?” Asian
Affairs 241: 217–225. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fairclough, Norman, and Ruth Wodak. 1997. “Critical
Discourse Analysis.” In Discourse as Social
Interaction, ed. by Teun A. van Dijk, 258–284. London: Sage.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fung, Anthony Y. H. 2007. “Political Economy of Hong Kong Media:
Producing a Hegemonic Voice.” Asian Journal of
Communication 17 (2): 159–171. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Greaves, Chris. 2009. ConcGram
1.0: A Phraseological Search Engine. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ho, Janet, and Ming Ming Chiu. 2022. “Media
Portrayals of the Hong Kong Occupy Central Movement’s Social Actors: Multilevel and Critical Discourse
Analysis.” Journal of Language and
Politics 21 (1): 81–116. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huan, Changpeng. 2023. “China
Opportunity or China Threat? A Corpus-Based Study of China’s Image in Australian News Discourse.” Social
Semiotics. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hufnagel, Lena Marie, Gerret von Nordheim, and Henrik Müller. 2022. “From
Partner to Rival: Changes in Media Frames of China in German Print Coverage between 2000 and
2019.” International Communication Gazette.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krzyżanowski, Michał. 2020. “Discursive
Shifts and the Normalisation of Racism: Imaginaries of Immigration, Moral Panics and the Discourse of Contemporary Right-Wing
Populism.” Social
Semiotics 30 (4): 503–527. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krzyżanowski, Michał, and Per Ledin. 2017. “Uncivility
on the Web: Populism in/and the Borderline Discourses of Exclusion.” Journal of Language and
Politics 16 (4): 566–581. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lai, Carol P. 2007. Media in Hong Kong: Press Freedom and Political
Change,
1967–2005. London: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lee, Francis L. F. 2015. “Press Freedom in Hong Kong: Interactions
between State, Media and Society.” In The Routledge Handbook of Chinese
Media, ed. by Gary D. Rawnsley, and Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley, 131–144. London: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lee, Francis L. F., and Joseph Chan. 2009. “Organizational
Production of Self-Censorship in the Hong Kong Media.” International Journal of
Press/Politics 141: 112–133. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, Ming. 2019. “New
Trend, but Old Story: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Study of Tibet Imaginations in Anglo-American
Newspapers.” Critical
Arts 33 (1): 1–14. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, Ming, and Jiali Zhong. 2020. “Between
National and Local: Identity Representations of Post-Colonial Hong Kong in a Local English
Newspaper.” Discourse, Context &
Media 361: 100401. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, Shujun, Mark Boukes, and Knut De Swert. 2023. “Strategy
Framing in the International Arena: A Cross-National Comparative Content Analysis on the China-US Trade Conflict
Coverage.” Journalism 24 (5): 976–998. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Luqiu, Luwei Rose. 2017. “The Elephant in the Room: Media
Ownership and Political Participation in Hong Kong.” Chinese Journal of
Communication 10 (4): 360–376. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Martin, James. R., and Peter R. R. White. 2005. The Language
of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mautner, Gerlinde. 2016. “Checks
and Balances: How Corpus Linguistics Can Contribute to CDA.” In Methods of
Critical Discourse Studies (3rd Edition), ed. by Ruth Wodak, and Michael Meyer, 154–179. London: Sage.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Memon, Muhammad Aftab Madni, Shen Hui, and Salman Yousaf. 2022. “China
through the Lens of Neighboring Media: A Comparative Analysis of Pakistani and Indian Newspaper Coverage of Unrest in Hong
Kong.” Media
Asia 49 (1): 4–25. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morante, Andrea, and H. Denis Wu. 2023. “Assessing
China’s News Coverage and Soft Power in Latin America in the wake of the Belt and Road Initiative
(2013–2021).” International Communication
Gazette 85 (1): 80–96. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Niu, Shanshan, and Jeannine E. Relly. 2021. “Framing
China’s Belt and Road Initiative by U.S. and Indian News Media (2013–2018).” Newspaper Research
Journal 42 (2): 270–287. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Peng, Zengjun. 2004. “Representation
of China: An Across Time Analysis of Coverage in the New York Times and Los Angeles
Times
.” Asian Journal of
Communication 14 (1): 53–67. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Richardson, John E. 2007. Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical
Discourse Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Scott, Mike, and Chris Tribble. 2006. Textual
Patterns: Key Words and Corpus Analysis in Language
Education (Vol. 221). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Šimalčík, Matej. 2021. “Image
of China in Slovakia: Ambivalence, Adoration, and Fake News.” Asia Europe
Journal 191: 245–258. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
So, Alvin Y. 2011. “‘One Country, Two Systems’ and Hong
Kong-China National Integration: A Crisis-Transformation Perspective.” Journal of Contemporary
Asia 41 (1): 99–116. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tang, Liping. 2021. “Transitive
Representations of China’s Image in the US Mainstream Newspapers: A Corpus-Based Critical Discourse
Analysis.” Journalism 22 (3): 804–820. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Dijk, Teun A. 1993. “Principles of Critical Discourse
Analysis.” Discourse &
Society 4 (2): 249–283. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
1995. “Ideological Discourse
Analysis.” In Special Issue Interdisciplinary Approaches to Discourse
Analysis, ed. by Eija Ventola, and Anna Solin, 135–161. New Courant: University of Helsinki.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Leeuwen, Theo. 2008. Discourse
and Practice: New Tools for Critical Discourse
Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wallis, Joanne, Angus Ireland, Isabel Robinson, and Alicia Turner. 2022. “Framing
China in the Pacific Islands.” Australian Journal of International
Affairs 76 (5): 522–545. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wei, Chen. 2012. “The
Image of China in Hong Kong Media: Content Analysis of the Coverage in Three Hong Kong Newspapers.” China
Media
Research 8 (3): 65–71.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wiebrecht, Felix. 2018. “Cultural
Co-Orientation Revisited: The Case of the South China Morning Post
.” Global Media and
China 3 (1): 32–50. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Xue, Yahong, and Qianqiu Xu. 2021. “An
Ecological Discourse Analysis of News Coverage of COVID-19 in China in The Times and The New York
Times
.” Journal of World
Languages 7 (1): 80–103. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)