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The Discourses of Comfort Women Constructed by Nanguo Metro News Traumatizing and Healing: How Media Memorialize the Comfort Women by Chengcheng Xu B.A., Nankai University, 2016 Extended Essays Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the School of Communication (Dual Degree Program in Global Communication) Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Chengcheng Xu 2018 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2018 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Cheng Cheng Xu Degree: Master of Arts Title: Traumatizing and Healing: How Media Memorialize the Comfort Women Program Co-Directors: Yuezhi Zhao, Adel Iskandar Yuezhi Zhao Senior Supervisor Professor Adel Iskandar Program Director Assistant Professor Date Approved: August 14, 2018 ii Abstract Until recently, the story of “comfort women” was more or less suppressed as a kind of national humiliation in China; however, it has received more diverse media attention in recent years. Through the framing analysis of articles on the issue of comfort women in three different newspapers in China, this research examines similarities and differences in media treatment of the topic. While differences in media frames reflect variations in the national, provincial and metro orientations of different newspapers, overall media memorialization of the topic by the three newspapers reveals that the cultural wound is still not healed both on a national and individual level. The paper argues that Chinese media should take the responsibility of crafting new identities for comfort women, in order to help them finally gain respect. Keywords: comfort women; media frame; collective memory; cultural trauma; gender representation iii Acknowledgements I would like to extend thanks to the many people, who so generously contributed to the work presented in this thesis throughout the past year of the Double Degree program in Global Communication at SFU. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Yuezhi Zhao for the continuous support of my study and related research, for her patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. Her guidelines helped me in all the time of writing of this thesis. Thanks to that, I have a strong feeling that my thesis improved a lot. Besides the academic support, she also found me a wonderful opportunity for field placement, helping me to get a better understanding of my future career. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank the rest of the Double Degree Program: Dr. Adel Iskandar and Dr. Kirsten McAllister. It is their insightful comments and encouragement that empower me to be confidence and brave. I will definitely bring their wishes to find my way. Never give up and never stop. Similar, profound gratitude goes to our TA Xiaoxing Zhang for he always provided us with valuable suggestions and resources whenever we needed him. I would also like to acknowledge and deeply thank Dora Lau who has dedicated herself to this program. I am also hugely appreciative to my friendly cohort. We have spent a whole year to know each other and finally we have become best friends. Now I have very fond memories of my time in Vancouver. I would treasure the precious relationship forever. Finally, but by no means least, thanks go to mum, dad and all of people who love me for almost unbelievable support. iv Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ v List of Figures................................................................................................................. vi Section 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Section 2 Collective Memory, Media Memory, and Gender and Nationalism .......... 5 2.1. Collective memory and cultural trauma theory .......................................................... 5 2.2. Media and Memory ................................................................................................... 8 2.3. Gender and Nationalism: On the Issue of Comfort Women .................................... 10 Section 3. Methodology ............................................................................................. 14 3.1. Previous Literature ................................................................................................. 14 3.2. Research Method ................................................................................................... 15 Section 4. Media Memory Difference between National and Local Newspaper ..... 19 4.1. General Description of Newspaper Coverage ......................................................... 19 4.2. Framing Analysis of People’s Daily as a National Newspaper ............................... 25 4.3. Framing Aanalysis of Hainan Daily and Nanguo Metro News as Local Newspapers ...................................................................................................................................... 28 Section 5. Media Memory Difference between Party Organ and Metropolis Newspaper ......................................................................................................... 32 5.1. Dialogue with the Government: The Discourses of Comfort Women Constructed by Hainan Daily .................................................................................................................. 32 5.2. Alternative Oral History: The Discourses of Comfort Women Constructed by Nanguo Metro News...................................................................................................... 34 Section 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 39 Appendix. Framing Items ................................................................................... 42 References ................................................................................................................... 43 v List of Figures Figure 1. ............................................................................................................... 21 Figure 2. ............................................................................................................... 22 Figure 3. ............................................................................................................... 24 Figure 4. ............................................................................................................... 30 Figure 5. ............................................................................................................... 36 vi Section 1. Introduction On August 14, 2017, the fifth International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women", Twenty-Two, a documentary featuring interviews with several “comfort women”, who were forced into sexual slavery during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, sparked a nationwide discussion in China, since it was the first time for a film that touches this specific topic to be released to the public under the permission of the Chinese government. For decades, people have not been able to get access to sufficient records or coverage of “comfort women”. Therefore, a question is raised: why is the issue of “comfort women” so sensitive and controversial? The answer lies in the history of this very issue. The “comfort women” were the sexual slaves raped by the Japanese army during the World War II, most of whom came from China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Philippine, and Malaysia. In the beginning, the comfort women system was implemented in an effort to reduce sexually transmitted diseases mostly caused by sexual intercourses among soldiers. Moreover, the Japanese government had to allow the atrocity in order to invigorate the soldiers and improve their battling capacity. The Japanese military even established “comfort stations” to ensure that there were enough sexual slaves to “comfort” the soldiers (Su, 1999). However, the soldiers did not regard those women as companions but as sexual tools to relentlessly vent their spleen and bestiality upon. China’s Shanxi Province and Hainan Province were the most invaded areas where thousands of local women were constantly transported to “comfort stations”. According to the historical records, Hainan province was one of the regions that had the largest number of “comfort stations” and the largest number of survivors (Liu, 2007, July 6). In recent years, more than 20 “comfort women” in Hainan province have consented to be summoned as the witnesses to Japanese war-time crimes. The issue of “comfort women” intertwines with many complex historical factors. China’s recovery from World War II, reform and opening-up, the establishment of diplomatic relations with neighbors and even the complicated situation of the world all had 1 an influence on how communities memorialized “comfort women”. Therefore, in order to comply with the specific historical environment and cater to collective demands, the story may have been written in different versions and from different perspectives.
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