Media Framing of China, Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Canadians
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Media Framing of China, Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Canadians Jiaying Mo A Thesis in The Department of Journalism Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts (Journalism Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 2017 © Jiaying Mo, 2017 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies ii This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Jiaying Mo Entitled: Media Framing of China, Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Canadians and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Journalism Studies) Complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Dr. Elyse Ame__________________________ Chair Dr. Greg Nielsen________________________ Examiner Dr. Brian Gabrial _______________________ Examiner Dr. Andrea Hunter _____________________ Supervisor Approved by _ _Dave Secko____________________________________________ Chair of Department or Graduate Program Director __André Roy______________________________________ Dean of Faculty Date _ __24 January 2018___________________________________________ iii ABSTRACT Media Framing of China, Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Canadians Jiaying Mo The question of representation of immigrants in mass media has been widely debated in the fields of journalism studies and sociology; in particular, the media construction of immigrant collective identity has been a key academic issue. However, there has been little academic attention given to the media construction of the diaspora identities of Hong Kong Canadians. In order to partially fill this existing gap, this research examined how a newspaper aimed at the Hong Kong Canadian community promoted a specific understanding of identity. In particular, this thesis examines the frames promoted and core messages about identities conveyed in the Sing Tao Daily as it reported on significant events leading up to Hong Kong’s Handover in 1997. Furthermore, it interprets these findings from the perspective of the media construction of identities, concluding that the Sing Tao Daily served assimilative and pluralistic functions, helping the community to assimilate into mainstream Canadian society and at the same time maintain multi-faceted identities with ties to Hong Kong and China. Keywords: Hong Kong Canadians, representation of immigrants, framing analysis, mediated construction of identities. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to start the acknowledgments with expressing my sincere gratitude to my beloved family, especially my grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, and sister. Although they are thousands of miles away from me, their unconditional love and support always can fly across the Pacific Ocean and come to me. Without them, I would not even have this precious opportunity in pursuit of my master degree in journalism in Canada. Other than my family, my supervisor, Dr. Andrea Hunter, has been of paramount importance to the composition of my thesis. I would like to particularly thank Andrea for her time and patience to me along the time. During the early phase of my thesis, in particular, I was confronted with a lot of difficulties and was thus slightly discouraged. In this procedure, Andrea had always generously offered me her constant encouragement and prompt assistance. I would also like to express my appreciation to Dr. Mike Gasher, who had been in support of my early academic journey in Canada. In addition, I shall thank Dr. Brian Gabrial, Dr. David Secko, and Dr. James McLean of the Journalism Department, Concordia University, for their enlightenment to me on journalism studies. During the last two years, other than concentrating on the completion of my academic goals, I enjoyed my life in Montreal. Meanwhile, I encountered many wonderful people, and fortunately, some of them became my good friends. We together share our laughter and tears, ups and downs, and any important moments of our lives. I am truly grateful to them coming into and being in my life, and these amazing people are Mohammad Jawad Khan, Yunan Liang, Mike Lee, and Samuel Oboh Eromonsele. In the end, there is one more person who I would like to express my greatest appreciation, my boyfriend, Richard Kuong Veng Sim, for always being loving, supportive, and v understanding. He has been my light and delight of my life, ever since we met, especially during my thesis composition. To conclude, I would like to again thank everyone who has helped me in these past two years, and I would like to extend my appreciation to other people who I did not have an opportunity to mention in the acknowledgments. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 The Chinese Diaspora and Hong Kong Canadians .............................................................................. 1 1.2 Introductory Literature Review: The Chinese Diaspora, Identity, and Ethnic Media ......................... 2 1.3 Framing the Identity of Hong Kong Canadians in the Sing Tao Daily ................................................ 5 1.4 Chapter Outline .................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theory .................................................................................................. 9 2.1 The Modern History of Hong Kong and the Formation of Hong Kongers ........................................... 9 2.2 History of Kong Canadians in Canada and Hong Kong Media in Canada ....................................... 14 2.3 Diaspora Studies Theory: Multifaceted Identities .............................................................................. 22 2.4 Media Construction of Identity ........................................................................................................... 25 2.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 31 3.1 Data Selection ..................................................................................................................................... 31 3.2 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 34 vii Chapter 4: Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 42 4.1 An Analysis of the Form ...................................................................................................................... 42 4.2 Frame 1: China is to be trusted .......................................................................................................... 44 4.3 Frame 2: China is not to be trusted .................................................................................................... 60 4.4 Frame 3: Multiple identities: We are Hong Kongers/Chinese Canadians/Ethnic Chinese ............... 70 Chapter 5: Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 81 5.1 Framing the Handover: To Promote the Ideas of Continuity and Autonomy, and Stability and Prosperity ................................................................................................................................................................ 81 5.2 Framing Hong Kong Canadians: to Promote the idea Flexible and Multifaceted Identities ............ 87 5.3 Conclusion: Media Construction of Multifaceted Diaspora Identities............................................... 89 5.4 Suggestions for future studies about the Chinese Diaspora in Canada ............................................. 95 References ..................................................................................................................................................... 97 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. The Timeframe of the Three Research Periods ............................................................... 33 Table 2. The Quantity of Selected Articles and Pages .................................................................. 34 Table 3. Popular themes generated from the data (Period 1) ........................................................ 37 Table 4. Analysis of modifiers used to describe the Chinese government .................................... 64 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure