How China and Chinese People Are Visually Represented: The Case of a Series of Liberal Studies Textbooks in Hong Kong

Abstract

Aim. The aim of the research is to examine how Mainland China and Chinese people are represented in the visual materials of four sets of Liberal Studies (LS) textbooks in Hong Kong. Methods. Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, viewing language as a social practice and Teun A. van Dijk’s ideological coding categories are integrated to analyse discursive representations (e.g. the embedded hidden power) in the Hong Kong Today volumes published by four influential commercial publishers: Modern, Ming Pao, Marshall, and Aristo. Results. The analysis reveals that China and mainland Chinese are negatively portrayed in visual images in four commercial LS textbooks, in which the representations concerning mainland China and mainlanders are all found ideologically biased to highlight their negative characteristics and alienness. Conclusions. Through the lens of critical discourse analysis, the reasons underpinning China and its people being represented negatively in LS textbooks are traced to the British colonial government’s manipulation of educational policies, which tends to distance the Hong Kong students from Chinese nationalism.