Constructing and Framing Violent Protests in News Translation: A Narrative Analysis of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests

Mo, Hao (2024) Constructing and Framing Violent Protests in News Translation: A Narrative Analysis of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the construction and framing of the 2019 Hong Kong protests in translation. Using a case study design, it focuses on the protests that occurred in November 2019. Translated news articles on the protests published by BBC Chinese, NYT Chinese, and XNA Chinese, as well as the original English articles, were selected for analysis. This research develops a novel interdisciplinary approach that integrates narrative theory from translation studies with the concept of the protest paradigm from communication studies. The protest paradigm components provide key points for the narrative analysis, while narrative theory is used to analyse how narratives are constructed and framed in translation.

The results reveal that the dominant narratives of the protests constructed by the three news organisations reflect the ideologies embedded in their respective source cultures. XNA Chinese criticises protesters and the West, whereas both BBC Chinese and NYT Chinese advocate liberal democratic values. By framing the protests in different ways, the three news organisations reinforce, weaken, or reproduce the embedded ideologies in their translations.

To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the 2019 Hong Kong protests through the lens of translation. It indicates that translation is not merely a process of linguistic transfer but also a means of promoting ideology to the target Chinese readership, with the potential to shape public perceptions of the protests. However, the dissemination of ideologies through translation is influenced by institutional translation practices, target readership, and broader sociopolitical and ideological factors. The novel interdisciplinary approach provides an explicit methodology for the narrative analysis of protests and is applicable to investigate other types of protests.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Media, Language and Communication Studies
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	19 Jun 2025 09:33
Last Modified:	19 Jun 2025 09:33
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99646
DOI:

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