The Mediettes
Sarah Garman
Analytical Questions: By conducting these interviews, I hope to answer
some questions essential to my research.
Upon answering these questions, the expert interviewees will have
directed my research to a more focused topic, and will have given me the
background information necessary to write a comprehensive report on my
research.
1)
How has the media’s portrayal of mainland
Chinese changed since the handover of Hong Kong to
2)
What are the stereotypes commonly applied to
mainland Chinese, and do they exist in
3)
What is the public opinion of mainland Chinese,
and is this opinion supported by the television in
4)
Is there a discrepancy in way the older and
younger generations in
Experts: Professor Staci
Ford is a Professor of American Studies at
Professor Eric Kit-wai Ma is an
associate Professor at the
Method of Interviews: Since
both Professor Ford and Professor Ma have very busy schedules and could devote
little time to these interviews, the interviews were conducted via email. I sent each professor a list of interview
questions for them to answer at their leisure.
Analysis of Each Interview:
After sending Professor Ma the interview questions, he replied having
only answered two of the questions.
However, Professor Ma did send me three of the papers he had recently
written concerning the attitude of Hong Kongers towards mainland residents, and
the changing identity in Hong Kong (Translocal
Spatiality, A Transborder Desire, and Top Down Patriotism and Bottom Up
Nationalism in
1. How long have you
been a Professor at the
Professor
Ma has been a Professor at CUHK for 9 years.
2. What interests you
about communication and popular culture in
Professor Ma seems to have an
interest in the “…redrawing of psychological boundaries between
3. What were your
experiences in
In Top-Down Patriotism and Bottom-Up Nationalism in Hong Kong,
Professor Ma stated that “Since the 1990’s, especially after 1997,
the differences between Hong Kong and mainland China have been less distinctive
(pg. 3).” Professor Ma has had
extensive experience in
4. To what extent do
you think public identity is shaped by the influence of the media?
This question was perhaps too
broad, for Professor Ma had no comment and none could be found in his papers.
5. What seems to be
the general attitude in
Presently, the general attitude
seems to be one of change. The
6. In what way do you think the public opinion
of mainland Chinese residents has changed from before 1997?
Professor Ma stated that before
1997, “Local culture was strengthened by “othering”
7.
And to what extent do think this is due to a change in
the media’s portrayal of the
mainland Chinese residents since 1997?
According to Professor Ma,
“China in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s was indeed
poor, and did show little diversity in its population,” but that
“this image continued to be portrayed in the mainlander stereotypes in
Hong Kong mass media in the 1980’s and 1990’s (Top-Down pg. 16).” The
media has changed its presentation of mainlanders, for instance since 1997,
“The rising popularity of the term “Greater Pearl River
Delta” in the media is indicative to the re-imagination of Hong Kong not
as a distinctive colony, but an integral part of South China (Top-Down pg. 6).” This is an active attempt on the part of the
media to find common ground between Hong Kong and China, and thus to help the
residents of Hong Kong to feel a sense of brotherhood with mainland China.
8. During your time in
Professor Ma mentioned that the
“
9. What are the
stereotypes that presently exist in
Recently, Professor Ma did some
field work in mainland
10. Have you noticed a discrepancy in the way
older and younger generations perceive
mainland Chinese residents?
Professor Ma
had no comment on this issue.
11. Have there been any specific television
programs in
There were two programs mentioned
by Professor Ma. These were Black Ice and Up Where We Belong. According to Professor Ma in Transborder Desire, “Black Ice is
inflating an idealized modern
12. How much censorship is there of Hong Kong
television coming directly from
Professor Ma had no comment on this
issue, but a sense of censorship is implied in his response to the following
question.
13. Within
Professor Ma did state that
“…in the face of the demand for re-sinicization, the discources of
‘resisting communists’ and ‘othering
14. It seems to me that before the 1997 handover,
Hong Kongers were more inclined to
attack the people of mainland
Professor Ma had no comment towards
this question, and does not address it in his papers. Perhaps this is because he does not agree
with the statement, or perhaps he feels it is a smaller issue than the whole
issue of stereotyping mainland
After having difficulty
coordinating schedules, I decided to send Professor Ford my questions as
well. She answered each of the
questions, and since I did not have to look for her answers within three
papers, my analysis will be included in the comparison/conclusion section.
Comparison of the Two Experts and Conclusion: I found my two expert interviewees different
in length and style of response, but I feel that the interviews do not
contradict one another. Professor Ma was
reluctant to give me any of his time, resulting in a “treasure hunt”
for his responses; however, I feel very satisfied in the support his papers
gave me and could not have hoped for a more reassuring substantiation to my
research. It is likely that Professor Ma
found some of my questions general (see question 2 for Professor Ma), but more
likely that they were so similar to papers he had previously written that he
did not find it necessary to reiterate himself.
Professor Ford was more willing to answer my questions, and answered
each of them according to her experience.
However, Professor Ford is an American Studies Professor, and thus found
some of my questions difficult to answer.
Many of her responses were prefaced with “Hard to say” or
“Depends”. Professor Ford
also had a problem with the same question Professor Ma had a problem with (see
question 3 for Professor Ford). Both
professors found this question too vague to answer. In asking this question, I was not asking for
a lengthy description of all the professor’s pre-1997 experiences;
rather, I was attempting to determine whether or not the professor had had any
pre-1997 experiences in
Bibliography
Bordwell,
David. Planet
Culture, Politics, and Television in
Top-Down
Patriotism and Bottom-Up Nationalism in
Transborder Desire: fantasizing, learning
and apprehending a higher modernity. Eric
Kit-wai Ma. 28 November 2004.
Online
Resources:
TVBI: http://www.tvb.com/
HK
Television Programs Database: http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~lib/electronic/hktvd.html
Expert Contact Information
Professor Eric Kit-wai Ma, The
Chinese University of
Professor Staci Ford,
Appendix
Professor Ma (see papers, Classroom Across the Pacific website): 1. How long have you been a Professor at the Chinese University Hong Kong ? 9 yrs 2. What interests you about communication and popular culture in Hong Kong? 20 yrs 3. What were your experiences in Hong Kong before the 1997 handover? qn too general, 4. To what extent do you think public identity is shaped by the influence of the media? 5. What seems to be the general attitude in Hong Kong towards the mainland? 6. In what way do you think the public opinion of mainland Chinese residents has changed from before 1997? 7. And to what extent do think this is due to a change in the media’s portrayal of the mainland Chinese residents since 1997? 8. During your time in Hong Kong before the 1997 handover, did you notice any stereotypes that Hong Kongers had of mainland Chinese residents? 9. What are the stereotypes that presently exist in Hong Kong of mainland Chinese? 10. Have you noticed a discrepancy in the way older and younger generations perceive mainland Chinese residents? 11. Have there been any specific television programs in Hong Kong that included blatant stereotypical portrayals of mainland residents? If so, can you name some of these programs? 12. How much censorship is there of Hong Kong television coming directly from Beijing 13. Within Hong Kong media, is there a sense of political correctness, a direct effort to avoid generalizations of mainland Chinese residents? 14. It seems to me that before the 1997 handover, Hong Kongers were more inclined to attack the people of mainland China government of China Professor Ford
How long have you been a Professor at
12 years
And what made you want to teach at HKU?
My husband and I decided to relocate to HK, I contacted
several universities,
liked HKU the best and was able to establish a connection
here.
Have you had any experiences in
Not sure what you're getting at here? Since we moved
here in the early 1990s,
there were lots of experiences prior to the handover.
Feel free to ask a more
specific question...
How much do you think television in
Hard to say. Most of our students watch some TV but
numbers of those who have
access to a full range of stations (cable) are still rather
limited. When I
teach popular culture and ask this question, they tell me
that they watch but
don't really feel particularly influenced. However, it
could be that they
haven't really given much thought to the question.
To what extent do you think public identity is shaped by the
influence of the
media?
Again, hard for me to say. I think HK people are quite
attuned to what media
reports - and they are keen to know what outside media
sources think of HK but
'public identity' is a pretty big label.
What seems to be the general attitude in
Depends on your political stance. Keep in mind that
the borders are more
porous than media reports in the
family still in the mainland, or commute themselves back and
forth. "The
Mainland" is different than the govenment in
cultural ties to
don't really understand HK people.
In what way do you think the public opinion of mainland
Chinese residents has
changed from before 1997?
I think there are still some pretty strong stereotypes of
'mainlanders' but
there is a bit more understanding that the stereotypes don't
hold all that
often. There is still anxiety among students that
mainlanders will have a leg
up in the job market in certain places.
And to what extent do think this is due to a change in the
media's portrayal
of the mainland Chinese residents since 1997?
I don't think there's been that much change, I think it's
more a matter of
more Mainlanders coming to HK. But I don't read the
Chinese press so I'm only
going on the images seen in the western press - very limited
sample.
During your time in
stereotypes that Hong Kongers had of mainland Chinese
residents?
Yes - they were seen as uneducated, unfashionable,
aggressive, rather backward
What sorts of stereotypes, if any, do you presently see in
mainland Chinese?
The old stereotypes still exist except now the label of
materialistic, and/or
wealthy is thrown about a bit more...
Have you noticed a discrepancy in the way older and younger
generations
perceive mainland Chinese residents?
I think younger people are more anxious about mainlanders
and lack experience
their elders have.
Have you seen any specific portrayals of mainlanders in
that you could share with me?
I'm more familiar with film portrayals...Keep in mind that
HK soap operas are
in Cantonese with no subtitles so I don't watch them and
that's where the
stereotypes would creeep in. You need to interview
people who are more in
touch with Cantonese-language sources!