Chinese Peasants in the Process of Economic Reform: An Analysis of New York Times's and Washington Post's Opinion Discourses, 1981-2008

摘要

This article follows the critical discourse analytic approach to examine how Chinese peasants were represented in the opinion discourses in 2 major national newspapers in the United States. Our analysis found that images of the Chinese peasants have changed over time. In the early 1980s, they were portrayed both as winners in economic reform and obstacles to further reform. An apolitical and apathetic peasantry emerged during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since the late 1990s, peasants were recognized as losers in economic reform, but their plight was mainly attributed to weaknesses in the political system. Despite the changes, we contend that these images are mutations based on a number of persistent themes, and we argue that the images do tend to justify and naturalize neoliberal economic development under changing social contexts.