Building a Theoretical Framework for Studying Chinese Discourses on Identity, Sovereignty, and Nation-Building

Chapter 8 “Building a Theoretical Framework for Studying Chinese Discourses on Identity, Sovereignty, and Nation-Building” relates the main observations to a broader debate on the implications of discursively foregrounding issues such as ‘identity’ and ‘nationalism’ in the HK/Taiwan/China context. Besides showing how key notions in discourse theory (for example, on antagonism and hegemonic relations) are applicable to this context, this chapter also offers a theoretical paradigm to study official Chinese discourse on sovereignty issues. It consists of the discursive practices of (1) myth construction and perpetuation in the cultural, political and historical domains; (2) antagonistic portrayals of us/them dichotomies; and (3) hegemonic articulations, an illustration of which can be found in scheme, showing the China Daily's strategies of symbolic construction.