Negotiating Discursive Space: Chinese News Reporting on Singles Day

This thesis explores how Chinese newspapers report on Singles Day, a holiday celebrated on November 11. The thesis covers the origins of Singles Day and how it has evolved from an Anti-Valentine’s Day to a Global Shopping Festival. This development, amongst others, is represented by the term “Double 11”, which has become Alibaba’s precious trademark to promote this holiday. Furthermore, a chapter illustrates how top-down and bottom-up forces constitute China’s media landscape, and also explains what methodologies have been used for the study. The main body consists of an analysis and discussion of six newspaper articles in Chinese. By analyzing articles by the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the Beijing News, a mainstream newspaper, the thesis compares and contrasts what discourses emerge in two newspapers in Beijing and how these newspapers differ in style and content. A qualitative discourse analysis has resulted in the main...Show moreThis thesis explores how Chinese newspapers report on Singles Day, a holiday celebrated on November 11. The thesis covers the origins of Singles Day and how it has evolved from an Anti-Valentine’s Day to a Global Shopping Festival. This development, amongst others, is represented by the term “Double 11”, which has become Alibaba’s precious trademark to promote this holiday. Furthermore, a chapter illustrates how top-down and bottom-up forces constitute China’s media landscape, and also explains what methodologies have been used for the study. The main body consists of an analysis and discussion of six newspaper articles in Chinese. By analyzing articles by the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the Beijing News, a mainstream newspaper, the thesis compares and contrasts what discourses emerge in two newspapers in Beijing and how these newspapers differ in style and content. A qualitative discourse analysis has resulted in the main finding that the People’s Daily mainly provides positive, informative reports on how the holiday is progressing, while the Beijing News creates vivid and sensational narratives that constructively criticize the success story of Singles Day.Show less

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Negotiating Discursive Space: Chinese News Reporting on Singles Day