A critical discourse analysis of women’s roles as mistresses in Chinese corruption news coverage
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jld.17993Keywords:
Critical Discourse Analysis; Mistress; Corruption; China; WomanAbstract
The terms ‘mistress’ or ‘second wife’, translated as qingfu, ernai, xiaosan, have become widely used in Chinese media in recent years. This study employs critical discourse analysis to examine how the mistress/second wife is represented in Chinese corruption news coverage. In particular, this paper analyses thirty seven articles focusing on cadre-mistress relationships that were published on mainstream commercial websites (Ifeng, NetEase, Sina, and Sohu) between 2013 and 2017. The findings of this analysis show that the framing of the mistresses/second wives in these articles follows media censorship and selectively appeals to the public’s negative perception of them. Specifically, the findings reveal that mistresses of corrupt male cadres are afforded no respect in corruption news coverage, and are instead portrayed as ‘toys’ of the cadres who are ‘partners’ in their corruption. Furthermore, this paper’s analysis of the sociocultural context that gives rise to such discourses demonstrates the key role played by social inequalities and gender inequalities in the post-reform era. This study contributes to the literature by illustrating how mistress–cadre relationships are governed by gender inequalities in job opportunities, career development, and income levels, social inequalities in the distribution of wealth and resources, and cultural norms relating to discrimination against concubines. Thus, such relationships cannot be eliminated via public censure.
References
Bamman, D., O’Connor, B. and Smith, N. (2012) Censorship and deletion practices in Chinese social media. First Monday 17(3). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v17i3.3943
Breeze, R. (2011) Critical discourse analysis and its critics. Pragmatics 21(4): 493–525.
Chen, Q. (2012) Women’s unequal access in dual labour market. Doctoral dissertation, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
Chen, F. (2017) Gender and corruption: the cultural script, narratives, and contentions in contemporary China. Modern China 43(1): 66–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0097700416647327
Chen, R. and Xie, B. (2009) Regional policy and its innovation of china from open and reformation. Papers at the Public Administration in the 21st Century: ‘Opportunities and Challenges’. International Academic Conference, Guangzhou [21shiji de gongongguanli ‘jiyu’ yu ‘tiaozhan’ guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwen]. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House.
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (2012) Zhongguo Xinwen Nianjian 2012 [China Journalism Yearbook 2012]. Beijing: China Social Science Press.
D’Angelo, P. (2002) News framing as a multiparadigmatic research program: a response to Entman. Journal of Communication 19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2002.tb02578.x
de Vreese, C. H. (2012) New avenues for framing research. American Behavioral Scientist 56(3): 365–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764211426331
Du, X. (2016) Does Confucianism reduce board gender diversity? Firm-level evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics 136(2): 399–436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2508-x
Du, Y. (2017) Concubinage and motherhood in Qing China (1644–1911): ritual, law, and custodial rights of property. Journal of Family History 42(2): 162–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363199017695726
Ebrey, P. (1986) Concubines in Sung China. Journal of Family History 11(1): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/036319908601100101
Entman, R. M. (1993) Framing. Journal of Communication 43: 51–8.
Entman, R. M. (2007) Framing bias: media in the distribution of power. Journal of Communication 57(1): 163–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00336.x
Fairclough, N. (1993) Critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: the universities. Discourse & Society 4(2): 133–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002002
Fairclough, N. (2001) The discourse of new Labour: critical discourse analysis. In M. Wetherall (ed.) Discourse as Data: A Guide for Analysis 229–66. London: Sage and the Open University.
Fairclough, N. (2003) Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. Hove: Psychology Press.
Fairclough, N. (2017) CDA as dialectical reasoning. In J. Flowerdew and J. E. Richardson (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies 13–25. Abindgon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315739342-2
Faris, R. and Villeneuve, N. (2008) Measuring global internet filtering. In R. Deibert, J. Palfrey, R. Rohozinski and J. Zittrain (eds) Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/7617.003.0004
Feldshuh, H. (2018) Gender, media, and myth-making: constructing China’s leftover women. Asian Journal of Communication 28(1): 38–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2017.1339721
Ferree, M. M. (2003) Resonance and radicalism: feminist framing in the abortion debates of the United States and Germany. American Journal of Sociology 109(2): 304–44. https://doi.org/10.1086/378343
Fincher, L. H. (2016) Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China. London: Zed Books.
Fincher, L. H. (2018) Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China. London: Verso Books.
Gamson, W. A. and Modigliani, A. (1989) Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: a constructionist approach. American Journal of Sociology 95(1): 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1086/229213
Guan, L. (2018) The Five Vice-Premiers in the history of the People’s Republic of China [Zhongong lishi shang wuwei nvxing fuzongli]. DWnews, 20 March. Retrieved on 30 June 2020 from https://www.dwnews.com/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/60046931/%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8B%E7%AC%94%E4%B8%AD%E5%85%B1%E5%8E%86%E5%8F%B2%E4%B8%8A%E4%BA%94%E4%BD%8D%E5%A5%B3%E6%80%A7%E5%89%AF%E6%80%BB%E7%90%86
Guo, R. (2016) Report shows that gender income gap in China widens. [Baogao: Zhongguo Xingbie Gongzi Chaju Zhengzai Buduan Kuoda]. Sohu.com. Retrieved on 20 June 2020 from https://business.sohu.com/20161201/n474599184.shtml
Hassid, J. (2008) Controlling the Chinese media: An uncertain business. University of California, reprinted from Asian Survey 48(3): 414–30. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2008.48.3.414
He, H. (2016) Media’s use of language should have ‘three lines’ [Meiti Yongyu Yao You ‘San Tiao Xian’]. People’s Net, 13 May. Retrieved on 3 July 2020 from http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0513/c241220-28349469.html
He, X. and Ng, K. (2013) Pragmatic discourse and gender inequality in China. Law & Society Review 47(2): 279–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12018
Hernández, J. C. (2019) ‘We’re almost extinct’: China’s investigative journalists are silenced under Xi. New York Times, 12 July. Retrieved on 30 June 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/world/asia/china.journalists-crackdown.html?_ga=2.27831932.1741685715.1594847231- 1896482847.1594847231
Hong, H. (2012) What is the difference between luxury items and corruption? [Shechipin he fubai you shenme guanxi?]. New York Times, 25 October. Retrieved on 30 June 2020 from https://cn.nytimes.com/style/20121025/cc25honghuang/
Jaworski, A. and Coupland, N. (2014) Introduction: perspectives on discourse analysis. In A. Jaworski and N. Coupland, The Discourse Reader, 3rd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
Keliher, M. and Wu, H. (2016) Corruption, anti-corruption, and the transformation of political culture in contemporary China. Journal of Asian Studies 75(1): 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/s002191181500203x
Knüpfer, C. B. and Entman, R. M. (2018) Framing conflicts in digital and transnational media environments. Media, War & Conflict 11(4): 476–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635218796381
Landes, J. (1989) Marxism and the ‘woman question’. In S. Kruks, R. Rapp and M. B. Young (eds) Promissory Notes: Women in the Transition to Socialism 15–28. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Lang, G. and Smart, J. (2002) Migration and the ‘Second Wife’ in South China: Toward Cross?Border Polygyny 1. International Migration Review 36(2): 546–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2002.tb00092.x
Lei, Y.-W. (2016) Freeing the press: how field environment explains critical news reporting in China. American Journal of Sociology 122(1): 1–48. https://doi.org/10.1086/686697
Ling, A. (2002) Guangdong: the whole story of how the ‘opinions’ for punishing ‘bao er nai’ evolved. Chinese Education & Society 35(1): 37–48. https://doi.org/10.2753/ced1061-1932350137
Liu, C. (2007) Zhang Yufen ‘Use the Bolo Knife to Cut the Head of Ernai.’ [Zhang Yufen ‘dadao xiang enai toushang kanqu’]. People’s Net, 1 December. Retrieved on 5 July 2020 from http://paper.people.com.cn/hqrw/html/2007-12/01/content_33815577.htm
Liu, W. (2010) Google released the top 1000 websites [Guge Fabu Quanqiu TOP 1000 Wangzhan Bang]. Wangyi. Retrieved on 5 July 2020 from http://tech.163.com/special/00094IGJ/top1000.html
Liu, Y. (2018) Staging repentance: a discourse analysis of mediated confession in Xi Jinping’s first five-year term. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 47(3): 17–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/186810261804700302
Luo, W. and Sun, Z. (2015) Are you the one? China’s TV dating shows and the Sheng Nü’s predicament. Feminist Media Studies 15(2): 239–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2014.913648
Mann, S. L. (2011) Gender and Sexuality in Modern Chinese History, Vol. 9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (2005) The Provisions for the Administration of Internet News Information Services [Hulianwang Xinwen Xinxi Fuwu Guanli Guiding]. Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Retrieved on 1 July 2020 from http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2005-09/29/content_73270.htm
Minzner, C. (2018) End of an Era: How China’s Authoritarian Revival is Undermining Its Rise. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.12957/rmi.2017.33783
Pan, Z. (2000) Spatial configuration in institutional change: a case of China’s journalism reforms. Journalism 1(3): 253–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/146488490000100302
Rabkin, A. (2012) Scenes from the Chinese Consumerist Revolution. The CUT, 16 August. Retrieved on 30 June 2020 from https://www.thecut.com/2012/08/scenesfrom-the-chinese-consumerist-revolution.html
Reporters Without Borders (2020) 2020 World press freedom index. Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved on 5 July 2020 from https://rsf.org/en/ranking. https://doi.org/10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-5556-20180021
Richet-Cooper, D. (2011) Phoenix TV, China’s fourth estate? Ina Global, 27 January. Retrieved on 25 June 2020 from https://www.inaglobal.fr/en/television/article/phoenix-tv-chinas-fourth-estate
Rofel, L. (2013) Grassroots activism: non-normative sexual politics in post-socialist China. In W. Sun, Y. Guo (eds) Unequal China: The Political Economy and Cultural Politics of Inequality 154–67. Abingdon: Routledge.
Shao, G., Lu, J. and Hao, Y. (2016) Assessing China’s media reform. Asian Perspective 40(1): 27–50. https://doi.org/10.1353/apr.2016.0001
Shen, H.?H. (2005) ‘The first Taiwanese wives’ and ‘the Chinese mistresses’: the international division of labour in familial and intimate relations across the Taiwan Strait. Global Networks 5(4): 419–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2005.00127.x
Shu, X. and Bian, Y. (2003) Market transition and gender gap in earnings in urban China. Social Forces 81(4): 1107–45. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2003.0070
Song, X. and Zhao, G. (2017) China Women’s News published a set of gender discriminatory words, internet users click “like”. [Zhongguo Funv Bao Fabu Xingbie Qishi lei Jinyongci, Wangyou Dianzan Meiti Suyang]. People.cn. Retrieved on 2 July 2020 from http://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0729/c40606-29436114.html
Stockmann, D. (2013) Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taneja, H. and Wu, A. X. (2014) Does the great firewall really isolate the Chinese? Integrating access blockage with cultural factors to explain web user behaviour. The Information Society 30(5): 297–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2014.944728
Tang, D. (2013) Journalists confront China censors over editorial. New York Times, 6 January. Retrieved on 27 June 2020 from https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20130106/c06media-ap/dual/
Tang, H. (2004) Competitions between newspapers in the same city: try best to avoid homogeneous [Baozhi Tong Cheng Jingzheng: Jinli Bianmian Tongzhihua]. People.cn. Retrieved on 20 June 2020 from http://www1.peopledaily.com.cn/GB/paper79/
/1144379.html
Tang, S. (2019) We are in the ‘clickbait’ era [Dang Women Shenchu ‘Biaotidang’ Shidai]. New York Times, 19 July. Retrieved on 5 July 2020 from https://cn.nytimes.com/culture/20190719/wod-clickbait/
Wong, A. (2014) In Communist party parlance, adultery has many names. New York Times, 10 June. Retrieved on 7 July 2020 from cn.nytimes.com/china/20140610/c10adultery/dual/
Wu, J. and Zhang, Z. (2007) The first time that the Chinese government clearly decided the ratio of female suffragettes [Zhongguo Shouci Dui Nvxing Zhan Ren Da Dai Biao de Bi Li Zuo Chu Ming Que Gui Ding]. Xinhua News, 8 March. Retrieved on 8 July 2020 from http://www.gov.cn/2007lh/content_546047.htm
Xiao, S. (2011) The ‘second-wife’ phenomenon and the relational construction of classcoded masculinities in contemporary China. Men and Masculinities 14(5): 607–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184x11412171
Yang, T. (2016) Xin Jinping: Jianchi Zhengque Fagnxiang Chuangxin Fangfa Shouduan, Tigao Xinwen Yulun Chuanboli Yindaoli. Xinhua News, 19 February. Retrieved on 10 July 2020 from http://www.xinhuanet.com//politics/2016-02/19/c_1118102868.htm
Yi, F., Gao, Z. and Zhang, H. H. (2018) What leads to official corruption in China? A politico-economic analysis of economic opportunities and government corruption across China’s provinces. Post-Communist Economies 30(3): 273–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631377.2018.1442055
Yu, H. (2006) From active audience to media citizenship: the case of post-Mao China. Social Semiotics 16(2): 303–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330600664888
Zhang, X. (2014) Changes on phrases while expressing lifestyle problems [‘Shenghuo zuofeng wenti’ de cuoci bianhua]. Wangyi News. Retrieved on 15 July 2020 from http://news.163.com/special/zuofengbad/
Zhang, X. (2015) Waimei: zhongguo tanguan jiucheng hunwaiqing, piaoliang qingfu cheng shenfen xiangzheng. Tencent.com, 1 November. Retrieved on 10 July 2020 from https://news.qq.com/a/20151101/002143.htm
Zhao, Y. (2008) Communication in China: Political Economy, Power, and Conflict. Washington, DC: Rowman & Littlefield.
Zhao, M. (2017) Xin meiti xinwen de shijian [News practice of new media]. In Z. Zhao and J. Zhao (eds) Xinmeiti Yu Xinwen [New Media and News]. Zhongguo Chuanmei Daxue Chubanshe [Communication University of China Press].
Zhao, J. and Xie, L. (2013) We cannot just laugh at corrupt cadres who kept mistresses or second wives. [“fan tan duo se” buneng “yi xiao er guo”]. CPCNEWS, 9 October. Retrieved on 20 December 2020 from http://cpc.people.com.cn/pinglun/n/2013/1009/c241220-23138484.html
