Annotated Bibliography: "The Hongkonger"

Annotated Bibliography

Note: I have reconsidered the topic and identity to focus on the “Hongkonger,” a research project that will look at protest defending the Cantonese language, Hong Kong’s political autonomy, Hong Kong’s access to resources and political development including a move towards democracy. The object is a series of protests spanning from the begging of the post-colonial period of Hong Kong to the present day ranging from protests on politics, linguistic rights, and access to local resources.

Primary Sources

      Cooper, Daniel. "Hong Kong Pokémon Fans Protest over Pikachu Translation." Engaget. AOL Tech Company.

(Source below: Photos used as primary source)

     Garrett, Daniel. “Visualizing Protest Culture in China’s Hong Kong: Recent Tensions Over Integration.” Visual Communication, vol. 12, no. 1, 2012, pp. 55-70

“Mandarin Chinese Called Cantonese Bastards And Dogs.” Youtube. Youtube Inc.

"Tourism Commission - Tourism Performance." Tourism Commission - Tourism Performance. Web.

Yu, Xin. "Cantonese Protests Spread." Radio Free Asia. Trans. Luisetta Mudie. Rfa.org.

Secondary Sources

1.       Shi, Fayong. “Improving Local Governance without Challenging the State: The Middle-Class Protest un Urban China.” China: An International Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, 2014, pp. 153-162.

Peer-reviewed scholarly article – protest context/rhetoric

In Shi Fayong’s 2014 publication of “Improving Local Governance without Challenging the State: The Middle-Class Protest un Urban China,” the primary idea is that in the context of Mainland China’s sphere of protest, there has been an increase in rights-protection protest through the method of “popular protest” since the 1980s due to slight liberation of governmental control, however, is nonetheless conducted without directly confronting the central government due to illegality of certain methods of demonstration under affiliation with the Communist Party of China. The author develops this idea by giving a brief history and examples of what protests were focused on prior to the 1980’s including a specific lack of right’s-based rhetoric and then counter exemplifying them with recent examples of changed methods of modern Chinese protest. The purpose is to establish that although most protest rhetoric in such demonstrations aim to avoid confronting the central government directly, they have been effective in small scale demonstrations. The argument is aimed at contesters of protest rhetoric in Mainland China and the connecting is established by establishing only brief historical contexts about protest conducted and providing counter arguments to them by stating numerous examples.   

2.       Garrett, Daniel. “Visualizing Protest Culture in China’s Hong Kong: Recent Tensions Over Integration.” Visual Communication, vol. 12, no. 1, 2012, pp. 55-70.

Peer-reviewed scholarly article-protest context & community/identity

In the article “Visualizing Protest Culture in China’s Hong Kong: Recent Tensions Over Integration”, Daniel Garrett argues that recent tensions over integration between Hong Kong and Mainland China not only stems from the differences in regional languages, but also in social issues caused by Mainland tourism, cultural behavioral differences, and issues in allocating resources with an influx of Mainland births in Hong Kong. This idea is developed through a visual approach of pictures throughout the essay used to support explanations of different protests that exemplify the issues stated in the thesis. By doing so, Garret aims to illustrate reasons for political/social tensions and anti-Mainland attitude in Hong Kong. Scholars and students interested in the cause and rhetoric of Hong Kong social protest against Mainland China’s politics can benefit from this article as Garrett vividly illustrates and explains key aspects of the motives of the Hongkongers.

3.       Lai, Meeling. “Cultural Identity and Language Attitudes – Into The Second Decade of Postcolonial Hong Kong.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 32, no. 3, 2011 pp. 249-264.

Peer-reviewed scholarly article – Community/identity

Meeling Lai explores the topic of sociolinguistics in her 2011 publication of “Cultural Identity and Language Attitudes – Into The Second Decade of Postcolonial Hong Kong” and reports that although there has been an increase in the appeal of a dual identity of “Chinese” and “Hongkonger” in Hong Kong after years of the Mother Tongue Education Policy and the policy of Biliteracy and Trilingual, there is none-the-less a majority that identifies as “Hongkongers” due to strong emotional ties with the heritage and culture of Hong Kong. This idea is developed by establishing brief historical context on Hong Kong’s handover to China, statements of preceding studies on the topic, a presentation of an updated research project on language attitudes, and a final analysis of the results. With the results, Lai aims to demonstrate that despite over 10 years of integration policies, people of Hong Kong still hold a strong sense of individual identity. The study is aimed at scholars, urban planners, sociolinguistics, and students of the respective disciplines as the study employs research study techniques and analysis of topics of language attitudes and defines the terms used accordingly.

4.       Gao, Xuesong. “Cantonese is not a dialect: Chinese Netizens’ Defense of Cantonese as a Regional Lingua Franca.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 33, no. 5, 2012, pp. 449-464.

Peer-reviewed scholarly article- Community/Identity

Xuesong Gao wrote “Cantonese is not a dialect” in 2012 to assert the idea that Cantonese is indeed an individual language far from a dialect and warrants protection through protest by speakers in Hong Kong. The thesis is developed through a study analyzing online forum protests and its rhetoric that gave insight to public opinion over the Cantonese language’s label as a dialect. The purpose of the article is to reveal the flaws in the argument over the claim that Cantonese is merely a dialect though a counterargument about Putonghua. The targeted audience includes sociolinguists, protest scholars, and sociologists interested in the public attitude towards the classification of dialect vs language.

5.       Wong, Andrew. “A Quest for Linguistic Authenticity: Cantonese and Putonghua in Postcolonial Hong Kong.” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 41, 2015, pp. 563-576.

Peer-reviewed scholarly article- Community/ Identity

Andrew Wong, in his 2015 “A Quest for Linguistic Authenticity,” argues that Cantonese is in fact the “authentic” Chinese language and not Putonghua warranting social upheaval in the integration of Hong Kong and Mainland China. The claim is developed through analysis of the origins of Cantonese, Tang dynasty poetry and Cantonese importance, as well as foreign influence in the Mandarin dialect that strip the authenticity right off it. The goal is to reverse the perspectives and reveal the irony of the Beijing government for pushing Putonghua when the language itself is a dialect with extensive foreign influence. The article is aimed towards linguist and scholars of protest interested in the discrepancies between Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.

6.       Lam. Jermain T.M. “The Changing Political Culture of the Voters.” The Political Dynamics of Hong Kong Under Chinese Sovereignty. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 2000, pp. 178-206.

Book chapter -Historical Context

Jermain Lam argues in his 2000 publication of the book The Political Dynamics of Hong Kong Under Chinese Sovereignty that colonial Hong Kong’s protest culture was mostly inactive due to a strong Confucianistic culture, but that by the time of the “post-hand-over-period” was faced with signs of alienation and incongruence between political culture and institutions. The thesis is developed through discussing and analysis of protest attitude pre- and post- colonial Hong Kong as well as examination of political changes that triggered the responses. The goal of the argument is to show that protest culture in Hong Kong was strongly fueled by the handover of colony back to the Mainland and that protests against Mainland China are warranted in Hong Kong because of the historical transition. The argument is aimed at those interested in when protest culture was initiated, when it was weak and when it was strong.

7.       Unger, Jonathan, and Geremie Barmé. “The 1989 Democracy Movement in Fujian and its Aftermath.” The Pro-democracy Protests in China: Reports from the Provinces. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1991, pp. 150-165.

Book chapter- Community/ Identity (& historical Context)

In the 1991 publication of the Chapter “The 1989 Democracy Movement in Fujian and its Aftermath” in The Pro-Democracy Protest in China: Reports from the Provinces, Mary Erbaugh and Richard Kraus report the pro-democratic protest on goings in the province of Fujian, a neighboring province of Guangdong and argue that like Guangdong, economic developments were so independent in these southern regions that dependence on the capital of Beijing was not as strong as provinces nearer the political base. This goes to support that Guangdong and surrounding areas were truly forming individuality and uniqueness even back to the 1989 Democratic Movement. The thesis is developed by journalizing a chronological series of democratic protests in the region following the Beijing demonstrations and analyzing the aspect of the separate nature of the southern region and the central political capital. The authors hope to show that information was in fact not scarce throughout the provinces of the Democratic Movement and thus led for the southern provinces to take control themselves with a sense of independent motives with individual protests. The book is geared towards analysts of Chinese politics, historians, and students of the respective areas as they appeal to historical context and analysis of protests across the provinces of China.

8.       Li, Pang-kwong. “Historical Setting: The State and the Society.” Hong Kong From Britain to China: Political cleavages, electoral dynamics and institutional changes. Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2000, pp. 20-36.

Book chapter – Historical Context

Pang-kwong Li’s book Hong Kong From Britain to China: Political cleavages, electoral dynamics and institutional changes published in 2000 speaks on the transitions that came with decolonization of Hong Kong, and specifically the chapter “Historical Setting: The State and the Society” argues that Hong Kong was a unique colony of Britain’s that, upon decolonizing, had built up a strong, educated working class and economy whose figures excelled those of any other decolonizing colony. This thesis is developed with a detailed, chronological historical context over the process of handing Hong Kong back to Mainland China and an analysis of Hong Kong’s prior development under Britain. The section shows that political clash during the transition was inevitable due to the vast differences in development and expectations during the transition period. The piece is targeted towards scholars, historians, and students who may be interested in the Transition of Hong Kong and the causes of apparent political clash.

9.       Perry, Elizabeth J. Challenging the Mandate of Heaven: Social Protest and State Power in
China. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2002. Print.

Book – Similar protest (& Theoretical Source)

Elizabeth Perry in her 2002 publication of Challenging the Mandate of Heaven: Social Protest and State Power in China states that protests in China after the 1989 Democratic Movement at Tiananmen all follow a similar structure including 1) remonstrance 2) a search of political patrons and 3) stress on moralism. This idea is developed with historical context of the Tiananmen protests and a thorough analysis of the rhetoric employed as well as subsequent analysis of protests after the fact including Taipei protests of 1990. With this, Perry aims to provide a structure of protest conducted in China and does so by analyzing past and recent protest rhetoric and draws upon historical context. The material is geared towards scholars and students of protest and well as historians interested Chinese politics as the argument is framed on examining in depth the influenced state of Chinese protest post 1989.

10.   Thynne, Ian. “’One Country’ or ‘Two Systems’? Integration and Autonomy in Perspective.” intuitional Change and Political Transition in Hong Kong. Edited by Ian Scott. St. Martin’s Press, Inc. 1998, pp. 234-245.

Book chapter – Historical Context

Ian Thynnes chapter “’One Country’ or ‘Two Systems’? Integration and Autonomy in Perspective” asserts that there are two different consequential versions of integration and autonomy in the post-colonial Hong Kong including integration as cooperative interaction or as subjugation and autonomy as dynamic self-governance or as isolation. The assertion is explored through analysis of integration aspects of Mainland Chinese policies in post-colonial Hong Kong including development which cause backlash from the people of Hong Kong. The goal is to underline causes of political clash by analyzing specific policies and resulting reactions to those policies. The chapter is particularly useful to scholars and students wanting to identify sectors of the new political scheme that cause tensions between the two parties.

11.   Ho, Kwok-leung. Polite Politics: A Sociological Analysis of an Urban Protest in Hong Kong. Aldershot, Hants, England: Burlington, Vt., 2000. Print.

Book – Theoretical Source

In Kwok-leung Ho’s 2000 edition of Polite Politics, he asserts that political participation in the form of protest in Hong Kong have been organized by three major activities: group meetings, mass meetings, and petitions and demonstrations since before the decolonization period. This idea is illustrated through Ho’s analysis of protest rhetoric and individual phases of the Aged Temporary Housing Areas (ATHA) protests in colonial Hong Kong. The aim of the argument is to demonstrate a structure to the methods of how protests are assembled in a political district as unique as Hong Kong. The piece reaches out to people interested proceedings and initiation of protest in the culturally unique area.

12.   Ng, Dana, and Juanjuan Zhao. “Investigating Cantonese Speakers’ Language Attitudes in Mainland China.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 36, no. 4, 2015, pp. 357-371.

Peer-reviewed scholarly article- Community/ Identity

The article Investigating Cantonese Speakers’ Language Attitudes in Mainland China” written by Dana Ng and Juanjuan Zhao in 2015 follows a similar study as “Cultural Identity and Language Attitudes – Into the Second Decade of Postcolonial Hong Kong,” but stresses the lack of a strong connection to English in Hong Kong, despite integration of the language into the educational system, indicating further isolation of Cantonese as a cultural tag. The article progresses through to the conclusion with a walkthrough of a sociolinguistic study of surveys that asked Cantonese speakers’ perception of the trilingual system of Hong Kong. The goal is to further update previously conducted research on the topic while emphasizing the cultural isolation of Cantonese from English as the strongest tie to cultural identity. The study is aimed at sociolinguists who are interested in recent studies about language attitudes among Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong.

13.   Lo, Shui-Hing, Sonny. “The Political Role of Hong Kong in China’s Tiananmen Tragedy and Legacy.” Competing Chinese Political Vision: Hong Kong vs. Beijing on Democracy. Praeger, 2010, pp. 23-43.

Book chapter- Community/Identity (democratic activists)

Soony Lo in the 2010 publication of Competing Chinese Political Vision establishes the thesis is that knowledge of the Tiananmen Incident caused Hong Kong democratic activists to be more proactive in their support for Mainland democrats which in turn has started not a Mainland integration of Hong Kong, but rather a “Hongkong-ization” of the mainland. The thesis is developed with an analysis of the resulting reaction to the Tiananmen Incident in Hong Kong including political changes in rhetoric in relation to democracy by a specific community in the protest sector. The goal is to emphasize the impact of Hong Kong protesters as a community on the Tiananmen Incident as well as future inseminations of democratic protests in collaboration with democrats in Mainland China. The chapter’s targeted audience includes historians and analyzers of political tensions and protest in China involving Hong Kong’s access and ability to influence democratic protest in Mainland China.

14.   Cheung, Helier. "How Hong Kong's Cantopop Scene Went from Heartbreak to Protest." BBC News. BBC.

Popular Source – Protest Content

In the BBC News report by Helier Cheung, Cheung argues that Cantonese music is a growing outlet for protest messages for pro-Cantonese, pro-democratic movements with the falling industry of Cantonese music. The thesis is outlined with causes of the industries decline to set the motive for protest and analysis of the linguistics of Cantonese and it’s effectiveness in the protest rhetoric presented. The goal is to establish music production as an outlet of protest in the context of the HongKonger identity. The popular source targets those browsing the internet, interested in Chinese political news, musical protest, and musical innovation.

15.   Rath, Robert. "The Politics behind Hong Kong's Pikachu Protests." ZAM. ZAM, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.

Popular Source – Protest Context

In the popular video game news article by Robert Rath in 2016, Rath claims that something as seemingly trivial as a translation change of the Pokémon character, Pikachu, is just as important to the culture and identity of Hongkongers. The thesis is developed through an analysis of the cause and rhetoric of the gatherings in demonstration against this move made by Nintendo. The goal is to identify that younger generations, such as those interested in video games, are just as zealous over linguistic identity and protecting this aspect of being a Hongkonger. The article is geared towards video game fans and scholars/students of protest and protest rhetoric who are interested in smaller outlets for protest in the context of China and Hong Kong.