EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Section 14 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 161 Chen Yu-Wen (University of Helsinki) How China and the Chinese are Perceived in Kazakhstan: A Discourse Analysis of Local Newspapers Key words: China, Kazakhstan, discourse analysis, stereotype, sinophobia Since the new post-Soviet states emerged in Central Asia in 1991, China has been seeking to foster dip- lomatic, political, and economic relations with these new territories. However, the Central Asian populace does not look on Beijing’s inroads into the region as favorably as do official discourses from Central Asian governments. The crux of this analysis lies in delving into this local perspective. The country under inves- tigation is Kazakhstan, which is a good starting point for examination because it is geographically close to China. As the country is normally considered a leading player in Central Asia, an assessment of how its populace perceives China and the Chinese would provide an indication of how other Central Asians respond to their rising powerful neighbor. Four of Kazakhstan’s nationwide print newspapers with the largest circulation size were chosen for examination: Egemen Qazaqstan and Zhas Alash printed in Kazakh, and Kazakhstanskaia Pravda and Vremia published in Russian. Discourse analysis of different languages of newspapers in Kazakhstan reveals that Kazakhstanis’ views toward China and the Chinese are divided. The official discourse in both state-sponsored Russian and Kazakh newspapers is in accordance with the country’s policy toward further engagement with their rising Chinese neighbor. However, negative stereotypes of China and the Chinese, as well as sinophobia, are pervasive in private Kazakh language newspapers. Private Russian newspapers have a more nuanced view toward China, with a hidden inclination toward being critical of that country and its people. Although the majority of these societal voices do not have a direct impact on changing the national policies of Kazakhstan, they are important in the sense that Kazakhstan’s ruling elite must continue to gauge social views and to placate differences in order to secure the stability and legitimacy of the regime. Costa Cátia Miriam (Center for International Studies (ISCTE-IUL)) Drawing New Power Relations: the Press of Macao and the Claim for Identity and Autonomy Key words: Identity, autonomy, colonial power, elite, Macanese press By the end of the 19th century the press was one of the most powerful means for the crafting of own colonial elite discourse. Macao was a tiny territory, operated under Portuguese jurisdiction, where local elites were very active creating newspapers both inside Macau and outside the islands. By the 1890’s there were two titles in Macao, Echo Macaense (1893–1899) and O Lusitano (1898–1899), and one published in Hong Kong, O Independente (1890–1894), promoting a political discourse by the Macanese. Owned and directed by local elites and they staged several debates over the colonial status and governance of Macao. Although mostly written in Portuguese (Cantonese, however, was used too), these outlets reflected the dynamic relations between the Portuguese, Macanese and Chinese elites. These newspapers appeared in a very specific context. In Portugal, people were reacting the British Ultimatum over the African colonies (1890), and Macao was re-profiling itself as it faced the effective separation from China (interdependence was the previous state of affairs) and the consolidation of Hong Kong as port city (complementary in terms of commerce was the previous situation). Meanwhile, both in Portugal and in China a new political discourse was gaining traction. Reacting to the thrust of great foreign powers to their countries, Portuguese and Chinese Republicans were trying to disseminate their ideas. The aim of this article is to understand how Macanese press catered to political debates, while the terri- tory struggled to be resilient to colonial rule and to foreign powers, using autonomy and identity arguments. It systematizes underexploited archival sources and focuses on discourse analyses in the frame of native intellectual movements in Macao in a broader evolving international scene. This approach tries to establish the media an object of analysis through which to appraise local actors’ attempts to reconfigure socio-political relations in and across borders.