‘Same, same but different’: representations of Chinese mainland and Hong Kong people in the press in post-1997 Hong Kong

After Hong Kong’s return to Chinese Sovereignty in 1997, the terms ‘mainlander’ and ‘Hongkonger’ have been widely used by English-language media Kong differentiate between people from mainland Kong. This study examines representations of mainlanders Hongkongers a 17.4-million-token corpus containing 30,279 articles published 1998 2019 South China Morning Post, leading newspaper By comparing collocational behaviour noun lemmas mainlander Hongkonger, identifies topoi, or stereotypical characterizations, associated with two groups. The analysis demonstrates way which ‘othering’ sometimes discrimination against migrants/visitors has served as part process through distinctive ‘Hongkongers’ identity’ is pronounced after 1997-handover English language record.