Struggle Between Tradition and Modernity: The Images of Beijing Hutongs in Anglo-American Media

Abstract

ABSTRACT Marrying the attitude system with attribute agenda-setting theory, this paper investigates the images of Beijing hutongs, ancient alleys lined by courtyard residences, in Anglo-American media. The study focuses on the lexical realisation of substantive and affective attributes of hutongs in a self-built corpus consisting of news from 10 mainstream newspapers in the last decade. The findings suggest that hutongs are represented mainly as “modern tourism and leisure destinations” and “traditional residential areas”. While tourists’ delight and eagerness are highlighted in the news describing hutongs as “modern tourism and leisure destinations”, the anger and anxiety of residents, experts and conservationists caused by the deterioration of courtyard residences and over-commercialisation in hutong neighbourhoods are emphasised when hutongs are portrayed as “traditional residential areas”. In addition, appreciation of hutongs’ historic value and scepticism about the legitimacy of government-led demolitions that have caused damage to such value are salient in all news. Besides, the media’s strategic marginalisation of government sectors is also revealed. The study thus identifies hutongs’ struggle between tradition and modernity as reflected from an Anglo-American perspective. The study contributes to image studies by advocating an interdisciplinary theoretical framework and offers implications to the preservation and development of heritage sites in the global context.