Discursive representations of tongqi in selected Chinese newspapers

In recent years, tongqi (homo-wives) have become a social sight in mainland China, while also attracting increasingly scholarly attention. In this article we examined the news reports in China Daily and Global Times, with an aim of investigating China’s news media representations of tongqi. To this end, 25 news reports on tongqi were collected over a 10-year period (2012–2022). These materials were then specifically analyzed by adopting van Leeuwen’s social actor model. Through our analysis of the news discourse, we identified several recurring themes surrounding Chinese tongqi. Prominently, tongqi have been represented in these selected newspapers as (a) women troubled by health problems, (b) women suffering from domestic violence, (c) women faced with a doomed future, and (d) women marching as brave fighters. This article finally sheds light on public knowledge of this marginalized group of women by further exploring socio-cultural factors in the Chinese context that contribute to the representations and portrayals of tongqi.