A critical discourse analysis of the human flesh search engine

Abstract

The crowd-sourcing phenomenon, known as the human flesh search (HFS) in China, is analyzed in this research through the lens of the critical discourse analysis (CDA). The article first introduces the HFS engine phenomenon and its controversies within the Chinese context characterized by government control, communal culture, and inchoate privacy law. This new form of peer-surveillance on social networking sites reveals an uneasy power relation between society and individuals. The crowd, often seen as manipulated or resisting the government in China, can also be seen as enacting the ideology of the elite. The study identifies themes and ideologies in discourses surrounding the HFS phenomenon in China Daily, The International Herald Tribune, and mop.com A comparative analysis of the legally and culturally fluid notions of privacy in China and in the US in this research shows that both the pejorative connotation of privacy and traditional communal cultural values have made their way into China’s new privacy laws. This research unveils the co-enactment of power by media, the public, and the state in China.

Keywords:

• Critical discourse analysis
• human flesh search
• peer-surveillance
• Chinese privacy law