‘Transborder conversation’ and oppositional codes: Mediatised diffusion of social movement discourse between Hong Kong and China

Abstract

Since 2003, Hong Kong has gradually transformed into a ‘social movement society’. With the help of new technologies, mediatised ‘transborder conversation’ about social movement across the border with mainland China, as a verbal practice, has become routine. Sojourn students from the mainland, who usually stay in Hong Kong for several years, actively participate in this verbal practice. Taking a ‘discourse-centred online ethnography’ approach, this study aims to unpack the verbal practice of transborder conversations driven by sojourn students during the Umbrella Movement from the theoretical perspective of speech codes. By conducting participant observation and in-depth interviews with 30 participants, two oppositional codes, cynicism and idealism, have been identified. Each code assumes different relations of the self and the state and different political efficacy, which manifests as different interactional practices. The presence of these oppositional codes has endangered the counter-hegemonic nature of transborder conversations.