From Local Dynamics to Great-Power Narratives: Reframing the National Identity of Hong Kong Youth in the Post-NSL Era

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_84How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Sino-US Relations; Official Media; Constructivism

Abstract

This paper used frame analysis and comparative text research to examine the construction of Hong Kong youth’s national identity in the discourse of China and the United States after the implementation of the National Security Law. Based on 100 official texts from both countries, the study finds that the Chinese narrative shapes young people as “patriotic future builders” who need to be guided and integrated into national development through a chain of “value anchoring - ability forging - action empowerment”. The American narrative, by means of a binary framework of “victim-hero-intervention”, portrays it as a “democratic fighter” whose rights have been violated but who dares to resist. The two opposing identity labels show the geopolitical implications of Hong Kong youth as discourse proxies. From the perspective of discourse construction and identity politics, this study explains how narrative competition has become a core mechanism in the ideological game between major powers, providing theoretical insights into the new forms of international competition in the 21st century.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yexin Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/30
TI  - From Local Dynamics to Great-Power Narratives: Reframing the National Identity of Hong Kong Youth in the Post-NSL Era
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 11th International Conference on Social Sciences and Economic Development (ICSSED 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 812
EP  - 821
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_84
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_84
ID  - Wang2026
ER  -