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Shiqi Zhang

Instructor Rachel Feldman

Writing 2

13 October 2019

Hong Kong Protest in Different Genres and Rhetorical Situations

What is genre? Answers dissecting this term from different perspectives vary from a

collection of writings having a common purpose and audience to presenting a particular format.

Lloyd Bitzer once explains: “From day to day, year to year, comparable situations occur, prompting

comparable responses; hence rhetorical forms are born and special vocabulary, grammar, and style

are established.” Bluntly, genres are nothing but a path shown up only when thousands of people

walk through. That is, there are no rules or standards set up at first. Take country music as an

example from Kerry Dirk’s “Navigating Genres.” At the time country music has not occurred, is

there an authority standing out and saying “you must lose your wife in the lyrics, otherwise it can’t

belong to country music”? Obviously not. In fact, when more and more people spontaneously

express feelings of losing lovers, jobs, and hometowns in their songs, a path shows up, where after

the first person leaves some tracks on the ground, the second person steps on the tracks, following

but making it more clear. As time passes, thousands of descendants continue to imitate and expand

the road with their characteristics, like adding into some political elements other than solely

depicting country life, but, most importantly, leave some traits in common. This leads to the

formation of conventions that, for example, country music usually tells a depressing story and

includes a memorable chorus, etc. In short, genres are a form of writing both established and

flexible. Recently, some protesters take to the street in Hong Kong against the police and the

government act. While the people of Hong Kong express their yearning for freedom, the outside

world also comments on the event. Despite various opinions, they all communicate via different

genres. As two typical genres in this political movement, open letters and blogs have each particular
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conventions which contribute to developing language within different rhetorical situations on the

Hong Kong protest.

Open letters, a specific genre, is intended to a person or group of people but the author makes

it available to the public through newspapers or online media. First as a kind of letter, the author

usually makes the recipient clear at the beginning and signs at the end. The language is quite formal

and the subject is in the first person such as “I sincerely appeal to you.” Though in a similar format,

open letters differ from purposes - asking for actions, judging the recipient, or drawing attention on

an issue, etc. The style of writing also depends on authors. In a modern political open letter, it is

often expected to be written to a political leader or group and be published through online media.

There are two samples of political open letter regarding the recent Hong Kong protest. They are

intended to British Members of Parliament and German Chancellor Merkel from Hong Kong people

published on websites, calling on support on protecting Hong Kong’s human rights, which meet the

expectations. In formal language and the first person with a clear sender and recipient to address a

problem and prompt some actions, these two letters well conform to the conventions of the genre.

To scrutinize the texts, the diction and the tone of both pieces are formal, decent, and tactful. The

structure is well-organized, where the purpose of writing presents in the first paragraph; the

explanation and logic are well-developed, where historical background and accusation to the

government are following for explaining the point of contradiction causing the problem. This is not

only for the political leader the author sends to but also for the general public to have a clear

understanding, which reflects another convention of open letters, its “open” nature.

Blogs, another specific genre, are a form of online journal displayed on informational

websites. Everyone can write and share through it. It can be about everything, from personal diaries

to formal articles. As such, the biggest characteristic of blogs is its platform, unlike any other

traditional media, that it’s based on the internet. Taking advantage of that, “blogging, above all else,

is conversational. It is social. It is networked (Bradshaw).” Countless blogs are posted on the

website every day in chronological sequence. Text, graphs, or videos are media used in blogs that
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spark in the established virtual community, but their contents are widely varied in topics, ideas, and

lengths. As the internet flourishes in the 1990s, the emergence of blogs serves to satisfy people’s

wish to get more connected between personal and public, and it is continuously booming now.

There are two samples of blogs regarding the same topic, recent Hong Kong protest. One is on

Twitter, another is on Weibo, the Chinese biggest social media. Sample 3 is from Denise Ho, a

Hong Kong musician and pro-democratic activist, and Sample 4 is from People's Daily, the

Communist Party newspaper. As well-known individual and media, they have a blue checkmark or

“V” next to ID or profile photo. This is a unique identification of blogs to distinguish between

normal users and accredited influential bloggers, which adds credibility to them. When we look

down on the content, both sample blogs contain a short length of the text and a picture. In the times

that people gain information from the fragmented textual stream by quickly sliding the screen by

thumbs, it’s significant to post a short, clear message and pictures which help catch the eyes of the

audience. They also use a hashtag to identify a specific topic at the end of the blog. Clicking on the

blue hyperlink following the pound sign, the audience would see more posts regarding the topic.

This establishes a connection between this post and others’ and expands the scope through people’s

interest in reading. Blogs, as a genre, are designed to survive in such an information age.

Genre itself cannot determine what the writing will be like. Imagine that genre is the type of

building for its specific function, like an apartment, office building, or mall. Genre may decide how

it looks like, but it is the environment that determines what material each of the brick is made of.

For example, a sea-view house will not possess a wooden structure because of the humidity, and an

apartment in a windy area will not consist of erodible rock. Rhetorical situation, accordingly, is the

context of the writing that decides how we present our meaning. In “Making Choices in Writing” by

Jessie Szalay, it explains that “your rhetorical situation will largely determine what choices you

make.” So what choices do the authors make?

In terms of the genre “political open letter,” the rhetorical situation is expected to be while a

problem arises in an area or a country, to which the attitude the affected people hold is urgent and
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concerned, a letter is composed to a political leader who is in a higher position to call for support.

Due to the situation that a problem is arising, the authors make their word choice very carefully to

illustrate how severe the fact is. In this case that Hong Kong people accuse the Chinese government

of destroying their freedom, the diction intends to describe the “crime” that the government has

committed. In Sample 1, the author complains that China has “breached” the terms of Declaration

and “eroded” the institutions, police “brutality” against protesters has “escalated,” and officers are

“complicit” in “suppressing” human rights and “undermining” freedom. Those are all derogatory

terms that add some gravity to the problem and help the audience gain a comprehensive

understanding of what happened in Hong Kong and what the conflict point is. The choice of word is

very formal and precise, satisfying the expectation of this genre. For example, the word “breach”

means violating especially law and people’s rights which implies what they are suffering, better

than simply using “violate” or “disregard.” Similarly, Sample 2 incorporates “assaulted,” “dire

situation,” “threaten,” “disrespect,” and “reneged” that serve the same function as in Sample 1. This

strategy effectively forms a view that what Hong Kong people are struggling for and evokes the

audience’s compassion to achieve the goal that persuading them to stand by their side.

In the rhetorical situation that the affected people are concerned with the problem and call for

support in urgency, some other choices stimulate the political leader to take action. Both samples

repeatedly employ the inclusive language that “I” or “we” are talking to “you” and verbs that are

provocative like “call upon you,” “urge you,” “appeal to you,” “please send a strong message,”

“sincerely request,” and “please stand with Hong Kong.” Directly addressing the recipient, the

authors ask the target audience to be aware of their request, not sending to any other person but you,

and take actions to support us, now. Among these words, “please” and “sincerely” express the

authors’ respect to the political leader, which seems more courteous and decent so it is more

acceptable to the recipient and appropriate to the public, which conforms to its “open” nature. The

authors of two open letters also use logos and pathos to arouse the audience’s impulsion to stand out

for them. In Sample 1, it includes that “Britain has a unique legal, historical and moral
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responsibility to ensure the Declaration’s implementation.” Logically giving the reason that Britain

has the “unique responsibility,” the author locks on the target and implies to Britain that you must

support us since it is strongly associated with you. In Sample 2, the author makes an analogy

between DDR people and Hong Kong people but says that they are in a worse position since “we

are now faced with a ruthless police force comparable to the soldiers deployed to the Tiananmen

Square Crackdown.” This strategy is an appeal to pathos, forcing the audience to directly face an

emotionally-charged inquiry that how miserable it is under a non-democratic regime and will spur

some favorable response.

Although within the same genre and topic, according to Kerry Dirk, people recognize the

rhetorical situation of their actions and choose to act in a manner that would result in the outcome

they desired, which leads to completely different contents as the two blogs present. Standing on the

opposite point of view which means being in different rhetorical situations, in Sample 3 and 4,

Denise Ho condemns the police’ violence while People’s Daily supports the police enforcing the

law. Sample 3 incorporates a short vivid story: “this man was crying with anger towards police line:

‘Why are you treating Hong Kong ppl like this? You are Hongkonger too!’”As a pro-democratic

activist, when facing such suppression on protesters, Ho chooses to evoke people’s compassion

from the perspective of the weak side by utilizing emotive language such as “crying with anger” to

tell a real story. It includes a quotation of the protester with a rhetorical question inside to query the

act of the police and draw out heartfelt pondering from the audience. The informal nature of blogs

induces the usage of an abbreviation like “ppl” instead of “people” in Sample 3. It also includes a

picture illustrating a protester who wears protective glasses and a mask and holds a sign saying

“Don’t shoot, you will regret it for life,” which effectively elaborates on the text. Under the

situation that unarmed people fighting against the police who abuse their power and the state who

determines the nature of their protest as an insurgency, this emotion-driving strategy motivates the

audience, who cares about Hong Kong all over the world, to stand with them.
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By contrast, under the rhetorical situation that convincing the audience that the behavior of

the police and the state they stand for are just, Sample 4 incorporates short strong syntax with

exclamation mark at each of the end of the sentence, such as “repost and relay,” “show our

attitude,” “say no,” and “support enforcing,” to demonstrate party’s firm opinion to resolutely

support Hong Kong police. Since Weibo is only widely used in mainland China, the audience of

this blog is mainly mainland people who can’t use twitter and other foreign social media blocked by

the national Great Fire Wall. The primary purpose of this blog, in the context that supporting the

pursuit of freedom of Hong Kong people has dominated in democratic countries’ consensus, is to

infuse “police and the government are just” to mainland people as preconceived notion and incite

public opinion to be antagonistic to Hong Kong protesters. People’s Daily utilizes aphorism “back

against the wall” at the beginning to illustrate the conciseness of its usage of language as state

media and the situation that the police are compelled to take action on the protesters by their radical

act, which indicates their justice. Plus, according to the “What’s on Weibo” website, using the

“Protect Hong Kong” and “Officers, We Support You” slogans, People’s Daily has also issued an

illustration that shows three police officers carrying weapons and protective screens. Behind them

are protesters, and above them is China’s Five-starred Red Flag. This aims to invoke the

nationalism of the audience to stand with the police and the state. In a word, Sample 3 and 4,

discussing the same topic that the police are suppressing the protesters, have two opposite versions

due to different rhetorical situations, which attributes to their separate audience and opposite stances

on the Hong Kong topic.

People of Hong Kong are suffering from police violence and the uncompromising

government, so they call for foreign help via open letter, hoping the world listen to their voice,

while blog users compose the most concise, provocative language to persuade the audience to stand

by their sides. I can’t tell which genre is better because they all contribute to authors’ successful

expression. There are countless genres in the human world, which all spark in the way helping us

better articulate our ideas.

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Sample 1

Letter to your MP

Uphold the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.

I am writing to you, my local MP, to call upon you to ensure that Britain upholds its obligations

under the terms of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.

This legally-binding treaty guaranteed that, for 50 years after 1997, Hongkongers’ rights, freedoms

and way of life would be ensured by law. In particular, the Declaration guaranteed that

Hongkongers would enjoy fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of the

press and freedom of assembly, among others.

China has breached the terms of this Declaration on many occasions, eroding the executive,

legislative and judicial institutions that are supposed to safeguard Hongkongers’ civil and political

rights and freedoms.

The latest breach comes in the form of the Extradition Bill, which would allow dissidents in Hong

Kong to be sent to mainland China to face trial. The Bill provoked massive and ongoing protests

with nearly two million people taking to the streets.

In spite of her declaration that “the Bill is dead”, Chief Executive Carrie Lam has not formally

withdrawn it.
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Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms are under attack. Police brutality against protesters and

journalists has escalated, shielded by a government that is not accountable to the people.

Britain has a unique legal, historical and moral responsibility to ensure the Declaration’s

implementation. That is why we are calling upon British parliamentarians to impose sanctions on

those persons responsible for or complicit in suppressing Hongkongers’ human rights and freedoms.

We are also calling upon Britain to include provisions on human rights, civil liberties and

democratisation in any post-Brexit agreements with Hong Kong and China. Britain must stand with

Hong Kong.

I urge you to write to the Foreign Secretary and ask them what concrete steps they will take to

uphold the Declaration and take steps to put in place sanctions against persons that are involved in

undermining freedom in Hong Kong.

Please send a strong message to our new Prime Minister that Britain must stand by its promises and

defend Hong Kong’s freedom.

Sample 2

Dear Chancellor Merkel,

We are a group of Hongkongers. As you may be aware, civilians in Hong Kong are now being

assaulted by the police on a daily basis. We sincerely request that you or members of your Cabinet

receive our delegation prior to your upcoming visit to China. Germany is a country that advocates
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democracy and human rights. We appeal to you as Federal Chancellor of Germany to express

concern over our dire situation and put forward our demands to the Chinese government during

your stay.

Germany should be wary of making deals with China as the Chinese government does not abide by

international rules and repeatedly breaks its promises. In 1984, Britain and China signed the Sino-

British Joint Declaration, which states that Hong Kong shall continue to enjoy freedoms of speech,

of assembly and of the press after its reunification with China in 1997. Hongkongers shall also

enjoy a high degree of autonomy under the "one country, two systems" arrangement. However, over

the past 22 years, the Chinese government has put more emphasis on "one country" rather than "two

systems". The Chinese government not only threaten opposing voices and disrespect our language,

but have also time and again reneged on their promises to give us universal suffrage.

Chancellor Merkel, as someone who grew up in the DDR, you have had first-hand experience in

how life could be like under a non-democratic regime. The Germans stood bravely on the frontline

of the battle against authoritarianism during the 1980s. We are now in the same position as the non-

violent protesters of the “Monday Demonstrations” were in, but instead of the DDR military forces,

we are now faced with a ruthless police force comparable to the soldiers deployed to the Tiananmen

Square Crackdown. We Hongkongers have been privileged to enjoy freedom and rights (albeit

limited and deteriorating) fought for by your fellow citizens in the DDR and other parts of Europe.

Today you could help us in another battle against the oppression of freedom.

Our 5 key demands are:

● Complete withdrawal of the extradition bill

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● Retraction of the characterization of the protests as a "riot"

● Unconditional release of arrested protesters

● Formation of an independent commission of inquiry to investigate alleged police brutality

● Implementation of genuine universal suffrage as stipulated in the Basic Law of Hong Kong

We appeal to you to support our struggle against China's suppression of human rights. We kindly

request that you or members of your Cabinet meet with our delegation before your visit to China.

We hope that the current situation in HongKong and our five demands w ill be part of your agenda.

Please stand with Hong Kong and show us the courage and determination against authoritarianism

that Germany and other European nations had displayed before the end of the Cold War.

Hongkongers in Germany Concern Group

Civil Human Rights Front

Joephy Wong Sze-ting

Joshua Wong Chi-fung

Alice Yu Ka-hei

Sample 3

Denise Ho:

This man was crying with anger towards police line : “Why are you treating

Hong Kong ppl like this? You are Hongkonger too!”

His sign says: “Don’t shoot, you will regret it for life.”

#StandwithHK
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Sample 4

People’s Daily:

Back against the wall! Now, repost and relay, show our clear attitude! Say no to violence, support

enforcing the law solemnly of Hong Kong police by action! #Officers,

we support you# !

Works Cited

Bradshaw, Paul. “An Attempt to Define Blogging as a Genre.” Online Journalism Blog, 13 Nov.

2008,https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/11/13/an-attempt-to-define-blogging-as-a-

genre/.

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.”

Ho, Denise. “This Man Was Crying with Anger towards Police Line : ‘Why Are You Treating

Hong Kong Ppl like This? You Are Hongkonger Too!‘His Sign Says :‘Don't Shoot, You

Will Regret It for Life."#StandwithHK Pic.twitter.com/gL5tYqmISR.” Twitter, 6 Oct. 2019,

https://twitter.com/hoccgoomusic/status/1180784926607564800?s=21.
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Koetse, Manya. “How the Hong Kong Protests Are Discussed on Chinese Social Media.” What's on

Weibo, 14 Aug. 2019, https://www.whatsonweibo.com/how-the-hong-kong-protests-are-

discussed-on-chinese-social-media/.

People’s Daily. “退无可退无需再退！此刻，转发接力，亮出我们的鲜明态度！向暴力说不，

用行动支持香港警察严正执法！#阿sir我们挺你#” Weibo, 7 Aug. 2019,

https://weibointl.api.weibo.cn/share/97110047.html?weibo_id=4402782326699073.

“Stand With Hong Kong.” Stand with Hong Kong, https://petition.standwithhk.org/.

Szalay, Jessie. “Making Choices in Writing.”

Wong, Joshua. “An Open Letter to Merkel.” Facebook, 5 Sept. 2019,

https://www.facebook.com/200976479994868/posts/2458123297613497?sfns=mo.