Identity construction of Hong Kong's Chief Executive in blogs: A corpus-informed study

A key role of politicians is to “present an argument which they want the electorate to believe” (Wilson, 1990 : 9). Political arguments inherently involve identity work, namely establishing a particular relationship with others. Identity matters in politics, as it influences politicians’ popularity and the degree to which they are supported by the public. To maintain power and win voters’ support, politicians use online social media to shape, perform, and display identities that benefit their political status. Blogs have become an increasingly convenient platform through which politicians can achieve these goals; it is not uncommon to see politicians create blogs in which they share daily events, political views, and comments on current affairs and new policies. Drawing upon the notion of identity in discourse, this chapter investigates identity construction in the blogs of C.Y. Leung, the 3rd Chief Executive (C.E.) of Hong Kong, by examining word frequency, collocates, and concordance lines in a comprehensive database composed of hundreds of C.Y. Leung's blogs. By applying corpus linguistics to the context of Chinese political culture, findings show that C.Y. Leung displayed a C.E. identity that emphasized opportunity creation; encouraged adolescents to develop their career; and expressed concern about Hong Kong's economic development and social issues, particularly housing. Projections of this identity can be attributed to a need to cultivate the image of an ideal Chinese political leader and to sustain the political power of being the C.E. of Hong Kong. This chapter also provides a methodological implication for identity studies with corpus linguistics. Copyright © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Leung Sze Ming and Chan Sin-wai; individual chapters, the contributors.