From Yellow Peril to Model Minority? A Comparative Analysis of a Newspaper’s Depiction of the Chinese in New Zealand at the Start of the 20th and 21st Centuries

The mainstream media are often held to represent ethnic minorities in stereotypical ways. This paper analyses coverage of the Chinese in New Zealand in a major newspaper at the start of the 20th and 21st centuries to determine the nature of that coverage, what voices dominated, and changes over time. In both periods the newspaper portrayed Chinese largely through the eyes of white New Zealand, the country’s dominant cultural voice. In the earlier period, the Chinese were depicted as the conventional Yellow‑Peril stereotype of the time. In the later period, the Chinese were depicted far more tolerantly, but there was a focus on Chinese involvement in violent crime. The results only partially support overseas research and suggest the issues raised merit further analysis.