Discursive Construction Of China’s National Image From The Perspective Of Critical Discourse Analysis

The China International Import Expo(CIIE)is a significant diplomatic activity for constructing China’s national image in the new era.Taking CIIE-related news reports in China Daily as the research data,with the theoretic framework of Wodak’s Discourse-historical Approach,this thesis explores the discursive construction of China’s national image from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis.Firstly,from a macro perspective,with the aid of corpus software Ant Conc 3.5.8,keywords are extracted to analyze the discourse topic of CIIE’s news discourses.Next,from a micro perspective,by adopting discursive strategies(nomination,predication,argumentation and perspectivization,etc.)under Discourse-historical Approach,this thesis analyzes the discursive strategies,specific linguistic means adopted to construct China’s national image in CIIE’s news discourse and the effects achieved.Finally,the social context is analyzed to reveal the economic and cultural contexts which produce and influence news discourse in the construction of the national image.The study finds that,macroscopically,China Daily focuses on the topic of “economy”,indicating that the CIIE is a Chinese solution aiming to benefit the whole world,achieving a national image based on “balance” and “economy”.Through specific linguistic analysis,the study finds out that CIIE-related news discourses construct multiple national images of China:(1)China is an opener and guider of globalization with a broad market,which is realized mainly through nomination(metaphors),predication and argumentation(topos of numbers),highlighting the broad economic prospects of China in the dimensions and quality of opening-up;(2)China is the defender and builder of globalization in compliance with the international order,which is achieved through nomination and argumentation(topos of danger);(3)China is a sharer and contributor to globalization that advocates mutual or multilateral mileages.This is realized through predication,argumentation(topos of responsibility and numbers),which emphasizes the practical benefits that China is bringing to other countries.The use of these discursive strategies and linguistic devices represents China’s national image and effectively constructs the national image of China in the new era.The research significance of this thesis mainly includes two parts.By exploring the construction of China’s national image by China Daily,it enables overseas audience to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics of China’s image as a guider,builder and contributor.Besides,the effective application of discursive strategies enables news media to better achieve the desired discourse intentions,thus promoting the study of news discourse.