A Comparative Study On The Construction Of China’s National Image In Chinese And British Media From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon or rhetorical device,but a basic means of thinking as a cognitive tool,which reveals the metaphorical nature of our conceptual system and thus becomes the core of cognitive linguistics.By exploring the intention and context of metaphor uses,it is successfully transformed from cognitively to socially through the combination of pragmatics and critical discourse analysis.Because it can give full play to the conceptual and communicative functions of language,express attitudes or emotions and spread ideology,it is widely used in news reports and thus plays an important role in the process of studying the construction of reported objects.With increasing temperature,rising sea levels,deteriorating air pollution and frequent extreme events,climate change threatens the safety and well-being of people in all countries and involves different socioeconomic fields.As a result,it has evolved into an important issue in international political games and economic competition.In this case,it is of great significance to study the construction of China’s national image in carbon reduction via metaphor.This study focuses on the reports about carbon reduction in China from China Daily and The Guardian,and the specific time span is from November 30,2015 to November 30,2021.It aims to answer the following three questions:(1)What are the major types of conceptual metaphors in China Daily and The Guardian?(2)What are the similarities and differences in the use of conceptual metaphors in China Daily and The Guardian? What are the main factors that lead to the similarities and differences?(3)What kinds of national image of China are constructed by the different conceptual metaphors in China Daily and The Guardian respectively?In this study,by retrieving the Lexis Nexis database,140 articles of China Daily and 110 articles of The Guardian are obtained successfully,and a small-sized Chinese news corpus with 124,879 words as well as a British news corpus with 116,235 words are established thereby.With conceptual metaphor theory and critical metaphor analysis as the theoretical framework,the study uses Ant Conc3.5.8,Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners and Metaphor Identification Procedure to identify the conceptual metaphors,explore the similarities and differences between the use of metaphor in Chinese and English media reports and investigate the underlying reasons.Finally,the national images constructed by the different conceptual metaphors are further discussed.The detailed analysis brings the following conclusions:Firstly,there are 16 different kinds of conceptual metaphors in CNC: JOURNEY METAPHOR,WAR METAPHOR,CONSTRUCTION METAPHOR,HUMAN METAPHOR,DISEASE METAPHOR,MACHINE METAPHOR,PLANT METAPHOR,GAME METAPHOR,CONTAINER METAPHOR,WEATHER METAPHOR,FRIENDSHIP METAPHOR,TRANSPORTATION METAPHOR,ORIENTATIONAL METAPHOR,ANIMAL METAPHOR,MONEY METAPHOR and COLOR METAPHOR;and there are 15 different types of conceptual metaphors in BNC: JOURNEY METAPHOR,WAR METAPHOR,DISEASE METAPHOR,MACHINE METAPHOR,HUMAN METAPHOR,CONSTRUCTION METAPHOR,TRANSPORTATION METAPHOR,CONTAINER METAPHOR,PLANT METAPHOR,GAME METAPHOR,ORIENTATIONAL METAPHOR,WEATHER METAPHOR,MONEY METAPHOR,FRIENDSHIP METAPHOR and ANIMAL METAPHOR.Secondly,the Chinese and British media have both commonalities and differences in their choice and use of conceptual metaphors to construct the national image of China.The similarity is that they both use JOURNEY METAPHOR and WAR METAPHOR in their reports to characterize "fighting against climate change" and construct China’s national image of carbon reduction.However,the different thing is the third metaphor in the two corpora,in CNC is ARCHITECTURE METAPHOR while in BNC DISEASE METAPHOR.The common ground is attributed to the common social experience basis of human beings,while the differences are mainly due to the differences in ideologies,institutions and positions,history and culture.Finally,the two media portray the images of China in different ways,with the Chinese medium depicting China as a "leader in addressing climate change" and a "fighter of emission reduction and defender of developing countries’ interests" while the British medium describes China as "the culprit of environmental degradation".In addition,the Chinese side also uses ARCHITECTURE METAPHOR to construct China as a "designer of a low-carbon economy" while the British side uses DISEASE METAPHOR to portray China as an "egoistic and faithless troublemaker”.This study enriches the applied research of conceptual metaphor theory and provides new ideas for mainstream newspaper media reporting perspectives.In addition,the comparative study on the construction of China’s national image concerned with emission reduction helps to pay more attention to the urgency of climate change influencing the construction.Besides,it helps Chinese news media to better use discourse to tell China’s stories,and improve China’s international voice and influence in the field of climate change.