Adaptation To The Rhetorical Situation

Since 1990s, several international crises of great magnitude have happened between China and the United States. Even though the US provoked each of these incidents and China was invariably victimized, the resolution of the crises would turn out to be just the same: the US side succeeded in dodging its responsibilities and the Chinese side failed to receive either a satisfactory explanation or proper compensations. This paper, by case-studying the 2001 Air Collision Crisis, attempts to analyze the reasons for such an unjust pattern from the perspective of rhetoric, hoping the Chinese people could strengthen their rhetorical awareness and improve their rhetorical skills so as to gain the advantage in the rhetorical engagements with Westerners. The paper intends to elucidate that, to gain the upper hand in rhetorical interactions, it is crucial to adapt to the particular rhetorical situation, comprehending the dynamic rhetor-audience relationship and projecting ethos in accordance with the situation.The thesis begins with an introduction to the concepts of rhetoric and the theory of rhetorical situation. The first chapter elaborates on the elements of, and what in principle would constitute fitting responses to, a rhetorical situation. This is followed in the second chapter with an analysis of the dynamic rhetor-audience relationship and the cultivation of ethos according to the situation, as a further illustration of situation adaptation. Within the theoretical framework expounded in the first two chapters, an in-depth analysis of the case is then conducted in the third chapter to bring the discussion to its conclusion.