Discourse Construction On The Image Of The Chinese People's War Of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression In ContemDorary British Mainstream Newspapers

The rapid rise of China has aroused various responses from the whole world and"China threat" discourse is one of the negative,which highlights the significance of studies on the overseas images of China.The research of the image of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in British mainstream media,as one subject of image studies of China,is of great importance to further explore the international status of the war,and China's contribution to WWII and the reconstruction of the post-war international order.All of the analytical data in this study are collected from the LexisNexis database,where there are four British mainstream newspapers containing The Observer,,The Guardian,The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.After reading and screening,a total of 89 effective news reports relating to the theme of Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and been searched with keywords are retrieved.Based on van Dijk's sociocognitive approach within the theoretical framework of CDA,the study explores the image of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,the applied discourse strategies and the underlying ideology in contemporary British mainstream newspapers in the perspective of intertextuality.Manifest intertextuality is analyzed in the aspect of reported speech,including reporting modes,reporting verbs and news sources;constitutive intertextuality is analyzed in the aspect of news background.The research results show that at both the micro-and the macro-level of discourse.British mainstream newspapers respectively apply manifest intertextuality and constitutive intertextuality as the discourse strategies.On the one hand,the overall image of China is constructed as the war victim.On the other hand,the event of Nanjing massacre is constructed as being used for China's "political purposes",the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is constructed as an incidental conflict event in the history of Sino-Japanese relations rather than a long-planned war fired by Japan,the issue of "comfort women" is constructed as a global issue violating human rights,and the germ warfare launched by Japanese aggressors in China is constructed as the warning threatening the peace of all mankind.Thus it can be seen,under the guidance of the Western discourse system,British mainstream newspapers influenced by the eurocentrism interpret the war with obvious ideological bias.British mainstream newspapers weaken the major role of the war as the main theater in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War,and they devalue the contribution of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to the cause of world peace.The research significance is that,theoretically,integrating Fairclough's interpretation to intertextuality into van Dijk's sociocognitive approach is proved to be feasible,and the combination of critical discourse analysis and intertextuality further extends applications.Meanwhile,the study verifies that news background belongs to the analytical category of constitutive intertextuality.Practically,it is of referential significance to publicize the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.