"Labeling Communication":A Study Based On The Confrontation Between China And The US During The COVID-19 Epidemic

"They cannot express themselves;they have to be expressed by others",in the opening chapter of Orientalism,Edward W.Said quoted this original Marxian phrase to express the unequal relationship between the East and the West.With the outbreak of the COVID-19,the dispute of discourse between "expressing oneself’ and"expressed by others" has once again been pushed to the forefront of international communication.In March 2020,some politicians from the United States and Western media continued to stigmatize China by naming and tracing the origin of the new virus,and the spread of the label "China virus" and "Wuhan virus" had a far-reaching impact,which seriously affecting China’s international image and interestsThis paper considers labeling communication as a "paradigm concept" constructed through discourse rhetoric,and communicators use various discourse rhetorical methods to label others to achieve their interests.This study used Fairclough’s three-dimensional model and related theories of rhetoric to focus on the "labeling communication" between China and the US during the COVID-19 epidemic.By discussing the "Chinese Virus" label in three dimensions:text,discourse practice and social practice,and analyzing the correlation between influential individuals,globalized media and public agendas,try to clarify the process of creating and spreading the label "Chinese Virus" and reconstructing the relationship map behind the labeling,which helps to improve the understanding of the international communication pattern and explore the better way out for China.It is found that labels often use simple,straightforward,and emotive word that is easy for people to understand,and the more accurate the vocabulary is,the more it conforms to the principles of paradigm concept construction.Regarding the name of the virus,Trump has used "Foreign Virus","Chinese Virus" and "China Virus"accordingly,and the scope of the vocabulary is getting smaller and smaller,and the object of the label construction is becoming more and more clear.In addition,labels have the feature of recontextualization,forming implicit label texts in discourse.The implicit label text is formed in the discourse,and the label subjects repeatedly use the explicit and implicit labels in different contexts,and the multi-voiced dialogue of the label intertextual chain is confirmed and repeatedly formed through the continuous re-posting and commenting of massive fans in the text interaction,which promotes the public’s understanding,recognition,acceptance and use of the labels.Label subjects repeatedly use explicit and implicit labels in different contexts,forming implicit label texts in discourse,and confirming and repeating the multi-voiced dialogue of label intertextual chains through the continuous forwarding and commenting of massive fans in textual interactions,promoting public understanding,recognition,acceptance and use of labels.In terms of rhetoric,the "Chinese virus"label mainly adopts the rhetorical methods of disease metaphors and war metaphors,mapping the virus naming metaphors to China,and uses a great deal of well-known war-related articles in tweets about the "Chinese virus" vocabulary and concepts construct a virtual semantic field of the new virus war,and construct a dualistic identity and public opinion field of "self" and "other" through labeling.In summary,the essence of label communication in the international public opinion field is the consciousness manipulation by politicians through the rhetoric of discourse,and it is a power game between self and "other" being constructed and constructed.The U.S.has the power to label the "other" in international public opinion by virtue of its combined power,and individual political leaders with political identities are more likely to become opinion leaders on social media platforms and label others or other countries.With the development of social media and information dissemination technology,the original information dissemination pattern is changing,and the power of labeling is also given to other countries such as China and India and ordinary users to some extent.Under the background of technological empowerment,they also have the power to participate in the construction of labels and anti-labeling.The high interactivity of social media itself makes the public opinion field constructed by label communication present the characteristics of multiple subjects.In the"Chinese virus" public opinion confrontation,in addition to Western politicians headed by Trump who sent tweets about the "Chinese virus" label on individual accounts,Zhao Lijian,as the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry,also used his personal Twitter account to spread anti-labeling.To sum up,when fully understanding the history and reality of labeling communication and transcending its limitations,the next step of using international social media for international communication can promote the diversification of communication subjects,further form a multi-level,multi-voice,multi-modal labeling communication and counter-strategy,better promote the healthy development of the global communication order and better enhance China’s national image,and the innovation of international communication methods is imperative.