Representation of China’s National Image from the Perspective of Conceptual Metaphor: A Case Study of the American Documentary China: Time of Xi

Abstract

With China’s increasing global influence on the world stage, the portrayal and representation of China’s national image have emerged as salient and widely discussed topics. How China is depicted and framed by foreign media outlets holds significant implications for shaping global perceptions and narratives surrounding the country. This paper adopts the lens of Conceptual Metaphor theory to critically examine and scrutinize the ways in which mainstream foreign media construct and frame China’s national image. Specifically, this study takes the American documentary China: Time of Xi as the corpus. By employing a rigorous analytical framework grounded in Conceptual Metaphor theory, this research aims to uncover the underlying metaphorical structures and conceptualizations employed in the documentary’s depiction of China. The findings reveal that the documentary extensively utilizes a diverse array of structural metaphors and ontological metaphors to intricately construct and shape China’s national image across various domains and aspects. These metaphorical constructions permeate the documentary’s representation of China’s efforts in areas such as improving people’s livelihoods, fostering scientific and technological innovation, promoting environmental protection, elucidating the country’s political system, and navigating diplomatic cooperation and international relations. Through the strategic deployment of these metaphors, the documentary crafts intricate and multifaceted narratives that shape the viewer’s understanding and perception of China’s national image. By unveiling the pervasive use of conceptual metaphors in this influential media text, this study sheds light on the powerful role that metaphorical framing plays in mediating and constructing representations of nations and their images on the global stage. The findings underscore the importance of critically examining the metaphorical underpinnings of media narratives, as these can profoundly influence how nations are perceived and understood by international audiences.

Keywords: Cognitive Linguistics, Conceptual Metaphor, National Image, Other Modelling

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/102-03

Publication date: May30th 2024