The Transitive Construction of China’s National Image in the Editorials of The New York Times
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1312.16Keywords:
transitivity, China’s national image, trade dispute, editorialsAbstract
The construction of a country’s national image depends not only on its promotion and construction in media but also on other countries’ reports on and comments about it, especially when they are in conflicting states. Taking the transitivity system theory within systemic functional linguistics as its theoretical basis, this study employed a qualitative method to investigate the construction of China’s national image in the editorials about the Sino-US trade dispute in The New York Times. This study first calculated the frequency of each process; then, it analyzed the distribution and function of each process regarding its role in the construction of China’s national image. The findings showed that, at 75.85%, the material process comprised the largest proportion, depicting the actions China has taken or the things that have been done to China. The verbal process ranked second, through which editorials aimed to persuade the readers and ensure authority. The percentages of mental and relational processes were similar. Moreover, an analysis of the relational process showed the attributes and values added to China. The images constructed by the editorials in The New York Times were mixed and conflicting. China was simultaneously constructed as the victim of the trade dispute and also as a country of over-production capacity, a voracious consumer of world raw materials, and a competitor with unfair techniques. Furthermore, China’s damages to the United States were highlighted and emphasized.
References
Anholt, S. (2007). What is competitive identity? In Competitive identity (pp. 1-23): Springer.
Boulding, K. E. (1959). National images and international systems. Journal of conflict resolution, 3(2), 120-131.
Boylan, B. M., McBeath, J., & Wang, B. (2021). US–China relations: Nationalism, the trade war, and COVID-19. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 14(1), 23-40.
Chen, F., & Wang, G. (2022). A war or merely friction? Examining news reports on the current Sino-US trade dispute in The New York Times and China Daily. Critical Discourse Studies, 19(1), 1-18.
Ding, S. (2007). Digital diaspora and national image building: A new perspective on Chinese diaspora study in the age of China's rise. Pacific Affairs, 627-648.
Entman, R. M. (2010). Media framing biases and political power: Explaining slant in news of Campaign 2008. Journalism, 11(4), 389-408.
Golan, G. (2006). Inter-media agenda setting and global news coverage: Assessing the influence of the New York Times on three network television evening news programs. Journalism studies, 7(2), 323-333.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. (2014). An introduction to functional grammar: Routledge.
Henry, F., & Tator, C. (2002). Discourses of domination: Racial bias in the Canadian English-language press: University of Toronto Press.
Huan, C. (2023). China opportunity or China threat? A corpus-based study of China’s image in Australian news discourse. Social Semiotics, 1-18.
Huan, C., & Deng, M. (2021). Partners or predators? A corpus-based study of China’s image in South African Media. African Journalism Studies, 42(3), 34-50.
Izadi, F., & Saghaye-Biria, H. (2007). A discourse analysis of elite American newspaper editorials: The case of Iran’s nuclear program. Journal of communication inquiry, 31(2), 140-165.
Kopra, S. (2012). Is China a responsible developing country? Climate change diplomacy and national image building.
Kunczik, M. (2016). Images of nations and international public relations: Routledge.
Liu, Z., & Liu, H. (2021). The Construction of China’s National Image From Transitivity Perspective—A Case Study of Fighting COVID-19: China in Action. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 11(11), 1421-1427.
McCourt, D. M. (2021). Framing China's rise in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. International Affairs, 97(3), 643-665.
Medeiros, E. S. (2019). The changing fundamentals of US-China relations. The Washington Quarterly, 42(3), 93-119.
Meng, X. (2020). The International Communication of Cultural Symbols in the Construction of China’s National Image. In National Image (pp. 131-178): Springer.
Muhassin, M. (2023). Transitivity and Modality Analysis of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s Speeches on Handling COVID-19. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 13(6), 1581-1590.
Peng, Z. (2004). Representation of China: An across time analysis of coverage in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Asian Journal of Communication, 14(1), 53-67.
Saleem, N. (2007). US media framing of foreign countries image: An analytical perspective. Canadian Journal of Media Studies, 2(1), 130-162.
Seo, S. (2013). Hallidayean transitivity analysis: The Battle for Tripoli in the contrasting headlines of two national newspapers. Discourse & Society, 24(6), 774-791.
Sutter, R. G. (2021). US-China relations: Perilous past, uncertain present: Rowman & Littlefield.
Tang, L. (2021). Transitive representations of China’s image in the US mainstream newspapers: A corpus-based critical discourse analysis. Journalism, 22(3), 804–820.
Wang, H., & Ge, Y. (2020). Negotiating national identities in conflict situations: The discursive reproduction of the Sino-US trade war in China’s news reports. Discourse & Communication, 14(1), 65-83.
Xiang, Q. (2022). Transitivity analysis of Joe Biden’s inaugural address from the perspective of systemic functional grammar. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 12(1), 165-169.
Yousif, W., & Bulaila, A. (2023). A Transitivity Analysis of DH Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies, 23(2), 139-154.
Zhang, Z., & Ju, Y. (2020). Discursive Constructions of National Image in National Discourse: A Case Study of the Editorials on the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in China Daily. International Journal of Linguistics, 12, 171-184.
Zhu, W., & Ji, S. (2018). The Discursive Construction of the Chinese National Image in China Daily’s Reports on the G20 Summit. English Language and Literature Studies, 8(1), 126-138.
