A multimodal critical discourse analysis of China-related covers in The Economist (2010-2020)

: An investigation into people's perceptions of China

Abstract

My research integrates a multimodal critical discourse analysis of symbols
representing China on the covers of The Economist with an investigation of people’s perceptions of China in focus group discussions, aiming to explore how China is depicted in international magazine covers and how the meanings yielded by the symbols in the covers affect people’s perceptions.

This research is based on the data analysis of The Economist covers related to the economic development of China from 2010 to 2020. Visual elements and verbal cues in the covers are elaborated within the theory of visual analysis (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006), as well as complementary perspectives from image-text relations (Barthes, 1977) and visual metaphors (Forceville, 1996, 2009; Reisigl & Wodak, 2000; El Refaie, 2003, 2009) to find how the images work together with text to represent China and provide visual argumentations (Tseronis, 2015, 2021; Serafis & Tseronis, 2023) about China.

Secondly, I shift my focus from discourse analysis to audience reception study, or
from the content of communication to the audience's perspective. By analysing two focus group discussions -- one of Chinese participants and the other of non-Chinese participants -- I investigate how their figured world (Holland, et. al., 1998; Gee, 2011) affect their understandings of the symbols in the covers, how they incorporate or resist (Longhurst, 1998) the ideological messages embodied, and how their interpretations decide their attitudes toward China.

Moreover, I argue that the way China is represented with symbols and the ways the participants perceive China fit into four key perspectives in the construction of a nation’s image (Fan, 2008). By analysing the gaps between Self-perceptions and Others’ perceptions, as well as between the Construed image and the Actual image, I elaborate on the need for a balanced image (Anholt, 2007; Dinnie, 2008; Liu, 2023) of China in future constructions.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Canterbury Christ Church University