| An editorial is defined as an article in a newspaper, which gives the opinion of the editor or publisher on a topic or item of news. Good editorials are considered some of the best examples of persuasive writing in all countries; they set standards for written persuasion. Furthermore, since China Daily Editorials are written into English from the original Chinese writers, they provide good examples for textual and cultural analysis.In this paper, five editorials in the China Daily are analyzed from rhetorical differences between English and Chinese writing. Data collection and research methods are explained and analyzed in terms of register and genre in comparison with The Times, a British newspaper. This is followed by discussion based on the data analyzed from functional points of view.The results of the study indicated that there are significant differences between the editorials of the two newspapers. Regarding textual micro-patterns, there are more paragraphs and more instances of simple repetition in China Daily than in The Times. As to textual macro-patterns, Chinese traditional rhetorical pattern called qi-cheng-jun-he is observed in China Daily, though not so explicitly as has been asserted by preceding researchers. It can be concluded from these differences that the language in China Daily is correct in grammar, but deviates from what is accepted as natural discourse in the West. It is also revealed that most Chinese learners are not given proper instruction in writing.In a word, Chinese students lack the ability of thinking in English thought pattern when they write English compositions, and they are accustomed to translate what they have thought in Chinese in their mind into English. This is the basic cause for unidiomatic writings.This research implies that native speakers of English as well as Chinese teachers of English should be well aware of the discourse structure of Chinese writing when they teach English as a foreign language in a Chinese setting. |
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