| ObjectiveEntering the 21st century,traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)with its profound cultural heritage and unique efficacy,is increasingly gaining the attention of people at home and abroad.With the continuous emphasis on the spread of TCM by Chinese government,the dissemination of TCM has been raised to the national strategic level.The international exchange and dissemination of TCM mainly depend on the mass media.However,due to the differences in political system,social culture,healthcare system in China and foreign countries,people in different countries have varied attitudes towards and perceptions into TCM.As a result,the development of TCM is not smooth.In order to carry forward the excellent traditional culture of China and promote the international development of TCM,it is necessary to pay attention to and study the reports of foreign media on TCM so as to identify the status quo of TCM overseas and provide reference for international communication of TCM.This study,taking Australia as an example,aims to explore the Australian reports on TCM and accordingly disclose the discourse tendency,providing an empirical basis for understanding the representation of TCM in the eyes of Australian journalists.MethodsThis study retrieved and compiled the reports on TCM from Australia's five newspapers(The Sydney Morning Herald,The Daily Telegraph,The Sunday Telegraph,Herald Sun,The Age)and a radio and television media(Australian Broadcasting Corporation,ABC)during the five-year period from January 1,2011 to December 31,2015 by searching the ProQuest database and the Factiva database.The status quo of Australian reports on TCM was described based on the retrieved reports and the accordingly established corpus.In the light of critical discourse analysis(CDA)theory,the image of TCM portrayed by Australian media was explored from the perspective of discourse tendency(such as lexical choice,source of quotation and headline setting)so as to better understand the development of TCM in Australia.ResultsA total of 2,275 TCM reports were collected,and the TCM Corpus-Australian Media was established,including 1,981,570 tokens and 56,932 types with standardized token-type ratio(STTR)of 49.62.Meanwhile,the corpus was retrieved and analyzed by Sketch Engine,an online corpus retrieval tool.The study found that during five years:(1)The number of reports on TCM by Australian media was relatively sustained and stable with an annual average of 455 reports,even up to a total of 512 reports in 2015;(2)Australian mainstream media covered a wide range of topics about reports on TCM,including Chinese medicine(269,11.82%),Chinese herbal medicine(667,29.32%),acupuncture&moxibustion(237,10.42%),massage(954,41.93%),cupping(19,0.84%),qi gong and tai chi(128,5.63%),tui na(1,0.04%).(3)The reports on Chinese medicine,acupuncture,Chinese herbal medicine,Chinese massage,cupping,qi gong and tai chi were generally positive,among which the positive and neutral reports accounted for more than 85%.Expect for Chinese medicine and cupping,the positive and neutral reports on other topics accounted for 99%.Chinese medicine was portrayed as having a long history lasting a couple of millennia,and with definite effectiveness,which had good efficacy.Chinese herbal medicine was effective in treating chronic diseases,but troubled with quality issue.Acupuncture was significant in efficacy and popular among Austrlaian people,especially in relieving pain and improving infertility.Full creadit was given to other modalities of TCM.The business had publicly advertised Chinese massage.Cupping is revered by the Chinese.Health Qi Gong is practiced.There was a small number of(3.47%)negative reports,mainly concerned with the safety of Chinese herbal medicine,which contain potentially toxic plants,allergens and traces of endangered animals.There was lack of evidence to support TCM,putting TCM in a grey area.Australia is an immigration nation and has been legally admitted the legal status of TCM,which provids a good environment for the spreading and development of TCM in Australia,allowing a stable and continuous number of reports on TCM.The words,quotations and titles are used to highlight the news discourse tendency.They are not used randomly,but on purpose.ConclusionAustralia is an inclusive multi-cultural immigrant country,and a large number of Chinese immigrants in Australia allowed the smooth development and dissemination of TCM.The current development of TCM in Australia is in an ideal situation,though such problems still exist as unguaranteed quality of Chinese herbal medicine,lack of evidence to support the efficacy of TCM.Chinese government as well as TCM publicity-and education-related organizations or institutions should enhance the publicity and popularization of the core thoughts and connotations of TCM.At the same time,TCM enterprises should conduct more pharmacological and toxicological analysis of Chinese herbal medicine and strictly control the quality of Chinese medicininal products so as to comply with the Western medical system requirements. |
PDF Full Text Request