A Multimodal Study Of Discourse Construction Of The National Image Of China

National image is the overall display of a country’s politics,economy,society,culture and geography on the world stage.With the end of the Cold War and the emergence of globalization,especially the concept of “soft power” constructed,countries began to focus on the active construction and dissemination of national image.As a typical multimodal discourse,National Image Publicity Documentary(NIPD)is an important carrier of shaping and spreading national image.Taking China NIPD as an example,including Made in China broadcasted in 2009,China’s National Image Publicity Documentary: Figures and Perspectives in 2011,Enjoy China in Different Ways in 2015 and China Enters a New Era in 2017,based on the cognitive mechanism of multimodal metaphor and metonymy,this thesis makes an interpretation of multimodal metaphor and metonymy in them,which mainly focuses on the following three questions:1.What are the types of multimodal metaphor and metonymy in the NIPDs of China?2.What kinds of national image have been constructed by multimodal metaphor and metonymy in the NIPDs of China?3.What is the actual communication effect achieved by multimodal metaphor and metonymy in China’s NIPD in international students?The major findings are as follows:1.In the China’s NIPD,the main types of multimodal metaphor are PERSONIFICATION METAPHOR,JOURNEY METAPHOR,EMOTIONAL METAPHOR and PERFORMANCE METAPHOR;The main types of multimodal metonymy in the China’s NIPDs are SPATIAL PARTS STAND FOR SPATIAL WHOLE,INDIVIDUAL ENTITY STANDS FOR THE COLLECTION,SUB-EVENT STANDS FOR COMPLEX EVENT,PERSON’S CLOTHING STANDS FOR HIS/HER IDENTITY.2.Focusing on the main dimensions of the construction of national image,these NIPDs present following national images: developmental,objective and true holistic image of the nation,democratic government image,scientific and technological development of enterprise image,open city image,inheritance and innovation of historical image,diverse and inclusive cultural image,and civilized national quality.3.Throughout the investigation on the communication effect of multimodalmetaphor and metonymy in China’s NIPD,the promulgation scope of the China’s NIPD is to be considered.However,through the feedback of fills-up topics,international students’ perception of multimodal representations in actual life is consistent with the national image that multimodal metaphor and metonymy aiming to construct to a certain degree.To sum up,by the exploration of NIPDs from the cognitive perspective of multimodal metaphor and metonymy,this thesis has certain theoretical significance that it emboldens the cognitive interpretation of the publicity films and enriches the research field of multimodality,and certain practical significance for the production and communication for the NIPDs.