The Image Of China In China’s National Discourse

As China’s comprehensive national power continues to rise,the world’s attention to China is increasing,and so is the need for China to build its international image.China hopes to build China’s discourse and narrative system by creating new concepts,dimensions and expressions that integrate China into the world and present China’s stories fully.The "China Keywords" project was initiated by the China International Publishing Group(CIPG)and the China Academy of Translation.The program is a multilingual and multimedia platform for analyzing and explaining China’s developmental theories and pathways,external and internal policies,cultures and philosophies.It is a valuable and innovative initiative for bridging the political dialogue systems in China and abroad.This study uses corpus analysis and textual analysis to discuss the image of China.The official translations of"China Keywords" in English and German are collected to build corpora to analyze the image of China embodied in them.Terms are then selected and compared with their corresponding expressions in English and German mainstream media to analyze the similarities and differences.Additionally,the study chooses representative words from the database and discusses the potential reasons for the similarities and differences based on critical discourse analysis.Through comparative analysis,this study aims to provide suggestions for improving China’s international communication system.The study finds that by building a national discourse system,China hopes to create an image of a nation that is open,responsible,innovative,and willing to develop and cooperate.In the comparative study,some expressions found in the overseas media are the same or only slightly different from the official translations.In contrast,the expressions of some terms differ significantly from the official translations.The form differences manifest in both omissions and additions.In terms of connotations,there are differences in meaning and emotions among the words and phrases.According to the critical discourse analysis,both the translations and the overseas expressions reflect the characteristics of English and German.However,some official translations tend to follow the original Chinese form,thus leading to differences.Influenced by the news language and media communication style,overseas media flexibly adjust the form according to the features of news terminology and the contextual background.In addition,the different expressions in overseas media show the understanding of "China Keywords" in the foreign societies and further reflect the different attitudes overseas toward China and its image.In building the international discourse,China should try to select appropriate expressions.The translations can differ from the source language structure when necessary to ensure the accurate transmission of meaning.China should also make good use of foreign platforms to demonstrate the key terms and enhance China’s voice on the international stage.Foreign societies and cultures should be considered as well to show China’s image in a more flexible way.The goal is to present the world an accurate,multi-dimensional and panoramic view of China.