A Study On The Construction Of National Identity Inchinese Leaders’ Diplomatic Discourses From The Perspective Of Critical Metaphor Analysis

In recent years,with the development of globalization,China’s comprehensive strength has been continuously improved and its international status has been continuously raised,which have given rise to some international misconceptions about China’s identity.Therefore,it is of great significance for China’s development to build identities that conform to China’s international status.As a kind of political discourse,diplomatic discourse is an important way to construct national identities.In diplomatic discourse,metaphor is a conscious discourse choice,so politicians often use metaphor as a discourse strategy to realize construction of national identities.In view of this,based on conceptual metaphor theory and the framework of critical metaphor analysis,this study selects diplomatic speeches and overseas signed articles of President Xi Jinping during state visits from 2018 to 2020 as the research object to explore how President Xi Jinping to construct different China’s national identities through the use of metaphors.The present study intends to answer three questions as follows:(1)What types of metaphors can be found in President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic discourses?(2)What kinds of national identities have been constructed by President Xi Jinping through using metaphors?(3)What are the factors that influence the choice of metaphors in President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic discourses?The research findings are as follows:(1)In President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic discourses,there are ten types of metaphors.According to the proportion of each type of metaphor,building metaphor,journey metaphor,war metaphor,and family metaphor are the top four metaphors.(2)Through the mappings from the source domain to the target domain,President Xi Jinping has emphasized and highlighted certain characteristics of China,and constructed four national identities by using building metaphor,journey metaphor,war metaphor and family metaphor,that is,an advocate and builder of a community with a shared future for mankind,a practitioner and guider of friendly cooperation between countries,a promoter and guardian of world peace and prosperity and development,and a sincere and long-term good brother,good neighbor and good partner.(3)In President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic discourses,the choice of metaphors is affected by cognitive and pragmatic factors,as well as cultural and historical factors.This study combines critical metaphor analysis and national identity construction,which enriches the research perspective of identity construction on the one hand,and on the other hand,it expands the application scope of critical metaphor analysis.At the same time,it has certain reference value for the domestic mass media to construct China’s national identity.