Metaphor use in the news reports on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor / Wu Ke

Wu , Ke (2023) Metaphor use in the news reports on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor / Wu Ke. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

Since its first announcement in 2013, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has received worldwide attention. Although concerns have been raised about CPEC, including about debt sustainability and security, the cooperation between China and Pakistan moves forward, with the positive framing of CPEC from the media in both countries. An important part of implementing this multilateral plan is execution of foreign policy and promoting cooperation among other countries. Besides, media has an essential role in influencing public opinion and is commonly used by political leaders to convey information domestically and internationally. Therefore, to better understand media representation of CPEC in China and Pakistan, this study investigates metaphor use in articles about CPEC published in a major English newspaper from each of the two countries (Pakistan: Daily Dawn, China: Xinhua). A total of 38 articles published between 19 October 2018 and 19 November 2018 were selected to coincide with the first visit to China made by Pakistan’s premier, Imran Khan. Charteris-Black’s (2004, 2018) Critical Metaphor Analysis was used to identify, interpret, and explain the use of metaphors, comparing the data from the Chinese and Pakistani newspapers. The analysis reveals that certain metaphor types, such as personification, journey, building and container, are commonly used to construct 1) a positive evaluation of China-Pakistan relations and CPEC, and 2) the ideological vision of the “Chinese Dream” by emphasizing common prosperity as a mutual goal. The findings show that the types of metaphors used in both newspapers are similar, possibly because certain metaphor types are universal in nature and common in political discourse.

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