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Diachronic Representation of Social Actors in the New Year's Editorials in People's Daily |
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Author(s): Ying Huang |
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The study, adopting van Leeuven's (1996) critical discourse analysis approach, attempts to show both qualitatively and quantitatively how different ways of representing social actors in the New Year's editorials (1949-2006) in People's Daily, reflect the change of social relations across time in the People’s Republic of China. Corpus linguistic techniques such as lexical segmentation and frequency counting have been used to achieve the aim. The variation in the ways of diachronically representing social actors in the discourse demonstrates that social relations in the contemporary Chinese context have shifted from antagonism to harmony to a large extent. It can be contended that there has emerged a trend of democratization due to the seismic change of social and political context in international and domestic community. |
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Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising and Consumer Interpretation of Its Cultural Meaning |
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Author(s): Lin Ma |
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Most existent studies on pictorial metaphor in advertising focus on the rhetoric itself or its effectiveness as a commercial tool. This empirical research of Chinese college students’ interpretation of the pictorial metaphors in Nike advertisements extends studies in the area by exploring the cultural meanings and values consumers read in the adverts. It draws on theories of visual metaphor, cultural meaning movement of consumer goods and relevance theory of communication, and concludes that pictorial metaphor in advertisement plays an active role in the meaning transfer process of consumer goods and the reading of pictorial metaphor is a highly individual activity. The cultural meaning of an advert is relevant to the individual consumer. |
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Cultural Values in Chinese Children's Animation: A Content Analysis of The Legend of Nezha |
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Author(s): Yi Song and Yan Bing Zhang |
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This study examined the dominant cultural value themes in The Legend of Nezha, a 52-episode Chinese award winning television animation series for children. Two contextual factors, the image and sex of the characters who endorsed the value themes in the scenes (N = 963), were also examined. Content analysis results showed that the traditional values (e.g., Hierarchy, Friendship, Wisdom, Perseverance, Collectivism, Humanitarianism, Family, and Nature) were more prevalent than the nontraditional themes (e.g., Self-interest, Pleasure, Equality, Beauty/youth, and Romanticism). In addition, the traditional values (except hierarchy) were more frequently associated with positive characters than with negative ones; the nontraditional value themes (except equality) were more frequently associated with negative characters than with positive ones. Furthermore, some values such as hierarchy, perseverance, harmony/collectivism and equality were more endorsed by male characters than by female characters; some values such as family, beauty/youth, and self-interest were endorsed more by female characters than by male characters. Altogether, these findings have indicated that some fundamental traditional Chinese values still dominate the mainstream culture albeit certain nontraditional values (e.g., self-interest, pleasure, and romanticism) are gaining their prominence in an age of modernization and globalization. |
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Factors Promoting Effective Environmental Communication to Adolescents: A Study of Hong Kong |
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Author(s): Kaman Lee |
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Many Asian countries are suffering from serious environmental threats. Hong Kong, often called \"the city of stifling smog,\" is one of them. However, current environmental research is mainly Western-based. Little is known about environmental practices and factors affecting individuals’ environmental behavior in non-Western cultures. This paper attempts to supplement existing Western-based environmental studies by examining the predictability of the following factors in environmental behavior among 500 adolescents (181 males and 319 females) in Hong Kong: environmental attitude, environmental concern, perceived seriousness of environmental problems, perceived environmental responsibility and perceived effectiveness of environmental behavior. Multiple regression analysis showed that environmental concern was the top predictor of Hong Kong adolescents’ environmental behavior, followed by perceived environmental responsibility, perceived effectiveness of environmental behavior, and perceived seriousness of environmental problems. Environmental attitude was found to be a non-significant predictor of environmental behavior in the adolescents of Hong Kong. Theoretical implications of the findings and future direction for environmental research are discussed. Practical implications with regard to future environmental promotions/ education are also examined. |
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A Snapshot of Internet Regulation in Contemporary China: Censorship, Profitability and Responsibility |
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Author(s): Jinqiu Zhao |
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This study selected two controversial issues confronting the Chinese government: news copyright and online satire with regard to Internet regulation. Through reviewing and evaluating China’s attempts at regulating the Internet regarding the abovementioned issues, this research effort aimed to highlight an underlying tension in the current policies of the Chinese government, which promote a more open market economy while maintaining tight censorship over news media and freedom of speech, and discuss the socioeconomic implications of the Internet censorship on media, society and people in China. |
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Pragmatic Failure in Intercultural Communication and English Teaching in China |
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Author(s): Mei-Xiao Lin |
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On the basis of a literature review and a small-scale, exploratory study in the target language community, this paper analyzes the phenomena of pragmatic failure committed by Chinese students in their daily conversations in intercultural communication, and discusses the nature and causes of pragmatic failure in intercultural communication situations. After gaining a better understanding of the phenomena, recommendations are made on how to raise the pragmatic awareness, and develop the pragmatic ability of Chinese learners of English in the EFL classroom so as to increase their intercultural communicative competence in English. |
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\"United in Diversity\": Inscribing a European Ideal |
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Author(s): Kenneth Marunowski |
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This study examines a selection of texts and artifacts that coincided with the launch of the euro on January 1st, 2002 to discover the ways in which they lend persuasive support to the European Union's official motto of United in Diversity. To do so, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's rhetorical constructs presence and communion are employed within a sociological framework to reveal the following five persuasive appeals: mobility, active participation in the transition to the euro, a sense of belonging to the European Union, respect for national identities, and the introduction of the euro as a celebratory occasion. Through these appeals, this study demonstrates how epideictic rhetoric, typically conceived as casting praise or blame upon a subject, functions simultaneously as a means to pave the way for future, deliberative rhetoric, such as expanding the euro zone community and instilling the concept of European citizenship among the EU’s culturally and linguistically diverse population. |
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The Information Dissemination and the Functions of the Liaison Offices in Beijing |
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Author(s): Yangming He |
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The liaison offices are agencies of local governments and departments at all levels in Beijing. One of its functions is to disseminate information and to serve the ties between the central government and local governments, the developments of local politics and economy. However, in recent years, the information-disseminating functions of the liaison offices in Beijing have been not only weakened, but also covered up by the alienated functions that turned up in these offices. Starting from their historic origins, this article attempts to reexamine the liaison offices in Beijing from the perspective of information dissemination. This article thinks the intrinsic functions of information dissemination should be regressed to and reinforced in the liaison offices in Beijing. |
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The Role of Cultural Context in Assessing President Clinton's Ten Day Visit to China in July, 1998 |
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Author(s): Jim Schnell |
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In July, 1998 U.S. President Bill Clinton visited China for ten days. His trip included stops in Xian, Beijing, Guilin, Shanghai and Hong Kong and meetings with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other Chinese leaders. Some of the key issues addressed during his visit involved the opening of Chinese markets for U.S. trade, human rights abuses, the independence of Taiwan, and weapons proliferation. His trip to China received wide coverage in world media. There was significant diplomatic context for his trip and the backdrop for his visit had impact, directly and indirectly, on the messages exchanged in relation to his stay in China. This article examines some of the many macro and micro level issues that were addressed during his visit. |
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Mobile TV: Promising but still Uncertain --An Interview with Dr. Anand Iyer of PRTM |
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Author(s): Guosong Shao |
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Mobile TV is being hailed as the next big growth opportunity for programming networks. The questions then arise: What factors are driving/inhibiting the development of mobile TV? What kind of value chain is being developed around mobile TV service? In this regard, I conducted an interview with Dr. Anand Iyer, Director of the Communication Industry Group at PRTM Management Consultants, inviting him to analyze mobile TV’s driving forces, development barriers and value chain. |
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Interview with Edward Mortimer |
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Author(s): Frederic Eckhard |
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Edward Mortimer was a distinguished journalist and commentator when Kofi Annan hired him as his chief speechwriter in 1998. He had been 18 years with the Times of London, starting in Paris in 1967, later specializing in the Middle East and Southern Europe. In 1987, he joined the Financial Times of London as a columnist and editorial writer. He is Oxford-educated and the author of several books, including Faith and Power: the Politics of Islam (1982) and European Security after the Cold War (1992). As speechwriter, he was especially close to Kofi Annan. Then in 2001 Annan made him Communications Director as well. He and I sat in on many of the Secretary-General's meetings. I shaped the press line from what I learned, often in consultation with him, and he fashioned the longer term messages contained in the many speeches he wrote for Annan. We jointly recommended to Annan what media interviews we felt he should do. When the Iraq Oil for Food crisis hit, Mortimer used his research skills, refined as a journalist and a scholar, to comb the documentation and master the complexities of this UN humanitarian program that had become a political football. The American right wing was using the revelations about the Oil for Food Program to discredit Annan, who had not supported the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Their considerable power drove his administration to crisis. Mortimer emerged as the most articulate spokesman for the UN during this period. He is a gifted individual who helped shape the intellectual underpinnings of Annan's policies. He is also one of the most decent people I have ever worked with. I spoke to him in his 38th floor office at the United Nations. |
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Introduction to a Baby Crying with Full Energy: From Heritage to Environment of the Chi Theory of Communication |
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Author(s): Jensen Chung |
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Naturalistic Chi(Qi)-Based Philosophy as a Foundation of Chi(Qi) Theory of Communication |
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Author(s): Yu-Ming Liu |
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The chi (qi) concept, originated from ancient China, typifies dialectics with the yin and yang bipolar. It has been employed to develop a communication theory in general and applied to studies of various communication contexts in particular. However, there have been a number of philosophical schools of chi theory, some of which are mystical or overly moral value laden. The different schools can easily confuse those who intend to seek a philosophical grounding for the chi theory of communication. This paper explains why the \"naturalistic chi-based philosophy,\" as opposed to the \"Holy chi-based philosophy,\" is the philosophical paradigm which best interfaces with modern social science and communication theory. This assertion will be argued from three properties of chi: 1) the universality of the yin-yang dialectics in various behaviors and phenomena, 2) the fundamental dialectic structure of communication, and 3) the implicit goal toward harmony in communication contexts. |
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The Chi/Qi/Ki of Organizational Communication: The Process of Generating Energy Flow with Dialectics |
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Author(s): Jensen Chung |
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Yin-yang interplay characterizes the \"chi theory of communication,\" a newly emerged communication paradigm developed from a Chinese philosophy. Yin and yang themselves not only constitute dialectics but also contain very rich implications. This essay first introduces the chi theory of communication and compares them with some scientific and philosophical principles to facilitate the understanding of the theory. The article then proposes six assumptions, based on which six exemplary dialectics in organizations are discussed. Three theoretical implications are drawn from the discussion. |
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The Dialectic Relations among Li (Noumenon), Chi (Energy) and Shih (Position) in Organizational Communication |
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Author(s): Te-I Yao |
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This paper integrates a set of three concepts - shih, li, and chi (SLC) -- in the Chinese philosophies with a set of three variables - the flows of materials, energy, and information - in the Western systems theory. This study examines the relationships between SLC and the system concepts in the context of organizational communication. A dialectic synthesis is attempted upon the Eastern and Western thoughts. Inspired by the hypercycle theoretic concepts of organization, this essay transcends the individual concepts and proposes a multi-level and multi-dimensional view organizational communication. |
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Thoughts on Chi |
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Author(s): William J. Starosta |
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