Critical Discourse Analysis of ChineseAdvertisement

Chong Wang

Critical Discourse Analysisof Chinese AdvertisementCase Studies of Household ApplianceAdvertisements from 1981 to 1996

123

Chong WangBeijing Language and Culture UniversityChaoyang District, BeijingChina

ISBN 978-981-10-4620-9 ISBN 978-981-10-4621-6 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4621-6

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Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Prof. Janet Wilson and Dr. DaveBurnapp, my supervisors, for their constant encouragement and guidance. Theyhave walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis since 2006.Without their consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not havereached its present form.

Next, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. David Watson andZhang Zhe for their advice and assistance that help me to work out my problemsduring the hard course of writing the thesis. I am also greatly indebted to thedirectors and my colleagues of the Foreign Language College at Beijing Languageand Culture University who have never ceased to care about my study in the UKand share a lot of my work.

Finally, my thanks would go to my beloved family, in particular my wife FangXin, for her loving considerations and great support for me all through these longyears of tough academic journey.

March 2014 Chong Wang

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Contents

1 The Context of Chinese Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1The Wilderness of Chinese Advertising Before 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1The Rise of Chinese Advertising After 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Phase One—Recovery (1979–1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Phase Two—Early Growth (1981–1991). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Phase Three—Rapid Development (1992–2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Phase Four−Full Development (2002–Present) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Advertising of the Chinese Household Appliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2 Studies on the Advertising and Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Review of Language Studies of Chinese Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Approaches to the Advertising in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Description of the Language of Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Rhetorical Analysis of Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18The Production of the Language of Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Notions of Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Karl Marx’s Concept of Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Antonio Gramsci’s Concept of Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Louis Althusser’s Concept of Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23The Ideology of John B. Thompson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Norman Fairclough’s Perspective on Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Ideologies in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25The Traditional Chinese Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Ideology of Modern Chinese Society (1919-) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Chinese Ideology After 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Political Situation in China Before and After 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Ideologies Perpetuated in Chinese Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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Comprehension of Ideology in Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Approaches to Ideology in Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

The Approach of Geoffrey Leech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Judith Williamson’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Gillian Dyer’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Torben Vestergaard and Kim Schrøder’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Robert Goldman’s Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Keiko Tanaka’s Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Guy Cook’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Liu Hong’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Zhao Jinjing’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Lin Shengliang’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Chen Subai’s Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Li Juyuan’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Critical Discourse Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Notions of CL and CDA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Theoretical Discussion of CDA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Norman Fairclough’s Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Methods of CDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Critical Discussion of Fairclough’s CDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Taking CDA Approach for My Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

3 Tackling Ideologies in the Chinese Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55An Overview of Research Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Analysing Visual Discourse of Advertising. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Analysing Verbal Discourse of Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Altheide’s Qualitative Media Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Research Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Choosing the Primary Documents (Source of Data) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Protocol Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Sampling Strategies for Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Purposive Sampling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Sample Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Data Coding and Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Visual Data Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Verbal Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

viii Contents

4 Displaying Profiles and Visual Discourse of the Chinese HouseholdAppliance Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77The Advertised Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Contents and Ideological Work of the Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Ideological Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Contents of the Three Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Ideological Work of the Three Phases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Building Relations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Building Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Building the Customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Colours of Headlines and Backgrounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Ideological Work of the Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Appearance of the Actors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Age, Gender, Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Contents ix

Hairstyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Manner in Human Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Facial Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Phase 1: 1981–1985 and Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Eye Contact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Dress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Cloth Colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Props and Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Props. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

x Contents

Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

5 Understanding Verbal Discourse of the Chinese HouseholdAppliance Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Values of Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Words of Experiential Values: Proper Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Words of Relational Values: Personal Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Phase 1: 1981–1985 (Two Themes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Solidarity (Politeness and Distance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Unity (Inclusion, Solidarity) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Unity (Exclusion, Singleness) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Phase 2: 1986–1990 (Three Themes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Solidarity (Politeness, Respect and Distance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Unity (Exclusion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Solidarity (Politeness and Distance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Phase 3: 1991–1996 (Four Themes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Uniqueness and Individuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Solidarity (Intimacy and Responsibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Solidarity (Politeness and Respectfulness) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Femininity (Unconventionality) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Words of Expressive Values: Nominal Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Values of Grammar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Grammar of Experiential Values: Transitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Clauses in the Material Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Clauses in the Relational Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Clauses in the Mental Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Clauses in the Behavior Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Contents xi

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Grammar of Relational Values: Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Declarative Modes of Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Clauses in the Headlines with the Pronoun “you” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Nouns of Relational Value in the Third Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Grammar of Expressive Values: Predicates and Modality . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Expressive Values of Predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Predicates (Adjectives) and Their Ideological Meanings . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Modality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Expressive Values of Modality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Modality in Headline Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Phase 1: 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Phase 2: 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Phase 3: 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Intertextuality of Chinese Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Three Modes of Intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Example 1: Sequential Intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Body Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184The Body Text on the Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185The Body Text on the Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Example 2: The Embedded Intertextuality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Example 3: The Mixed Intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

xii Contents

6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Answers to Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Question One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Question Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Question Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Question Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Contributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Limitations of the Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Suggestions for Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Appendix A.1: Frequency of Each Copy Element and Colourof Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Appendix A.2: Representation of Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Appendix A.3: Eye Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Appendix A.4: Props and Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Appendix A.5: The Protocol of the Household ApplianceAdvertisements (1981–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Appendix B.1: Findings Related to Experiential Values ofVocabulary: Proper Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Appendix B.2: Words of Relational Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Appendix B.3: Findings Related to Words of Expressive Values:Nominal Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Appendix B.4: Findings Related to Experiential Valuesof Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Appendix B.5: Findings related to Relational Values of Grammar:Declarative Modes of Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Appendix B.6: Grammar with Expressive Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Appendix B.7: Types of Intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Contents xiii

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Be united to make greater victory (huai18.com.con 2007). . . . . 3Fig. 1.2 Thoroughly pulverize the Liu-Deng reactionary line!

(culture.ifeng.com 2008) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Fig. 1.3 To provide superior-quality goods, to serve the people

wholeheartedly (ifeng.com 2008). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Fig. 1.4 Serve the people. Mao Zedong (baike.baidu.com 2009) . . . . . . 4Fig. 1.5 China-Anhui-Wuhu-Foreigner-Food Coupon-Sheet

(cgi.ebay.com.my 1991). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Fig. 1.6 Food coupons from various localities (Wu Na 2009). . . . . . . . . 6Fig. 1.7 Development of Chinese advertising (1981–2003). . . . . . . . . . . 8Fig. 1.8 The first toothpaste advertisement after 1978. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Fig. 4.1 Vice premier Tian Jiyun visiting Zhongyi Group (1990) . . . . . . 99Fig. 4.2 A couple (left, 1996) and a western girl (right, 1993) . . . . . . . . 105Fig. 4.3 Expressionless faces in advertisements of 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Fig. 4.4 Three women facing each other (1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Fig. 4.5 A woman standing in front of the dish-washer (1987). . . . . . . . 117Fig. 4.6 A girl lying on bed (1987) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Fig. 4.7 A female model (1994) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Fig. 4.8 Chairman Mao and Mao suit (hc360) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Fig. 4.9 Advertising an amplifier (1993) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Fig. 4.10 Young people singing (1983) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Fig. 4.11 Families on a picnic (1984) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Fig. 4.12 A single child (1986). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Fig. 4.13 Motherly care (1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Fig. 4.14 A living room filled with props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

xv

Fig. 5.1 Frequency of ideological themes of 1981–1996in nominal groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Fig. 5.2 Frequency of ideological themes of 1981–1996in clausal structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Fig. 5.3 Frequencies of five types of intertextual and singlepatterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Fig. 5.4 Production and export of the Chinese household appliancesin 1981 and 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

xvi List of Figures

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Frame of denotation and connotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Table 3.1 Visual discourse items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Table 3.2 Verbal discourse items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Table 3.3 Coded items and ideological themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Table 4.1 The advertised products in the first phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Table 4.2 The advertised products in the second phase . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Table 4.3 Advertised products in the third phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Table 4.4 Advertising contents: display copy and body copy . . . . . . . . 81Table 4.5 Hairstyles of different historical times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Table 5.1 Meanings of proper nouns in the advertisements

(1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Table 5.2 Meanings of the proper nouns in the advertisements

(1986–1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Table 5.3 Meanings of proper nouns of 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Table 5.4 Ideological themes of higher frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Table 5.5 Number of headlines (1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Table 5.6 Number of headlines (1985–1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Table 5.7 Number of headlines (1991–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Table 5.8 Giving or demanding, goods-&-services or information

(Halliday 2008: 68). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Table 5.9 The sample declarative modes of 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Table 5.10 The sample declarative modes of 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Table 5.11 The sample declarative modes of 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Table 5.12 Advertising verbs classified in Halliday’s system . . . . . . . . . 168Table 5.13 Structures of the English predicate sentence and the

relational process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Table 5.14 Structures of the Chinese and English predicate

sentences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Table 5.15 Chinese and English clausal structures in the relational

process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

xvii

Table 5.16 The ideological themes of the predicates of the threephases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Table 5.17 The codified modes and patterns of intertextuality . . . . . . . . 190Table A.1.1a Frequency of each copy element (1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . 208Table A.1.1b Link between the form and function of advertising

discourse (1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Table A.1.2a Frequency of each copy element (1986–1990) . . . . . . . . . . . 208Table A.1.2b Link between the form and function of advertising

discourse (1986–1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Table A.1.3a Frequency of each copy element (1991–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . 209Table A.1.3b Link between the form and function of advertising

discourse (1991–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Table A.1.4 Color of words (headline/background) 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . 210Table A.1.5 Color of words (headline/background) 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . 210Table A.1.6 Color of words (headline/background) 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . 210Table A.2.1 Age, gender, nationality (1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Table A.2.2 Age, gender, nationality (1986–1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Table A.2.3 Age, gender, nationality (1991–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Table A.2.4 Hairstyle (1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Table A.3.1 Eye contact (1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Table A.3.2 Eye contact (1986–1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Table A.3.3 Eye contact (1991–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Table A.4 Props (1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Table B.1.1 Meanings of proper nouns in the advertisements

(1981–1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Table B.1.2 Meanings of the proper nouns in the advertisements

(1986–1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Table B.1.3 Meanings of proper nouns of 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Table B.1.4 Ideological themes of the three phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229Table B.2.1 Personal pronouns 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Table B.2.2 Personal pronouns 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Table B.2.3 Personal pronouns 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Table B.3.1 The structure of the nominal group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233Table B.3.2 Ideological themes in the advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Table B.3.3 Elements used for establishing ‘Prestige’

in the three phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Table B.4.1 The participants of the clause in transitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Table B.4.2 The frequency and distribution of the clauses

of headlines in three phases (1981–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Table B.4.3 The participants of the clause in transitivity—material

processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Table B.4.4 The participants of the clause in transitivity—relational

process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

xviii List of Tables

Table B.4.5 The participants of the clause in transitivity—mentalprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Table B.4.6 The participants of the clause in transitivity—behaviorprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Table B.4.7 Transitivity (processes) of headlines during the threephases (1981–1996) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Table B.5.1 The structure of clauses in the advertisementsof 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Table B.5.2 The structure of clauses in the advertisementsof 1986–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Table B.5.3 The structure of clauses in the advertisementsof 1991–1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Table B.6 Modality of the three phases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245Table B.7.1 1981–1985 types of intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Table B.7.2 1986–1990 types of intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Table B.7.3 1991–1996 types of intertextuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

List of Tables xix

Abstract

The boom in the Chinese advertising industry after its economic reform in 1978 hasaroused the scholarly interest of linguistic researchers. However, most studies ofadvertising discourse tend to consist of pure linguistic analysis focusing onvocabulary, grammar and textual organization. Little attention has been given toother components, such as the visual images of the advertisements, while study atthe ideological level is rare.

In order to fill this gap, I employed a critical approach to Chinese householdappliance advertisements that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s. The theoreticalframework for this research was constructed in line with the theories of Fairclough(1994, 2006), Altheide (1996), Wisker (2008), Halliday (2008) Dyer (1993),Williamson (1978, 2005), and so on. Of these theories, the theory of critical dis-course analysis as developed by Norman Fairclough has been central throughoutthe research.

The focus of the research is centered on the particular manifestations of theadvertisements in magazines entitled Household Appliance rather than broad gen-eralization. To this end, purposive sampling was undertaken and approximately 82sample advertisements were collected covering three time periods within the gen-eral chronological frame of 1981 to 1996 (i.e. 1981–1985, 1986–1990 and 1991–1996). The data analysis has been conducted on the two major components: first,linguistic features with three values (i.e. experiential, relational and expressivevalues) and intertextuality; second, the visual images concerning the themes ofactors, clothing, props and settings.

The research findings revealed that the ideological values in the Chinesehousehold appliance advertisements are embedded in the advertising language andillustrations. These elements represent the values of culture, social relations,economy and politics. The findings also revealed that the ideological values wereeither dynamic or static, but they were intertwined. Meanwhile, the comparativestudy of the data over the three phases presented a changing trend in these values. Inaddition these could be seen as related to the changing mainstream values in China.

The findings of the analysis suggest that ideological values are adopted in theadvertisements consciously or unconsciously to attract viewers’ attention and

xxi

persuade them to purchase products. Meanwhile, the elements have the function ofmirroring and transmitting the values of society. My conclusion is that examiningadvertising discourse critically through linguistic and visual components showshow Chinese ideologies moved in a pattern from simplicity to diversity in terms ofnumber and variety, from being politically-oriented to being economic andprofit-oriented, from conservation to globalization and westernization (e.g. morerelaxed lifestyle, individuality and spiritual freedom) during the period of 1980s and1990s. The changing pattern reflects the reality of Chinese politics, economy andsociety at a time when China experienced the growth of the market economy andevolution of Chinese mainstream ideologies and this also indicates the impact ofeconomic reform on the change of ideological meanings in advertisements.

It is hoped that my work allows the researcher to discover more profoundmeanings behind the superficial content of the advertisements.

xxii Abstract

Introduction

Enlightened by the Marxists’ theories of ideology, especially Althusser’s “imagi-nary relationship” and Gramsci’s “hegemony”, I intend to adopt Fairclough’sanalytical model, “critical discourse analysis” and follow Altheide’s qualitativemass media research procedure in my analysis on the Chinese advertising discoursein the Chinese Household Appliance magazines.

Research Questions

Research questions are the key elements of the analysis, because the “question isthe first real step in developing the ideas and interests you have into something thatcan be researched and enquired about in a manageable, well-shaped way” (Wisker2008: 49).

In order to achieve greater insight into the ideological meanings reflected by theadvertising discourse more specific research questions are asked below and theyconform to three types:

First, the descriptive questions about the phenomena (for Questions one andtwo);

Second, the question about the differences between or within individual groups(for Question three);

Third, the explanatory question (Question four).The first two types of questions intend to identify the existence of ideological

values in the magazines and “ask what some phenomena are like”, while the thirdtype of question “examines whether differences exist between or within individualgroups” (Lunenburg and Irby 2008: 127).

The following are the research questions:

Question one: Are there any ideological values in Chinese household applianceadvertisements? (descriptive question)

Question two: What kind of ideological values are they? (descriptive question)

xxiii

Question three: Are the ideological values static or dynamic? (differencequestion)

Question four: What are the implications of the ideological values in theadvertisements? (explanatory question)

Besides following the principles of addressing research questions given byLunenburg and Irby (2008), I considered some additional important factors. First,the concept of ideology has been normally understood merely as the ruling valuethat exists mainly in the political discourse. Second, researchers of linguistic areapay more attention to the linguistic issues in discourse analysis, including adver-tising discourse analysis. Third, even some linguistic researchers agree that thereare ideologies in the advertising discourse, they have not identified and interpretedtheir ideological meanings and forms. Therefore, it is quite necessary to displayideologies that are endowed in the advertising discourse rather than in political one.In addition, ideologies are common senses, they are not always abstracted unknownto us. There are different kinds of ideology. Some are cultural, linguistic, com-mercial and social. The other significant factors for addressing the questions,especially questions three and four are to explore the ideological meanings andfunctions in depth and to show their relations with society, economy and theChinese reform.

Although these three types of questions might look simple, they are not that easyto be answered. For this, a series of theories must be studied, such as Althusser’sassertion of ideology, Halliday’s functional grammar. Specific methods are adop-ted, such as Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and Altheide’s mass mediaqualitative analysis.

Rationale for the Thesis

My interest in advertising discourse analysis began in the early 2000s, after myresignation as the general manager of the advertising and public relations companyof a well-known state-owned enterprise. Then I returned to Beijing Language andCulture University and started teaching English in class again. When I focused onteaching the language of advertising I found discrepancies between the languageused in advertisements and the examples used in the textbooks. What the textbooksoffered was often the forms, structures and semantic meanings of the language, butnot any deep investigation about the reasons why the language of particular formsand structures were used in the advertisements. In order to increase students’ abilityfor understanding language from a broader and deeper point of view and to get ridof the limitation of purely structural-oriented language teaching, I began to conductmy research into the language of Chinese advertisements with the topic of “Criticalanalysis of Chinese household appliance advertisements from 1981 to 1996”.

xxiv Introduction

The motive that drove me to analyze the advertising discourse using the criticalapproach was generated at the University of Northampton where, upon arrival inSeptember 2006, I first read Norman Fairclough’s work, Discourse and SocialChange (2006). As a language teacher with a background in advertising companies,being involved in public relations and advertising from 1994 to 1998, and with apersonal experience of China’s change from a rather backward nation to a moreprosperous country due to its developing economy, I decided to combine languagetheory, familiarity with the advertising business and an academic interest inadvertisements to undertake analysis of advertising discourse.

According to Su Shimei (2006: 93), after the founding of new China in 1949,Chinese advertising did not develop rapidly and went through a tortured process ofdepression, reform and then the position of serving socialism. Upon the arrivalof the Cultural Revolution in China in 1966 the Chinese commercial advertisingbusiness was destroyed badly and was defined in such terms as: “Advertising isbourgeois business […] a propaganda of feudalism, capitalism and revisionism”(Ding 1979); this field was dominated by political advertising, reflecting the majorretrogression in Chinese politics, economy and culture. After the ten-year CulturalRevolution ended in 1976, China entered a new era of development in economicconstruction and the Chinese advertising business achieved its opportunity forrevival and rapid growth.

In deciding to focus on the post-Cultural Revolution era after 1976 when China’seconomic construction began, I witnessed the Chinese advertising industrial growthfrom recovery, early growth and rapid development to prosperity for over 30 yearsfrom 1979 to the present. The retreat of the Chinese advertising business, partic-ularly in the 1960s, also affected Chinese scholars’ research into advertisements.Compared with western scholars’ works in the domain of advertising whose lin-guistic research has developed over a hundred years (Chen 2009: 102), Chinesescholars have undertaken research only in the last 30 years, and have a lot to do tomake up the gap between their scholarship and that of western countries.

The apparent gap between the Chinese scholars and western scholars is evidentin the number of works published since the 1970s. In China only a small number ofworks about the language of advertising have been published, such as AdvertisingEnglish and Expressions by Sun Xiaoli (1995) which aims to present 1000 com-monly used expressions in advertising in both English and Chinese. The Chineseand Foreign Elegant Advertising Expressions – 10,000 Golden Expressions editedby Zhang Xiuxian (1995) will be of some value to my research on headlinesbecause it helps to identify ideological positioning and introduces the skills ofwriting advertising headlines. Huang Guowen’s A Study in Advertising Discourse(2001) takes a functional approach to advertising discourse analysis. He Xinxiang’swork of advertising language published in 2003 illustrates a system of rhetoricaldevices. Types and Production of TV Advertising Language by Liu Yanchun (2004)is dedicated to classifying language properties and the way advertising language isformulated and so on. All the above reflect the fact that since 1995, the recovery ofadvertising business in China, the Chinese scholars have shown their enthusiasmfor advertising but the number of published works is quite limited.

Introduction xxv

On the contrary, the number of publications on the study of advertising bywestern scholars is high. Let us take Guy Cook’s four-volume edition (2008) as anexample. This edition with the title, The Language of Advertising, consists of 80essays by western scholars on their research into advertising discourse.

Another notable gap between the Chinese and western scholars is in the dif-ference of approaches to the topic of advertising discourse. Regarding the westernscholars’ studies, there are many diverse approaches in addition to the linguisticone, including approaches based on theories of sociology, psychology, communi-cation and cross-culture. There are also approaches that integrate the theoriesmentioned above.

However, most Chinese studies have concentrated on a description of linguisticforms and functions alone rather than examining the advertisements in a broadersocial and historical context that includes their deep connotative, cultural and ide-ological values. Another weak point in the advertising analysis undertaken in Chinais that greater priority has been given to the verbal discourse, and much less to visualdiscourse. The fourth problem is that the sample advertisements are available inseparate and scattered manner. In addition, scholars undertaking linguistic studyhave rarely presented case studies conducted in the chronological order required forcomparative analysis, and for exploring changes in the ideological values reflectedby the advertisements in different time periods. In order to improve research intoadvertising in China and fill the gap between Chinese and western scholarship in thisdomain, my research project will draw on the work of western scholars includingGuy Cook and others who have analyzed advertising discourse using particularapproaches beyond linguistic-oriented ones. For instance, the ideological shiftsobservable in Chinese advertising in the last 20 years will be traced with reference tothe methods of Gillian Dyer (1993) who argues that advertising is a system withdistinct signs by which ideological meaning is understood; and the project’s aim toreveal literal and ideological meanings will refer to the levels of denotation andconnotation advocated by Vestergaard and Schrøder (1985). Guy Cook’s statement(2001) that unspoken information (pictures and music) and shared assumptions withconsumers as “an index of ideology” suggesting that there are shared knowledge andideological meanings in ads will be valuable in tracing new relationships betweenproducer and consumer. Both Williamson (2005) and Goldman (2002) reinforcethese earlier arguments and Goldman’s claim that “Advertising is a key social andeconomic institution in producing and reproducing the material and ideologicalsupremacy of commodity relations” is particularly relevant to the changes in Chineseadvertising that will be examined in this thesis.

Regarding the discourse analysis of advertising, Fairclough (2006) formulateshis three claims of ideology in discourse:

1) discourse is the form of ideology;2) ideology effects subjects through discourse;3) ideology effects not only relations of people but the orders of people but the

orders of discourse.

xxvi Introduction

Norman Fairclough’s contribution to the study of advertising discourse is toapply ideological doctrines to analysis. Although his advertising sample size issmall and scattered, he offers a practical analytical framework for exploring theideological investment in the advertising discourse.

Considering the limitations and weakness of the previous analysis of the Chineseadvertisements, what I aim in my analysis is to take a critical approach to adver-tising discourse. For the task of constructing a critical and reasonable approach,I shall draw upon approaches constructed by other scholars, such as Fairclough(2006), Cook (2001), Dyer (1993), Williamson (2005), Halliday (2008) and Allen(2011). More information about the chronological structure and theoretical frame-work is provided in the following section.

Research Design

Drawing on Fairclough’s and other scholars’ claims about ideology and its rela-tionship to discourse and their corresponding approaches to advertising discourseand language, the primary task of my research is to explore the ideological elementsin Chinese advertisements. The second part of the research is to explore the par-ticular ideological values in the advertisements over different periods of time.Finally, these values of each time period are compared so as to draw a picture ofideological change in the advertisements from 1981 to 1996.

Significance of the Study

For the purpose of gaining insight into the ideological values the present researchwill be conducted using an approach with particular characteristics that may differfrom the approaches taken by other researchers in the field of advertising discourseanalysis.

First, the critical linguistic analytical framework is underpinned by the systemof the three-dimensional model (i.e. text, discourse and ideology). Although thethree-dimensional model was suggested by Fairclough, the range of his study ofadvertising discourse was limited. What he analyzed most often was the newsreports and some official documents in which an explicit political bias wasembedded. To examine a large sample of commercial advertisements from theperspective of critical linguistics will expose more examples of political, culturaland social values that can enrich the field of critical discourse analysis, especiallythe field of advertising discourse analysis.

Second, this research covers critical verbal discourse and critical visual discourseanalyses, and can justify the existence and variety of ideological elements fromthese two dimensions over fifteen years throughout 1981–1996. This kind of

Introduction xxvii

research has been rarely carried out before by other scholars in a systematic wayand across a long time span.

Third, the research may contribute valuable perspectives to the present analysisof advertising discourse, as no one has attempted a synoptic analysis of shifts inadvertising with a focus on magazine advertising household appliances across theperiod 1981–1996, and to this extent this research offers a summary of ideologicalchange as reflected in and constituted by advertising during China’s major period ofeconomic growth in socialist style.

Chronological Structure and Theoretical Framework

For the importance of constructing the theoretical framework see Lunenburg andIrby’s work entitled “Writing a successful thesis or dissertation”:

Theory can provide a framework to generate hypotheses or research questions. In turn, theyguide significant parts of the research design, including the data collection, data analysis,and presentation and interpretation of the findings.

(2008: 122)

Designing the theoretical framework, which functions as the plan of and guide tothe research (including the procedure and methods), was one of the crucial tasks ofmy analysis. In order to explore the change of ideological values in advertisementsduring this period, I designed a chronological structure for the data which I col-lected from the sample advertisements published in the household appliancemagazines. Because of the need to not exceed the required length of this thesis andbecause of the limited time available, I decided to define a specific period of 15years, and to limit the series to the period 1981 to 1996. This enabled me to definethree distinct phases by which to measure change: Phase one (1981–1985), Phasetwo (1986–1990), and Phase three (1990–1996). Another reason I have selected thisaspect of the commercial market is, with reference to one of the arguments in thisthesis (which will be outlined in Chap. 1), that electrical household appliances havedeveloped rapidly in China since 1978 following Deng Xiao Ping’s policy ofshifting the focus onto economic construction, driven by the increasing demandof the Chinese consumers. The rapid development of the Chinese householdappliance industry since 1980s to a large extent can be attributed to the advertisingcampaigns associated with China’s economic growth since the 1980s as claimed byHuang (2012): “Meanwhile, the household appliance advertisements have beenprovoking the progress of the household appliance industry, through which we canalso see the thirty-year-trajectory of this industry” and “Since the 1980s of thetwentieth century, a massive amount of household appliance advertisements havebeen blowing in a warm and sweet manner showing us the elegantly designedhappy family life” (Jiang and Dai 2002: ii). With these advertisements of electrichousehold appliances as the basic samples, the analysis is likely to identify some

xxviii Introduction

of the significant ideological properties and their variation across the differentperiods.

Through the comprehensive review of literature a theoretical framework wasconstructed (See Fig. 1).

Classification

Visual discourse (profile & image)

Verbal discourse

Proposal

Objective (questions)

Method (research procedure & methods)

B. Research design

Advertising discourse analysis

Critical discourse analysis

Ideology socialism reform

Intertexual analysis

Functional grammar

Selecting objects (magazines)

Sampling (size & time)

Collecting data (conceptualizing & coding)

D. Data analysis

Profile (products contents headline & background colour)

Image (appearance, manner, clothing, props and settings)

Vocabulary

Grammar

Intertextuality

Findings of visual discourse analysis of three phases

Findings of verbal discourse analysis of three phases

C. Data collection

E. Visualdisco analys. (three phases)

F. Verbal disc. analys. (three phases)

G. Compara. analys.

A. Theor etical preparation

Fig. 1 Theoretical framework of the research

Introduction xxix

As shown in Fig. 1 the framework consists of seven sets of work. The linguistictheories and models (See A. Theoretical preparation in Fig. 1) that underlie theframework consist of critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2006), adverting dis-course analysis (Williamson 2005, Dyer 1993, Cook 2001), inter-textual analysis(Allen 2011), functional grammar (Halliday 2008), ideology (Thompson 1990),Chinese socialism (Deng Xiaoping), qualitative media research (Altheide 1996) andso on. These are applied with reference to formative political and social influenceson Chinese advertising: ideology (Thompson 1990), and Chinese socialism (DengXiaoping), (See A. Theoretical preparation in Fig. 1). Following the analysis anddata collection (See B. Research design and C. Data collection in Fig. 1), theanalysis is divided into two parts: visual discourse analysis and verbal discourseanalysis (See D. Data analysis, E. Visual discourse Analysis, F. Verbal Discourseanalysis and G. Comparative analysis in Fig. 1). For the visual discourse analysis,I adopt the approach suggested by Dyer (1993) while for the verbal discourseanalysis, I adopt Fairclough’s three-dimensional system in linguistic study coveringthe values of words, grammar and textual structures. Specific methods and per-spectives of other scholars will also be employed. The theoretical framework,therefore, integrates strategies and theories of scholars in sociology, and linguists incombination with Fairclough’s “critical discourse analysis” as the main line. On thesurface, the framework looks like a linear flowchart but in practice it goes in aniterative process.

Outline of Chapters

Therefore, the thesis functions as a record of the research I conducted, and consistsof a presentation of the analysis of the data taken from magazines over the timeperiod 1981–1996 in relation to the research questions.

Chapter 1Chapter 1 will present a brief introduction of developments in Chinese advertising,which range before and after 1978. In this chapter, I will outline the situation of theChinese advertising business from 1966 to 1978 with reference to the CulturalRevolution which pursued a policy of insisting on the class struggle and proletariandictatorship against capitalism leading to the near collapse of the Chinese economy(He and Wu 2009: 123–135), and resulting in the banning of commercial adver-tising for business (Ding 1979: 3). The second part of the chapter will focus onChina’s economic growth following Deng Xiaoping’s launch of economic reformand China’s policy of opening to the West in 1978. It is reported (The 25-YearDevelopment Report of Chinese Advertising 2004) that growth in Chinese adver-tising went through three phases: the first phase (1978–1991), the second phase(1992–2002), the third phase (2002–present). I will argue that there is a relationshipbetween Chinese economic progress and growth in advertising; that rapid devel-opment of advertising contributed to the prosperity of the market economy.

xxx Introduction

I do not simply introduce the matter of Chinese advertising but also claim thatthe growth of Chinese advertising from scratch to a small and then to a large-scaleenterprise was due to the sound environment of the market-economy. Similarly thefeatures of the economic and social changes can be mirrored by the contents of theadvertisements and so my analysis intends to reveal the relationship betweenChinese economic progress and advertising growth. This is also one of the reasonswhy I chose household appliance advertising as the object of my study.

Chapter 2Chapter 2 will present a review of the literature enabling me to justify further thebasic rationale for the research, identify the essential knowledge required from thetheories surveyed, and locate the practical research and methods in the advertisingarea to be explored. The literature review in Chap. 2 will be structured in the shapeof a funnel with a wide portion at the top part developing gradually to a narrowportion at the bottom. The first portion of the literature review will show howgeneral information on studies of Chinese advertising language, approaches to thelanguage of advertising, notions of ideology, mainstream ideology in China beforeand after 1978 help shape the research arguments and outline. Following thegeneral discussion of advertising language and ideology, the review of the literaturewill then focus on information closely related to the research to be presented in thefollowing chapters. The information offered in this part will cover approaches toideology in advertising, and discussion of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourseanalysis (CDA). While illustrating the scholars’ theories and approaches toadvertising discourses, I aim to evaluate them critically in order to identify theirstrengths and weaknesses. At the end of the chapter I will state my reasons fortaking CDA approach for my research and will argue that advertising discourseanalysis shall not be in the form of pure linguistic description, but will be under-taken in order to examine the ideological value of advertising in the context ofChinese culture and society.

Chapter 3Chapter 3 will describe and explain the research methodology. It will begin with myassertion that in order to carry out my research into Chinese household applianceadvertisements at the ideological level, and address the research questions raised inthe chapter of introduction of the thesis, the analytical framework will be designedwith reference to the theories and approaches to discourse analysis, particularlythose of CDA represented by Fairclough (1994, 2006). Then I will explain themethodology in further detail.

The chapter will include the following: an overview of the research framework,research design and methods, visual discourse analysis, verbal textual analysis, andthe specific research procedure based on the model of qualitative media analysissuggested by Altheide (1996). Therefore, the methodology chapter aims to offer acomprehensive research framework for studying advertising discourse: the

Introduction xxxi

theoretical framework based on Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysisand the analytical framework given by Altheide’s qualitative media analysis.

Chapter 4Chapter 4 will present the results of the data analysis consisting of two major parts:the first will be the analysis of the profile of advertisements and the second will bethe visual discourse analysis.

The data obtained from eighty-one advertisements will be divided into threephases of 1981–1985, 1986–1990 and 1991–1996 with the aim of identifyingparticular ideological features of the advertisements and also exposing the differ-ence between the three time periods.

The section of profile analysis will deal with the advertised products without anyanalysis of the verbal discourse: this will consist of the contents of the advertise-ments and colours of headlines and backgrounds of the magazines. Analysis of theprofiles will be conducted in two dimensions—in the light of ideological work inthree dimensions: “building relations, images and the consumer” (Fairclough 1994)and with reference to the historical context of Chinese economic reform, the growthof the Chinese household appliance industry, its cultural elements and ideologicalwork in advertising.

The section of visual data analysis will present the findings of the analysis—thatis, the appearance of the actors, their manner, clothing, clothing colours, theadvertisements’ props and settings—this will be designed with reference to thecategories introduced by Dyer (1993: 93) in her iconographic analysis.

These findings of the profile and visual data analysis of the advertisements in thethree time periods (or three phases) will not only help form an argument about whatthe advertisements provide at a superficial level but also show how they reflect theimplicit ideological work and elements which underlie or are mixed with theadvertisements.

Chapter 5Chapter 5 will bring the verbal data analysis into focus. The major concern of thischapter will be to examine the ideological meanings of the linguistic items. Thethree ideological values—experiential, interpersonal and expressive values—in-troduced by Fairclough (2006), underpinned by Halliday’s functional grammar, willbe adopted for the verbal data analysis. The linguistic items will be analyzedfollowing the three dimensional model suggested by Fairclough (2006). The lin-guistic features in this chapter will be analyzed at three levels: vocabulary, grammarand intertextuality. Therefore, the framework of analysis will be the combination ofthree ideological values and dimensions of linguistic features in which propernouns, personal pronouns, adjectives, transitivity, beneficiary and predicate will beexplored. In the last section, intertextuality will be studied at the level of textualstructure and ideological values. The analysis in this chapter will be performed intwo kinds of historical contexts. One will be to study the linguistic items separatelyin their own time period and the other will be to compare the linguistic items acrosstheir time periods, therefore, the particular features of ideological values in the

xxxii Introduction

linguistic items will be explored and the change of these values in them will berevealed.

ConclusionThe chapter of conclusion of my analysis will be a summary of the findings and thewhole research work on the one hand, and on the other will consist of a further anddeeper explanation of the findings with the aim of providing answers to thequestions posed at the early stage of the analysis. The conclusion will provide asummary of the entire analysis, discussion of major findings, answers to theresearch questions, and the contributions of this dissertation to the field of currentstudy. It will also identify issues that appeared during the course of the research, thelimitations of the research, the implications drawn from the findings and sugges-tions for further research.

AppendicesAt the conclusion of the thesis a group of appendices will be provided for furtherreference including tables, and interpretations of some data and issues. These areprovided as appendices as the word limit would have been exceeded had all thisinformation been included in the dissertation itself.

SummaryIn this chapter I introduced the background of the thesis, its purpose, originality andsignificance, the framework of the research, the research questions and the contentsof each of the following chapters. The next chapter is dedicated to the political andideological overview of the topic; it will introduce the Chinese advertising businessbefore and after 1978, and in particular Chinese household appliance advertising.

Introduction xxxiii