Navigating health communication in China: a corpus-based critical discourse analysis of COVID-19 news from 2020 to 2023

Health communication has been a cornerstone of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a key component of societal-level health communication, news media have served as crucial sources of information by providing a unified platform for public health messaging, disseminating extensive health education, and promoting robust prevention strategies. Examining how COVID-19 has been portrayed in the media across different nations offers valuable insights into the ways the pandemic has been framed for audiences within diverse cultural and political contexts. Such insights are essential for informing the effective communication of future health crises. Against this backdrop, this study investigates the representation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chinese news coverage from January 2020 to March 2023.

As a primary source of health information for populations across the world, news media constitute a powerful shaper of knowledge and social attitude about the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not surprising that how this global health crisis has been framed and represented in the news of different countries, especially during the early stages of the outbreak, has been a primary concern among researchers. Although this large body of research is both theoretically and methodologically diverse, it mainly reveal both similarities and differences in terms of themes, topics, frames, information sources and relevant emotions in the coverage of news media across the globe, including the United States (Basch et al.,2020; Hart et al., 2020; Hubner, 2021), European countries (Cushion & Carbis, 2022; Edwards, 2022; Morani et al., 2022; Musolff, 2022; Nunez-Gomez et al., 2020; Ophir et al., 2021), Asian countries (Jafri & Ariffin, 2021; Wahyuni & Fitrah, 2022), African countries (Ndinojuo, 2022; Wasserman et al., 2021), Canada (Poirier et al., 2020), Australia (Furlan, 2021) etc. There are in fact researchers attempting to portray the global landscape. For example, Jiang and Hyland (2022) analyzed keyword nouns, verbs, and noun phrases to identify the primary themes reflected in the news media’s coverage of COVID-19 in 2020, drawing on the coronavirus corpus (Davies, 2021), which includes texts from online newspapers and magazines in 20 English-speaking countries.

The COVID-19 outbreak first emerged in China, positioning the country at the epicenter of the global health crisis. Gong and Firdaus (2022) investigated the predominant topics and themes in China Daily, combining automated analysis with manual thematic analysis. The findings demonstrated that China Daily’s portrayal of COVID-19 shifted from a negative (“bane”) to a more positive (“boon”) light, as there were notable positive themes, such as cooperation, pandemic recovery and informativeness identified in the coverage, though some themes related to political tensions also emerged. This positive framing of COVID-19 in Chinese media has been supported by other researchers. Yang and Chen (2021) combined the Discourse-Historical Approach and corpus linguistics to analyze reports about COVID-19 pandemic in national newspapers in China both English and Chinese, finding that globalism and nationalism coexisted in the reporting of the global health crisis and through constructing positive “self” and negative “others”, the legitimacy of the ruling party and reputation of China under its leadership were bolstered.

However, studies on Western media have revealed a negative representation of China’s response to the pandemic. Zhang and Shaw (2021) conducted a study on the reporting of COVID-19 and China’s response in the British media. Through sentiment analysis and thematic analysis of online news by the BBC, the Guardian and the Daily Mail, they showed that despite differences in media type, the themes in their coverage were largely consistent, which suggested that the general readers in the United Kingdom may perceive China’s handling of the pandemic as either negative or neutral. Jia and Lu (2021), by analyzing reports on China’s handling of COVID-19 by several major U.S. media, found that the media coverage tended to adopt the discursive strategies of naming, shaming, blaming, and taming against China rather than reporting the pandemic as a public health crisis objectively, therefore reaching a conclusion that despite the substantial divergences on domestic affairs with the Trump administration, U.S. media seemed to support its strategy to knock down and divide China by taking advantage of the outbreak of COVID-19. Sun (2021) conducted a study exploring the impact of media coverage on public perception of China’s handling of COVID-19 in Australia. After examining articles from a variety of Australian media outlets, the study indicated a distinction in framing, with the more credible media sources characterizing China’s efforts in political and ideological terms, while the tabloid media utilizing conspiratorial, racist, and Sino-phobic narratives, both reflecting the prevalent “China threat” and “Chinese influence” discourses in Australian media for years.

In response to the narratives by Western mainstream media, Saratchand and Kaur (2020) examined the temporal progression of China’s public health response to the pandemic and the underlying factors, as well as some contentious issues raised by the mainstream media in the West. The findings indicated that Chinese government was successful in controlling the spread of the pandemic through state intervention such as effective administration, public investment, and social mobilization. The hegemonic narratives by Western mainstream media about China’s improper handling of the pandemic were not supported by scientific literature or facts and appeared to serve as a pre-emptive response to prevent comparison with other countries’ public health responses.

As is illustrated, as a global health crisis, COVID-19 has been one of the top concerns in the news media of different countries since the beginning of 2020. This fact enables researchers to conduct comparative studies across cultural contexts, where differences in representing the disease have been shown more clearly (Cho & Wang, 2021; Parvin et al., 2020; Sommer & Rappel-Kroyzer, 2022). Among them, there are more studies on the contrast between news media reporting on COVID-19 in the United States and China (Abbas, 2022; Jaworsky & Qiaoan, 2021; Liu & Li, 2022). Wirz et al. (2022) examined how the COVID-19 outbreak was covered initially by traditional news media in the United States and China, both of which were heavily affected by the pandemic but have distinct media systems. The authors observed that the peak of U.S. coverage came later and sustained, whereas Chinese coverage was more inconsistent. Utilizing structural topic modeling, the researchers discovered that the dominant topics in Chinese media were concerned with the domestic response to the outbreak, while the U.S. media emphasized political aspects, thereby demonstrating differences in issue-attention cycles across the two countries. Also employing topic modeling, Wu (2021) explored the process of agenda-setting in the coverage of COVID-19 by elite newspapers in the United States and China. The study revealed that topics like family & friends and daily life were dominant in the U.S. media whereas domestic economy and international relations were salient topics shaping the agenda in Chinese newspapers, and that such differences may be related to the ideological disparities between the two countries.

As is illustrated above, research on media representation of the COVID-19 pandemic has been extensive, addressing a wide range of topics, from framing the pandemic itself to health prevention measures and ideological issues. Some studies have adopted a cross-national perspective, offering a holistic view of media representations on a global scale. The substantial body of media studies produced within a three-year period underscores the pandemic’s prominence as a global concern, highlighting its significance as a subject of continued scholarly inquiry.

However, it is apparent that most of the existing studies rely on news data released in the initial stage of the pandemic. While the data in some studies span a longer period, a lot happened in media reports on the pandemic in 2022 and 2023, such as evolutionary framing of the virus, the results of preventive measures in different countries and the toll on economic and social development, among other factors, which deserve further investigation. Among existing studies, China has drawn considerable attention due to its distinctive control policies and media system. Therefore, this study argues for a comprehensive, diachronic analysis of pandemic reporting in Chinese news media as a representative case study. The findings will provide valuable insights for policymakers, aiding in framing public discourse in the post-pandemic era and fostering mutual understanding among nations.

In addition, in the review above, the majority of the research has conducted content analysis of news media reports. It is admitted that most studies on the representation of the pandemic have described the content of the texts in their data, i.e., what is said about the pandemic, such as the topics, frames and other thematic information. Berelson (1952) defined content analysis as an objective, systematic, and quantitative approach to describing the explicit content of communication. It focuses on what is said, not why or how is said, thus overlooking “complex and varied processes of meaning-making within texts” (Deacon et al., 2021, p. 142). That is to say, many studies on the representation of COVID-19 are not good at revealing what have resulted in different representations and what lexical and discursive choices have been employed to realize different representations. Besides, while news coverage of the pandemic has been essential in providing information to the public, a fundamental question regarding the extent to which media reporting and portrayals reflect a transparent and objective view of society deserves to be considered. The understanding of the pandemic as portrayed in the press is in fact contingent upon various contextual factors at the textual, institutional, and sociocultural levels. The methods of critical discourse analysis (CDA) are particularly well suited for this task.

Another challenge most of the studies are faced with is the immense volume of news data surrounding the pandemic. Applying corpus linguistics methods can provide a solution for systematically analyzing large news data. Findings derived from a larger and more balanced corpus are generally more valid and reliable than those based on smaller samples, as the broader empirical base helps mitigate researcher bias. Furthermore, corpus linguistics facilitates a deeper understanding of the frequencies and patterns of specific phenomena (Baker et al., 2013).

Therefore, the current study intends to examine the representation of COVID-19 pandemic in Chinese news coverage from January 2020 to March 2023 based on corpus-based critical discourse analysis.

CDA, which this study applies to examining the representation of COVID-19 pandemic, is an interpretative, contextual and constructivist approach. Specifically, the present study intends to offer interpretations of textual meanings, rather than just quantify textual features and derive meanings from them; the study plans to place discourse within its context, rather than just summarize patterns or regularities in texts (Richardson, 2007, p. 15). This critical approach will reveal more clearly how news media have shaped readers’ perception of the pandemic and related issues. Specifically, the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) will be used in the current investigation.

As for discourse analysis, according to Reisigl and Wodak (2016, p. 32), the DHA is three-dimensional: the specific content of a discourse, the discursive strategies, as well as the linguistic means and context-dependent linguistic realizations. As for contextual analysis, it is necessary to note that context in the DHA involves different dimensions. First, the internal co-text uncovers the linguistic strategies and devices that are used to construct and maintain social reality. Second, the intertextual and interdiscursive relationships between texts, genres, and discourses are concerned with the ways in which a particular discourse is connected to other discourses, both past and present (Reisigl & Wodak, 2016). By analyzing these relationships, the DHA aims to uncover the historical and cultural resonances of a particular discourse, as well as the ways in which it is used to construct and maintain social reality. Third, the sociopolitical and historical context is concerned with the larger context in which a particular discourse occurs, including the broader social, economic, and political structures that shape discourse and social reality (Reisigl, 2018).

This theoretical foundation above informs the analytical framework of the present study, which will be expounded upon as follows.

First, contextualization of the research topic. An initial starting point is to investigate aspects of the wider context surrounding the research topic. Relevant background information regarding the pandemic in China, and globally assists in contextualizing subsequent text-based analyses.

Second, systematic collection and preparation of data. The corpus must align with the research objectives and be representative in terms of text source, subject matter, and time period to ensure reliable results.

Third, the micro-level analysis: concordance analysis based on the discursive strategies in the DHA to reveal the representations of COVID-19. The micro-level dimension in the DHA is about investigating discursive strategies and context-dependent linguistic realizations.

The strategies within the DHA are instrumental in identifying argumentative constructs within discourses, thereby revealing the representations. Here strategy refers to “a more or less intentional plan of practice (including discursive practices) adopted to achieve a particular social, political, psychological or linguistic goal” (Reisigl & Wodak, 2016, p. 33). The discursive strategies offer practical tools to explore how the representations are legitimized. They mainly include Nomination, Predication, Argumentation, Perspectivization, and Intensification or Mitigation (Reisigl & Wodak, 2016), which can be situated at various levels of linguistic organization and complexity and realized by a range of devices. Among the strategies and devices, it is important to note that the argumentative construct of topoi plays a vital part in the structure of a discourse. Topoi are the “content-related warrants or ‘conclusion rules’ that connect the argument or arguments with the conclusion, the claim” (Reisigl & Wodak, 2001, p. 75). Therefore, they justify the transition from the argument to the conclusion (Wodak, 2001).

Fourth, the meso-level analysis: analyze the intertextual and interdiscursive relationships to connect the representations to the contexts in China. Intertextuality refers to the connections between texts, both past and present, which can be established in various ways, such as through referring to the same topic or event, through transferring arguments from one text to another, and so forth (Reisigl & Wodak, 2016, p. 28). Interdiscursivity refers to the connections between different discourses. The topics in the discourse of COVID-19 may relate to topics or subtopics in other discourses, thus forming interdiscursive relationships. A discourse about a specific macro-topic can originate in one field of action and move through others. Discourses can then spread to different fields and intersect with other discourses (Reisigl & Wodak, 2016, p. 28).

The intertextual and interdiscursive relationships between the discourses and texts in the data of the current study and those from other sources or genres are investigated to reveal how the representations in the news have been influenced by Chinese official policies, legal documents, and financial measures, etc.

Fifth, the macro-level analysis: connect the representations with the sociopolitical and historical context in China and even the global community. The analysis, for example, can highlight how collectivist cultural values in China have influenced the portrayal of the response to COVID-19 as a unifying war effort.

Data collection

News articles published by four leading English newspapers were collected using the online news database, LexisNexis. The search terms are: Coronavirus or Corona virus or COVID or COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV. The time frame is from January 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023. This period was carefully chosen to reflect key developments during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. To make sure all the articles are closely related to the topic, articles with those search terms in the headlines and/or lead paragraphs were chosen (Wright & Brookes, 2019). A word limit of no less than 300 words was set to exclude short articles with little substantial value. To prevent distorting the frequencies, duplicate articles from the same newspaper were eliminated. Finally, an English news corpus with 37,484 news reports was built. Table 1 displays the size and composition of the corpus, together with the total number of articles and words in each newspaper.

Data analysis procedure

Concordance analysis based on DHA strategies

Concordances were analyzed using the following procedure. First, decide on the search term. The search term utilized was “covid | |pandemic | |coronavirus | |epidemic,” combining synonymous terms for COVID-19. This search generated 264,895 concordance cases within the Chinese news corpus.

Second, sample concordance lines based on salient collocates of the search terms. An optimal solution to extensive concordance lines is focusing on lines containing salient or frequent collocates of the search terms (Baker, 2023). Collocation analysis is a measure of word association that examines how often two or more words occur together in a corpus and whether this association is significant statistically. Patterns of co-occurrence, or collocations, have been used by linguists to gain insights into word meanings and usage patterns. Stubbs (1996, p. 172) made the point that “words occur in characteristic collocations, which show the associations and connotations they have, and therefore the assumptions which they embody.” Analyzing collocates of a word can provide further understanding of the discourses surrounding it and the concept it represents (Brookes & McEnery, 2020).

Here in this study, AntConc (Anthony, 2022) was used for deriving collocates. Log-likelihood was used for measuring collocation, with a threshold of p < 0.05 (3.84 with Bonferroni). The effect size was also calculated based on MI value. Considering the large size of the corpus and the high frequency of the search terms, a minimum frequency of 30 and minimum range of 30 (each collocation has to occur at least in 30 news articles) were set. The default setting of window span in AntConc was used: five words both on the left and right of the searched term. Top 300 salient collocates in the corpus were chosen based on their log-likelihood values and among them lexical words were chosen for collocation analysis. The concordance lines contain these collocates were closely examined, based on the procedure below.

For collocates with fewer than 1000 concordance lines, a random sample of 100 cases was utilized for analysis. For collocates with 1000 or more concordance lines, a larger random sample of 500 cases was examined. However, there were cases in which sample sizes were expanded to ensure sufficient representativeness of typical linguistic patterns. In Antconc, concordance lines can be expanded for more context by clicking the search term, and sorting lines left or right reveals different patterns, which aided the analysis in present study to a large extent.

Third, analyze concordance samples based on the DHA discursive strategies. This is a labor-intensive analysis, which requires reading the concordance lines and longer excerpts to find contextual similarities surrounding the search terms, amounting to a more qualitative, context-driven process.

Fourth, summarize the extensive concordance analysis based on discourse prosodies to identify representations. After a thorough examination of the concordance lines containing salient collocates, these terms were grouped into discourse prosodies. Discourse prosody refers to “the tendency for a word to co-occur with a set of words or phrases that suggest a similar evaluation” (Baker, 2023, p. 238). This is like a grounded-theory approach, which involves developing ideas and concepts from the data rather than starting with a hypothesis (Martin & Turner, 1986). Finally, it was feasible to group closely related discourse prosodies around a discourse and reveal the representations in the discourse.

In total, 19 discourse prosodies were identified in the Chinese news corpus. The discourse prosodies contributed to six major representations of COVID-19. The prevalence of each representation was calculated by comparing the frequencies of its constituent collocates to the total frequencies of all collocates.

Analysis of intertextual and interdiscursive relationships

The analysis of intertextual and interdiscursive relationships was carried out following the procedure below. After consulting health professionals and carrying out large-scale searches, representative sample texts of other genres related to COVID-19 in China were collected, including official news, guidelines, transcripts of press conferences, policies, legal documents, and speeches by President Xi during the pandemic (see Appendix A). The researcher then carefully examined those texts and summarized the major topics. This was a labor-intensive process. Then intertextual relationships were established based on the interaction and dialogue between texts, where one text made references and allusions, or drew upon ideas and themes from another text. The interdiscursive relationships were established by examining the intersection of different discourses on specific topics.

Micro-level analysis: analysis based on the discursive strategies in the DHA to reveal the representations

Through close analysis of over 19,100 concordance lines and extended excerpts, the salient collocates were categorized into 19 discourse prosodies. Subsequently, the prosodies were found to comprise six predominant representations constructed in the Chinese COVID-19 news: COVID-19 as a lethal global health crisis, China’s response as effective, the pandemic as an extensive disaster, the pandemic fight as a unifying war, steady Chinese economic recovery and politicization of the pandemic as unethical. Figure 1 illustrates the proportions of these representations in Chinese news reports. Note that the prevalence of each representation was calculated by comparing the frequencies of its constituent collocates to the total frequencies of all collocates. While the first representation is commonly observed in the news across different countries, the representation of China’s response as effective uniquely captures the country’s specific approach to pandemic management. This distinctiveness makes it a particularly illustrative example for demonstrating how representations were identified in the corpus.

Representations of COVID-19 in Chinese news.

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The discourse prosodies and collocates that contribute to the representation of China’s response as effective are listed in Table 2. Among the collocates, the words RESPONSE, CONTROL, CONTAIN, and PREVENTION indicate China’s efforts to manage and mitigate the pandemic’s impact. In addition to PREVENTION and CONTROL, collocates like DYNAMIC, OPTIMIZED, OPTIMIZATION, and DOWNGRADED reflect the unique characteristics of Chinese prevention and control efforts.

The following examples illustrate a progression of China’s epidemic prevention and control policies over time. Initially, the government implemented rigorous and unprecedented measures, including large-scale quarantine and isolation. In Example 1, intensifiers like “the most comprehensive and rigorous” as well as the phrase “high sense of responsibility” serve to argue that the Chinese government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has been exemplary. In Example 2, intensifiers like “the most thorough and rigorous” and “unprecedented” also enhance the effectiveness of China’s actions. These descriptions help shape a positive image of China’s response to COVID-19.

1. 1.

   Delivering a speech at Georgia State Senate meeting on Monday, Cai said since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Chinese government has been taking the most comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control measures with a high sense of responsibility for people’s health and well-being. (People’s Daily, February 5, 2020)

2. 2.

   The country has adopted the most thorough and rigorous prevention and control measures against COVID-19 with an unprecedented scale of quarantine and isolation, said the white paper “Fighting COVID-19: China in Action” released recently by the State Council Information Office. (People’s Daily, June 11, 2020)

As the situation evolved, China adapted measures using technologies like big data, seeking a balance between epidemic control and economic and social development. Example 3 illustrates how information and communications technology monitoring coronavirus cases has led to more targeted measures. In Example 4, the normalization of epidemic prevention and control has resulted in the relaxation of restrictions and increased interest in sports-related activities. Example 5 implicitly argues that balancing epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development shapes a positive image of both the nationwide efforts and local governments. Example 6 discusses the resilience of China’s employment, which is linked to the positive qualities of China’s response, its institution and development philosophy. Words like “remarkable” and “unique” intensify the positive qualities. Describing the philosophy as “people-centered” emphasizes its focus on the well-being and benefits of the public.

1. 3.

   Information and communications technology such as big data has been used in targeted epidemic prevention and control measures to determine and monitor coronavirus cases, and keep the public well informed about the epidemic situation in the country. (China Daily, June 11, 2020)

2. 4.

   With the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the Chinese people’s demand for watching sports events and participating in sports activities is becoming increasingly strong, with various regions restarting events on the premise of ensuring safety. (People’s Daily, October 16, 2020)

3. 5.

   Nationwide efforts to balance epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development have shown the wisdom of local governments and reflected their governance philosophies. (People’s Daily, February 5, 2021)

4. 6.

   China’s employment has withstood the test of the pandemic, which mirrors the country’s remarkable achievements in balancing epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development, as well as China’s unique institutional advantages and people-centered development philosophy. (People’s Daily, March 4, 2021)

In the subsequent stage, the dynamic zero-COVID policy played a central role, enabling more targeted approaches and localized measures. Over time, China shifted its emphasis from strict, nationwide measures to more localized and adaptable approaches, considering the specific contexts of different areas. In Example 7, by directly quoting the expert Zhong Nanshan, it argues that the dynamic zero-case policy and precise prevention and control measures can effectively manage the Omicron variant. Example 8 suggests that the science-based differentiated and targeted approach is more effective and preferred to contain local resurgences. Contrasting it with “imposing indiscriminate lockdowns and other restrictions on people,” the example highlights the reasonability and benefits of the former approach in the fight against the pandemic. Moreover, Example 9 underscores China’s efficient and successful coordination of epidemic control with economic and social development by contrasting the “lockdown-rebound-lockdown” cycle in Western countries with its adherence to a “scientific and precise ‘dynamic zero-COVID’ policy.”

1. 7.

   As the new and more contagious variant Omicron is now emerging in many countries, Zhong said: “We are not afraid of Omicron by applying the dynamic zero-case policy and strictly observing the set precise prevention and control measures.” Zhong stressed that prevention is the best way to control COVID-19. (People’s Daily, December 5, 2021)

2. 8.

   They must stick to the science-based differentiated and targeted prevention and control approach when trying to contain local resurgences rather than imposing indiscriminate lockdowns and other restrictions on people. Failure to do so risks undoing all the good that has been achieved so far in the anti-pandemic work. (China Daily, March 21, 2022)

3. 9.

   With the changing pandemic and conflicting interests, the United States and other Western countries are stuck in a cycle of “lockdown–fewer COVID-19 cases–relaxation of epidemic control measures–a rebound of COVID-19–another lockdown.” This is a direct burden on the development of these countries and the global economic recovery. In contrast, by adhering to a scientific and precise “dynamic zero-COVID” policy, China has efficiently coordinated epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development. (Global Times, May 12, 2022)

In the final stage, the prevention and control measures shifted towards more relaxed and flexible policies, as is shown in Example 10. The positive reaction of travelers upon the removal of entry quarantine requirements indicates that the new management measures are more lenient and less restrictive than the previous ones.

1. 10.

   Travelers to China welcomed the removal of entry quarantine requirements starting Sunday, the first day when China downgraded management of the COVID with measures designed for combating Class B infectious diseases instead of Class A infectious diseases. (China Daily, January 8, 2023)

The second discourse prosody comprises collocates such as RESTRICTIONS, TEST, TECHNOLOGY, ONLINE, MASKS, TESTS, HOME, PLATFORM, and QUARANTINE, which are associated with specific actions taken in response to the pandemic. The utilization of information and communications technology, particularly big data, in targeted epidemic prevention measures underscores China’s emphasis on employing technological tools to enhance the effectiveness of prevention efforts.

In the third and fourth discourse prosodies about medical treatment and vaccines, VACCINE is the top one collocate both significantly and frequently. As is contended in Example 11, without sufficient global access to effective and safe vaccines, controlling the pandemic becomes challenging. The use of terms like “V-shaped” and “L-shaped” vividly illustrates the relationship between vaccine availability and economic recovery. Additionally, Example 12 employs the topos of numbers to support the effectiveness of inactivated vaccines. Numbers like “60 percent” and “80 percent” serve to quantify the effectiveness of the vaccines and provide a measurable basis for their impact in preventing COVID-19 infections.

1. 11.

   It is clear therefore that the impact of the pandemic on the global economy is long-term and more serious than most people think, and unless there’s a large-scale supply of effective and safe vaccines worldwide, the pandemic cannot be controlled, and the global economic recovery, instead of being V-shaped, could be L-shaped—a long-term slump like a long, cold winter. (China Daily, November 23, 2020)

2. 12.

   “Available evidence shows that inactivated vaccines are more than 60 percent effective in preventing symptomatic infections and nearly 80 percent effective in preventing severe cases,” he said. China had delivered nearly 1.19 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Sunday, covering 630 million people, according to the National Health Commission. (China Daily, June 29, 2021)

Concordance analysis also uncovered the discourse of inequitable vaccine distribution worldwide. Example 13 illustrates the scale of the problem. “99 million” and “1 percent” highlight the large number of doses that went to high- and middle-income countries compared to low-income countries. This reveals an argument advocating for equitable vaccine access for all nations, especially those with limited resources. In Example 14, the repeated and coordinated predications “the first country to propose”, “the first to support” and “the first to carry out” indicate that China is actively contributing to closing the vaccination gap and supporting other countries in their pandemic response. The mention of China sending medical experts to 34 countries and offering over 120 nations and international organizations 2.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines serves as evidence to support the argument.

1. 13.

   Around the world, more than a billion vaccine doses have been administered. Among those, 100 million were administered in April—but only 1 percent (1 million doses) went to low-income countries. The rest—99 million doses—went to high- and middle-income countries. Collectively, we need to do more to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are made available as part of a coordinated, multilateral response via the global COVAX facility established last year. (China Daily, May 9, 2021)

2. 14.

   China is the first country to propose COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good, the first to support vaccine intellectual property rights exemption, and the first to carry out cooperation on vaccine production with developing countries. So far, China has sent teams of medical experts to 34 countries to fight the pandemic, and offered over 120 nations and international organizations 2.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, in pursuit of closing the fatal vaccination gap. (People’s Daily, January 4, 2023)

The discourse also highlights the unfair treatment of Chinese vaccines by Western nations. As seen in Example 15, a contrast between the treatment of Chinese vaccines and Western vaccines is perceived, suggesting that Western countries and their allies have not been supportive of Chinese vaccines and have engaged in negative public opinion towards them. The argument about Western public opinion influencers favoring Pfizer vaccines and downplaying negative news about them is presented to highlight the alleged bias against Chinese vaccines.

1. 15.

   The Chinese vaccines are an important humanitarian supplement, but the United States and its major allies have taken a cold attitude and even disparaged Chinese vaccines. They didn’t offer much help in Chinese vaccines’ Phase III trials. Particularly, Western public opinion in general is not friendly. It is keen on hyping and exaggerating any information unfavorable to Chinese vaccines and accuses China of engaging in “vaccine diplomacy.” This has formed a sharp contrast with the fact that Western public opinion influencers are flattering Pfizer vaccines and downplaying news the vaccines caused deaths. (Global Times, January 20, 2021)

Moving on to the fifth and sixth discourse prosodies, the focus is on the agencies and actors involved in prevention and control. In Table 2, it is revealed that GOVERNMENT is the most frequent collocate among the entities involved. Upon examining the salient collocates of GOVERNMENT, it becomes evident that it refers mainly to the central government and local governments in China, as indicated by the collocates CENTRAL, HKSAR, CHINESE, LOCAL and MUNICIPAL. There is one exception, FEDERAL, which clearly pertains to the U.S. government. The analysis of concordances has revealed a notable difference in representing the handling of the pandemic by governments of China and the United States.

In Example 16, predications like “put people first,” “given utmost importance to saving human lives,” and “made scientific and targeted efforts” underscore the Chinese government’s commitment to its citizens’ well-being and its strategic approach to pandemic control, portraying it as a responsible and capable government. Example 17 implies that Western countries’ response to the pandemic has been less effective compared to the Chinese government’s approach. By characterizing China’s three-year battle against COVID as a “miracle,” it implicitly highlights the Chinese government’s highly successful and admirable response. Conversely, Example 18 suggests that the United States is facing significant challenges in dealing with the Omicron variant and the surge in COVID-19 cases, indicating that the federal and local governments in the United States have not taken effective and serious actions to address the situation adequately.

1. 16.

   Since COVID-19 broke out, the Chinese government has put people first, given utmost importance to saving human lives, made scientific and targeted efforts to prevent and control the pandemic, and become the first one that effectively managed the virus. (China Daily, December 8, 2020)

2. 17.

   Let’s take a step back and think this: should Western countries choose not to resign themselves to a premature coexistence with the virus, but instead to respond responsibly with a life-first attitude like the Chinese government, this pandemic would have not developed to where it is today. A zero-COVID world would no longer be a politically motivated narrative used by Western media to smear China, but a likely reality enabled by the collective global response to the virus. China’s three-year battle against COVID is nothing short of a miracle. (Global Times, January 12, 2023)

3. 18.

   The Omicron variant has been confirmed in all 50 states less than a month after entering the US. Another problem is that the country’s COVID-19 testing capabilities have been stretched to their limit due to the surge in cases. This being the case, instead of dealing with the epidemic seriously, the federal government and local governments seem to be at a loss when it comes to effective actions. The situation does not reflect Biden’s previous promise to “shut down the virus.” (Global Times, December 29, 2021)

In addition to representing the U.S. government as incapable of handling the crisis, portraying it as a threat to global pandemic efforts was revealed. In Example 19, the decision to suspend WHO membership fees is described as detrimental to the joint anti-pandemic efforts of the international community. Predications, like “tried to scapegoat,” “fabricating false charges” and “threatening to stop paying,” characterize the U.S. government’s actions and intensify the negative portrayal of the government. Example 20, quoting William Foege, an epidemiologist and former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, frames the U.S. government’s actions in a highly critical light, highlighting how politicization has harmed humanity and led the world into a crisis and describing the U.S. government’s actions as preposterous, manipulative, and malicious.

1. 19.

   Suspending the Payment of WHO Membership Fees Impeding the Joint Anti-Pandemic Efforts of the International Community. In order to shirk its responsibility for its disastrous anti-pandemic measures, the U.S. government tried to scapegoat the World Health Organization by fabricating false charges against the organization and threatening to stop paying its membership fees. (China Daily, June 12, 2020)

2. 20.

   “It is a slaughter,” William Foege, epidemiologist and former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, once said in a letter at the early days of the pandemic, denouncing the U.S. government for politicizing the fight against the deadly pathogen within the United States. And now, by politicizing the fight against the pandemic on a global scale, the U.S. government is committing crimes against all humanity. Those Washington politicians should be well aware that their preposterous China lies are dragging the whole world deeper into the abyss of this once-in-a-century pandemic. If they do not take back their manipulative hands fast and call off their viperous political scheme, they will one day be prosecuted for their high crimes against humanity. (People’s Daily, August 6, 2021)

Another salient collocate of COVID-19 is PARTY, which illustrates the role of the Communist Party of China in fighting the pandemic. As is seen in Example 21, through verbs like “coordinated” and “put forward”, the Central Committee is depicted as being at the forefront of the pandemic response, signifying proactive and effective leadership. Example 22 utilizes specific numbers, such as “29.77 million Party members,” “56.1 percent,” “over 79 million members,” and “8.26 billion yuan,” to highlight the scale and extent of Party members’ involvement and contributions in the fight against COVID-19. The example portrays Party members as individuals who have made sacrifices, either through losing their lives or becoming infected while protecting others.

1. 21.

   Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Communist Party of China Central Committee, with Xi Jinping at the core, has coordinated the overall domestic and international response to the situation and put forward China’s solution to the crisis. (People’s Daily, September 2, 2020)

2. 22.

   As of press time, 29.77 million Party members have fought the virus on the frontline. Out of 23.69 million volunteers nationwide, 56 percent of them are Party members. Out of 43,000 medical professionals from different regions working in Wuhan during the pandemic, 56.1 percent are Party members. 396 Party members sacrificed their lives during the pandemic to protect the people, while 2337 became infected with COVID-19. In addition to fighting the pandemic on the frontline, CPC members across the nation have contributed to the cause in different ways. As of March 28, over 79 million members of the CPC voluntarily made donations totaling 8.26 billion yuan (about 1.17 billion U.S. dollars) for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). (People’s Daily, July 1, 2020)

The sixth discourse prosody consists of collocates like DIRECTOR, GROUP, PRESIDENT, STAFF, and CHIEF, with PRESIDENT being the most frequent. The analysis of the collocates of PRESIDENT revealed that XI JINPING, DONALD TRUMP, JOE BIDEN, and U.S. are the most salient. The concordance analysis demonstrated a contrast in the representation of Chinese and American presidents. In Example 23, President Xi Jinping is portrayed as a capable and caring leader committed to protecting people and controlling the epidemic. Example 24 uses terms like “well controlled,” “avoiding,” “reduced,” “effective,” and “block off” to emphasize the positive outcomes of the measures implemented by China under President Xi Jinping’s leadership.

1. 23.

   The ambitious plan of placing residents of Wuhan and nearby cities in Hubei province under lockdown, which has put at least 60 million people under quarantine since Jan 13, has proved to be a decisive factor in curtailing the spread of the disease. President Xi Jinping has made personal efforts to combat the epidemic, visiting front-line medical workers and making calls to all global leaders. (China Daily, March 20, 2020)

2. 24.

   Good coordination meant the number of cases was well controlled, avoiding a shortage of medical resources for severe cases while the infection rate and death toll were reduced through effective quarantining. This helped to block off the source of infection through monitoring and screening. China has taken a scientific approach toward the COVID-19 outbreak. As President Xi Jinping has stressed, solidarity and science and technology remain the most powerful weapons against the pandemic. (China Daily, April 28, 2020)

In contrast, the representation of U.S. presidents is mixed. Upon examining concordances, it becomes apparent that President Trump is portrayed as an incapable and irresponsible leader. For instance, Example 25 presents a contrast between the perspectives of Bruce Aylward and Trump on the COVID-19 outbreak. Trump downplayed the risk of a major outbreak in the United States and contradicted CDC officials’ statements, displaying an irrational approach to handling the pandemic. However, in Example 26, predications like “ramp up,” “reopen,” and “increase” emphasize the scale and urgency of the measures proposed by the Biden administration to ease the enduring record levels of infections and deaths, representing the president in a much more positive light. The contrast between the representations of the two presidents can be seen more clearly in Example 27. The mention of “fighting against racial discrimination” invokes the topoi of humanitarianism and justice, highlighting the importance of addressing past and ongoing injustices and advocating for fairness and equality in how Asian Americans are treated. Trump’s actions and policies are described as contributing to discrimination against Asians, while Biden’s approach is suggested to have the potential to ameliorate the situation.

1. 25.

   Praising China’s strict quarantine and containment measures, Bruce Aylward, head of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19’s foreign expert panel, also warned that other nations are “simply not ready” to contain the outbreak. But U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the risk of a major outbreak in the United States still remained “very low”. “I don’t think it’s inevitable,” Trump said of the spread of the virus, in apparent contradiction of officials from the CDC, who said a day earlier that the spread of the disease in the United States is inevitable. (China Daily, February 28, 2020)

2. 26.

   The United States on Thursday said it would resume its financial support for the United Nations’ health agency as the country is enduring record levels of coronavirus infections and deaths. It came as U.S. President Joe Biden kicked off his national COVID-19 strategy to ramp up vaccinations and testing, reopen schools and businesses and increase the use of masks–including a requirement that people in the United States use masks while traveling. (China Daily, January 23, 2021)

3. 27.

   Discriminations against Asians did not appear only after the Biden administration came to power. It is a historical problem in the United States. Worse, during the COVID-19 pandemic, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s discrimination against Chinese people and Asians exacerbated the situation. Biden’s words and policies can show his attitude, and this may slightly ease the situation and arouse people’s attention to the problem. (Global Times, March 17, 2021)

STAFF collocates with MEDICAL and CHINA both significantly and frequently. The examination of concordances revealed the representation of Chinese medical staff as hardworking and self-sacrificing. For instance, Example 28 uses specific numbers, such as “346 national-level medical teams with 42,600 medical staff, and over 900 public health staff,” to emphasize the scale and quantity of the medical support initiated by Chinese medical staff in response to the outbreak.

1. 28.

   China initiated the largest scale medical support operation since 1949 to mobilize the nation’s medical resources in aiding Wuhan and Hubei Province at the early outbreak by dispatching 346 national-level medical teams with 42,600 medical staff, and over 900 public health staff to the province from January 24 to March 8. (Global Times, December 15, 2020)

Overall, in this section China’s prevention and control policy is represented as effective and successful. The discourse emphasizes the country’s capacity to strike a balance between epidemic prevention and control and economic recovery, showcasing its ability to adjust and adapt measures based on the evolving situation.

The most important social actors who are discursively constructed are “government,” “president,” “medical staff” and “party members.” In this great undertaking, Chinese government is described as a proactive, adaptive, and successful actor in managing and mitigating the impact of COVID-19. The discourse highlights the government’s initial comprehensive and rigorous response, which played a crucial role in containing the spread of the virus at early stages. As the situation evolved, it adapted its measures using technology and sought a balance between epidemic control and economic and social development. The predications, such as “put people first,” “gave utmost importance to saving human lives,” and “made scientific and targeted efforts,” are powerful in constructing such a positive representation of the Chinese government.

President Xi Jinping is portrayed as a capable and caring leader, with China’s measures being credited with successful pandemic control. Party members and Chinese medical staff are depicted as hardworking and self-sacrificing, underscoring their significant contribution to the pandemic response. Topos of number is the most important strategy applied to add credibility of such representations.

Overall, these interconnected discourse prosodies construct an overarching portrayal of China as successfully containing the virus through its balance between control and economic activity, technological innovations, vaccine development and distribution, unified political leadership, and the dedication of medical workers.

Meso-level analysis: analysis of the intertextual and interdiscursive relationships

Representative sample texts of other genres related to the pandemic were collected, including official news, guidelines, transcripts of press conferences, policies, legal documents, and speeches by President Xi during the pandemic. This section illustrates the intertextual and interdiscursive relationships among these texts to deepen the understanding of the representations in news reports in contexts. Given the extensive scope of the news corpus and the diverse range of texts of other genres, it is not feasible to present the entire analytical process within the space constraints of this paper. Therefore, to illustrate the analysis of the intertextual and interdiscursive relationships, two representative texts were randomly selected: the State Council’s white paper (June 7, 2020) and President Xi’s speech at the 2022 World Economic Forum (January 1, 2022). These texts serve as illustrative examples rather than exhaustive cases, allowing us to demonstrate the analytical process in a clear and focused manner.

In Fig. 2, interdiscursivity is represented by two large overlapping ellipses, which highlight the intersection of the discourse about the COVID-19 pandemic and the discourse about global cooperation and development. Intertextual relationships in general are represented by thick-lined arrows. The assignment of texts to genres is signaled by simple arrows. The themes or topics to which a text refers are indicated by small ellipses in the same color, with simple dotted arrows pointing to them. Thematic reference of one text to another is indicated by simple broken arrows. It should be noted that the themes in the news reports were selected from the 19 identified discourse prosodies, rather than including all of them, as this analysis is intended for illustration only.

The intertextual and interdiscursive relationships.

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The white paper belongs to the legislative and policy-making field of action, presenting an authoritative account of China’s COVID-19 response. News reports operate within the action field of media. President Xi’s speech belongs to the political and diplomatic field of action (Reisigl & Wodak, 2016). As for interdiscursivity, we can see a discursive shift from pandemic containment to economic recovery is facilitated through news discourse. Initially, the white paper frames China’s pandemic response in terms of containment strategies, treatment, and national coordination, with an emphasis on crisis management. However, news reports gradually integrate economic themes, positioning China’s effective pandemic control as the foundation for steady economic recovery. This transition is further reinforced in Xi’s speech, which extends the discourse beyond national concerns and reframes pandemic management as a global opportunity for cooperation.

In this analysis, intertextuality is evident in how news reports draw on narratives established in the white paper and Xi’s speech. The white paper, as a foundational document, constructs an official narrative of China’s COVID-19 response, emphasizing centralized command, well-coordinated prevention, and national mobilization. News reports quote and recontextualize these narratives using more journalistic language, reinforcing state narratives while making them more accessible to public audiences. Xi’s speech shifts the focus from domestic pandemic management to China’s role in global cooperation and economic recovery, introducing themes like “win-win cooperation” and “strong economic recovery”. News reports selectively integrate these international themes, linking China’s pandemic success to broader economic and diplomatic narratives. Through these intertextual linkages, news media serve as intermediaries between state discourse and public perception, strategically reinforcing official messages while adapting them to different communicative settings.

As is shown, this exemplary analysis demonstrates how official narratives are reinforced and adapted across news reports. The white paper establishes China’s response as centralized and effective, news reports disseminate and reframe these messages for public consumption, and Xi’s speech extends the discourse into international and economic domains. This layered discursive construction legitimizes China’s pandemic response while positioning the country as a leader in global recovery efforts.

Overall, the comprehensive and in-depth analysis in this study has revealed why the news discourse is characterized by the six major representations. The DHA demonstrates a core strength here—elucidating how texts interconnect to create meaning and thereby exposing the processes by which state narratives are amplified and legitimized through aligned media narratives. The observed intertextual and interdiscursive patterns demonstrate the important role Chinese news media have played in amplifying the official rhetoric, thereby informing and uniting the public during the pandemic. However, it should be noted that the analysis in this section alone cannot conclusively demonstrate state control over COVID-19 narratives. Counter-discourses may exist in texts of other sources.

When linking the representations to the sociopolitical and historical context in China, as well as the broader global community, the following implications can be further discussed.

First, we can see that news coverage in China devotes substantial attention to portraying COVID-19 as a serious, prolonged public health threat causing widespread illness, hospitalizations, and deaths worldwide. Frequent use of alarming statistics on infections and mortality from official sources has painted a vivid picture of the overwhelming scale and severity of the health impact. The coverage of basic public health realities reflects the shared experience of humanity in facing a catastrophic pandemic. No matter what the country or system is, fundamental aspects like rising infections and strained healthcare resources are universal concerns, like in existing studies (Basch et al., 2020).

Second, the news has also addressed the extensive ripple effects of the pandemic across society. Education disruptions, economic downturns, strains on the food system, and changes to everyday life are among the far-reaching consequences highlighted to showcase the pandemic’s role as a societal catastrophe. This has also been revealed in previous studies (Hubner, 2021).

Third, pandemic response is the second dominate representation in the news. Chinese media discourse emphasizes national unity, social solidarity, and the centralized governance capability in responding to the pandemic. This aligns with state message of competent, uniform handling of the crisis. Just as the white paper “Fighting COVID-19: China in Action” states, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, a highly coordinated approach has been established in China. This whole-of-the-nation approach has created an effective and well-functioning control mechanism.

Collectivist cultural values in China that emphasize social harmony, unity, and shared community experience are more compatible with the uniform narratives. Chinese culture has long-standing roots in collectivism. Throughout history, the collectivist ideology has aided Chinese people in battling shared threats like SARS or Japanese invasion (Palko & Xiang, 2020).

This dominant representation together with the general optimistic tone emphasizes that the virus could be contained and eliminated, and describes how Chinese government was proactively handling the crisis, thus boosting citizens’ confidence and trust in the government’s competence. This kind of framing can be considered as a practical strategy in the situation of high uncertainty. As Kilgo et al. (2019) noted, the news media can alleviate panic by focusing on actions taken to control the health crisis and giving praise to those handling the crisis.

Fourth, in terms of representing the recovery process, Chinese news projects a steady and robust resurgence in economic growth and output. This representation is closely linked to the portrayal of effective prevention and control measures, as the robust recovery is a direct outcome of the efficient prevention policies.

Fifth, the metaphor of war has been used in the Chinese news to frame the pandemic, emphasizing the urgency and gravity of the situation and the necessity of strategic planning and effort. War metaphors in public discourse tend to exaggerate and dramatize situations, advocating for extreme measures and framing outcomes as either victories or defeats. These metaphors are so ingrained in everyday language, serving as a common way to describe illnesses and diseases as conflicts (Semino et al., 2018). Apparently, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, using a war metaphor can be seen as appropriate because it helps raise awareness among the public about a new and deadly threat to their lives. Existing studies have revealed the war framing of the pandemic in news media (Charteris-Black, 2021; Musolff, 2021).

As the current study shows, the war metaphor permeates Chinese news coverage during the pandemic, underscoring an enduring struggle. The Chinese media portray the pandemic as a global unified struggle, requiring international collaboration, solidarity, and mutual assistance to defeat a common enemy. This finding aligns with previous research, such as Yu’s study (2021), which found that war framing fosters solidarity between nations. This discursive framing used in Chinese media echoes the official notion that collective global cooperation is imperative to successfully combat COVID-19 for the shared future of humankind (The State Council, 2020). The metaphorical language used underscores the idea of a collective global campaign where the key weapons are collaboration and empathy. This finding stands in contrast to observations from media reports in other nations. For instance, media in Britain progressively refrained from employing war metaphors as the pandemic evolved (Charteris-Black, 2021).

Many researchers have recognized the effectiveness of using war metaphors in communication, as they capture people’s attention and create fear, which can be motivating and memorable (Flusberg et al., 2018). However, critics have argued that these metaphors may emphasize tackling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic without effectively addressing the root causes, thus highlighting the associated characteristics of war, including aggression, defensiveness, self-interest, territorialism, and the act of “othering” (Oswick et al., 2020). In this enduring pandemic, they began to sound clichéd and confrontational, potentially undermining social cohesion rather than evoking empathetic responses (Charteris-Black, 2021).

However, a different perspective has emerged from the current study. In the Chinese media, where the shared identities and goals have been built upon heroic defense against the global enemy, such metaphors can encourage cooperation and solidarity and receive a more positive response in a long term. This aligns with the concept that cultural and historical factors exert substantial influence on shaping individual reactions to war metaphors. What’s more, the war frame in the Chinese media is intertwined with the idea of a global community working together and supporting one another to combat the pandemic. This reimagines the war frame as something inclusive, caring, supportive, and collaborative. It fosters a sense of democracy and connection among people and has the potential to inspire novel ways of thinking and acting within society.

The findings of the present study could have implications for news media not only in China but also in other countries with respect to how effectively they are able to communicate a health crisis. The COVID-19 representations in Chinese media highlight the need for cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity in public health reporting, to resonate with audiences with divergent cultural values and political contexts. For example, in the Chinese discourse, COVID-19 prevention and control is portrayed through steady recovery and international cooperation, emphasizing optimism and trust in the government’s competence, which helps boost public confidence during the crisis. However, too much focus on successful experience under the guidance of the Chinese government and stress on solidarity and positivity may not help Chinese media boost their resonance among international audience. In contrast to the dominant frames in the media of other countries, which visualize the pandemic as a global suffering (Basch et al., 2020), the dominant frames in Chinese media are unlikely to soothe the international audience and inspire them to fight against the virus actively. It is thus advisable for Chinese media to connect their representations to the dominant frames in other influential news outlets, if possible, the deep frames circulated in other societies, to improve Chinese outbound communication of health crisis response.

While this study has provided valuable insights into the media representation of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, it is essential to acknowledge several limitations. First, the study analyzed the most representative newspapers in China, so the results may be limited to traditional news media. Care should be taken when generalizing the current findings to different types of media, such as social media. Second, it is suggested to extend the analysis of media representation of the pandemic to include other countries or regions. This will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how cultural, political, and societal factors influence health communication strategies in the media.