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Exploring Generic Features in China-Africa Corporate Advertising: A Critical Genre Analysis

  • Meiling Wang

    Meiling WANG is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Wuhan University. She is interested in corpus linguistics, discourse analysis of English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes.

    and Liming Deng

    Prof. Liming DENG (the corresponding author) is the director of the Research Institute of Foreign Languages, the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Wuhan University. Her main research interests include discourse studies, second language writing, and EAP/ESP. She has published extensively in SSCI-indexed journals such as English for Specific Purposes, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and Scientometrics.

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Published/Copyright: August 21, 2022
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Abstract

China-Africa corporate advertising is emerging as an example of the corporate advertising genre in response to the specific rhetorical context of China-Africa win-win cooperation. Drawing on Bhatia’s Critical Genre Analysis (2017), this study explores the text-internal and text-external generic features of China-Africa corporate advertising by analyzing 50 collected samples. The analysis of text-internal prominence shows that China-Africa corporate advertising is unique in its frequent use of win-win-oriented and sector-dependent technical lexicons to indicate the promotional intent. It is also found that move structures vary across different sub-types of China-Africa corporate advertising. Text-externally, the findings reveal a mixture of different discourses within the discursive space of China-Africa corporate advertising. In addition, the results suggest that Chinese companies invest more rhetorical efforts in enhancing the China-Africa community than African counterparts who tend to perceive China-Africa cooperation as the main avenue to attract worldwide partnerships. The findings have some practical implications for discourse construction in the Belt and Road Initiative context and shed light on the evolving nature of advertising discourse, particularly in the China-Africa win-win business context.

About the authors

Meiling Wang

Meiling WANG is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Wuhan University. She is interested in corpus linguistics, discourse analysis of English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes.

Prof. Liming Deng

Prof. Liming DENG (the corresponding author) is the director of the Research Institute of Foreign Languages, the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Wuhan University. Her main research interests include discourse studies, second language writing, and EAP/ESP. She has published extensively in SSCI-indexed journals such as English for Specific Purposes, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and Scientometrics.

Acknowledgments

This study is part of the research output of the National Social Sciences research project entitled “A Genre-based Study of the Dynamic Intertextual and Interdiscursive System in Chinese and Foreign Professional Discourse” (NO. 17BYY033). We are greatly indebted to two anonymous reviewers and editors for their valuable comments and suggestions for the refinement of this article.

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Appendix. Detailed Demographical Summary of China-Africa Corporate Advertising Collected From China Daily

Sample Tokens Name of Company/Agency Theme Countries Source
Sample 1 55 The Road Traffic Management Corporation infrastructure South Africa March 26, 2013
Sample 2 104 The DEDECT investment South Africa March 26, 2013
Sample 3 62 the NECSA (nuclear energy) investment South Africa March 26, 2013
Sample 4 54 South Africa National Energy Development infrastructure South Africa March 26, 2013
Sample 5 76 Department of EET in Mpumalanga investment South Africa March 26, 2013
Sample 6 94 Broadband Infraco infrastructure South Africa March 26, 2013
Sample 7 18 Mega group investment South Africa March 26, 2013
Sample 8 254 JUSHI Egypt investment China January 2016
Sample 9 63 SinoTharwa Drilling company infrastructure China-Egypt January 2016
Sample 10 3 Investmentsin Morocco investment Morocco May 2016
Sample 11 69 BMCE Bank of Africa banking Morocco May 2016
Sample 12 57 BCI Mozambique banking China May 2016
Sample 13 108 Concord International Investment Group, L.P. investment Egypt June 2016
Sample 14 67 Future Pipe Industries infrastructure Egypt June 2016
Sample 15 141 ICBC and Standard Bank banking Joint September 5, 2016
Sample 16 243 Gabon Special Economic Zone investment Gabon December 7, 2016
Sample 17 4 PORTEK infrastructure Gabon December 8, 2016
Sample 18 17 Mauritius Commercial Bank banking Mauritius May 24, 2017
Sample 19 12 Air Mauritius infrastructure Mauritius May 24, 2017
Sample 20 54 HUAWEI infrastructure China September 5, 2017
Sample 21 90 Standard Chartered banking unknown March 26, 2018
Sample 22 74 Standard Chartered banking unknown March 26, 2018
Sample 23 161 ANPI-GABON investment Gabon September 3, 2018
Sample 24 148 PowerChina infrastructure China September 3, 2018
Sample 25 28 China Development Bank banking China September 3, 2018
Sample 26 49 Stanbic IBTC Bank banking Nigeria September 4, 2018
Sample 27 8 Port D’abidjan infrastructure Cōte d’Ivoire September 4, 2018
Sample 28 185 China Mobile infrastructure China September 4, 2018
Sample 29 94 BMCE Bank of Africa banking Morocco September 4, 2018
Sample 30 130 China Harbor Engineering Company infrastructure China December 4, 2015
Sample 31 79 China Harbor Engineering Company infrastructure China September 4, 2018
Sample 32 6 Jaiz Bank banking Nigeria December 2, 2013
Sample 33 108 Stanbic IBTC Bank banking Nigeria December 2, 2013
Sample 34 60 Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria banking Nigeria December 2, 2013
Sample 35 13 Damagix infrastructure Nigeria December 2, 2013
Sample 36 42 Egbin power infrastructure Nigeria December 2, 2013
Sample 37 111 South Atlantic Petroleum infrastructure Nigeria December 2, 2013
Sample 38 82 Bank of China banking China December 5 , 2013
Sample 39 92 ICBC banking China December 5 , 2013
Sample 40 51 Mozambique commercial bank banking Mozambique March 11 , 2015
Sample 41 17 Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa infrastructure Mozambique March 11 , 2015
Sample 42 47 Port of Beira infrastructure Mozambique March 11 , 2015
Sample 43 73 Port of Nacala infrastructure Mozambique March 11, 2015
Sample 44 15 Investment bank in Egypt banking Egypt April 7, 2015
Sample 45 105 Air Madagascar infrastructure Madagascar April 22, 2015
Sample 46 44 SPAT infrastructure Madagascar April 22, 2015
Sample 47 98 OMNIS infrastructure Madagascar April 22, 2015
Sample 48 59 Agricultural Bank of China banking China April 30 , 2015
Sample 49 4 DERBA cement infrastructure Ethiopia July 13, 2015
Sample 50 14 NAPTIN infrastructure Nigeria December 2, 2013
Published Online: 2022-08-21
Published in Print: 2022-08-26

© 2022 BFSU, FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy

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