Visual Analysis

(This is an analysis of a cohesive set of magazine covers using the social semiotic framework as well as other tools such as cultural studies and rhetoric)

The representation of China in the post-epidemic era in The Economist

Wanchen Sun

Word Count: 2963
November 15, 2022

Introduction

Founded in 1843, The Economist is a world-renowned weekly news magazine which has a deep focus on current global affairs. No less prominent is the tendency for the magazine to engage in wordplay in the headlines and visual rhetoric in cover design (Alexander, 1986).

Before starting the research, I counted the frequency of China-related covers in the last decade using the method of content analysis (Table 1), so as to make a general statement on the covers’ trend (Bell, 2001). From 2013 to 2018, the covers focus on the emperor-like features of Xi Jinping. After 2019, the features have taken place by various elements instead. The proportion of Chinese covers has also increased, showing that they have a more comprehensive focus on China after the epidemic.

Frequency statistics of China-related cover in The Economist

This essay will select three representational covers in 2022 for the analysis, then examine the covers separately by using the social semiotic framework and offering critical analysis, to explore how The Economist portrays China from different angles in the post-pandemic period. The three covers depict China from aspects of politics, economy and living in the post-epidemic era. Picture 1 shows the latest 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (hereinafter referred to as the CPC), which shows the party’s ambition to centralize power. Picture 2 uses illustrations to deliver Xi Jinping's wrong strategy leading China's slowdown continuously. Picture 3 depict a city under lockdown, revealing the oppression brought by the zero-Covid strategy to the citizens and the damage to the economy. Although there are still other covers in the post-epidemic era, those are either too specific or blended with irrelevant elements. Therefore, I chose the three covers shown below, which are also intrinsically related.

Picture 1, the political theme cover (Murphy, 2022)

Picture 2, the economic theme cover (Reynolds, 2022)

Picture 3, the living theme cover (Getty Images, 2022)

China-Related Covers Under Social Semiotic Framework

1. Representational meaning

In picture 1, the viewers can know what happened from the conceptual pattern. There are several people in suits sitting in a row. Behind them is a golden wall with a huge sign in the middle, which is the emblem of the CPC. The flags in bright red which symbolizes vitality are placed on either side of the party emblem (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2002). It is reasonable to speculate that it depicts the latest 20th CPC National Congress in the Great Hall of the People. The person sitting in the middle is President Xi Jinping and surrounding him are other party officials. In the dimension of narrative representations, Xi Jinping is an actor whose goal is to deliver a speech, while the other officials are reactors who react to XI’s speech. Xi’s eyes are fixed on the front and form a vector. The officials do not have facial features; however, some details also indicate their gaze. The official on the very left has thicker hair on the left side than on the right side, and the left side of the face is heavily shaded, which can be considered that his head is facing towards the middle. Similarly, the third person on the right also expresses his reaction. The others all have shadows on their foreheads, suggesting a posture of looking down at the table, which can be regarded as a lack of power and lower status (Bowcher and Liang, 2022).

Picture 2 consists of a solid red background and crimson pillars, above which is President Xi in a black suit with a pose of striding forward. President Xi is an actor in the picture. His body is facing the direction of the stairs, and his walking action constitutes a vector, indicating that his goal is to move forward. The pillars in front kept falling, while his foot is hanging in the air and has no interaction with the ladder. Bowcher and Liang (2022) pointed out that facial expressions can be analysed by the different statuses of features. Xi's eyebrows are tightly furrowed with downturned eyes and mouth. Some downward facial lines can also be seen. What’s more, his face is heavily shadowed with unnaturally brown. All the negative elements show that he is preoccupied. In terms of conceptual patterns, the red colour used in the background and pillars are not only the symbol of China, as red is widely used in the Chinese national flag and traditional culture, but also has the meaning of warning and danger (He, 2009).

Different from the previous two illustrations, picture 3 is documentary photography. The background of the photo is a highway in China. The guide board writes ‘People’s (Renmin) Rd.’ and ‘entrance’ in Chinese. The man at the centre wears a Covid prevention overall with a mask, with his eyes looking into the distance as an actor and the viewer is positioned to contemplate without any sense of personal engagement, which can be considered as an ‘indirect gaze’ (Bowcher and Liang, 2022). On his fluorescent gilet is written ‘traffic police’ in Chinese. The traffic policeman stands directly below the road sign, blocking the forward road together with the traffic cones behind him. The protective clothing and road closures both symbolise that it is a photo taken under the lockdown in China. The photograph is framed horizontally, leaving the rest of the places surrounded by a black background with the white headline to illustrate the theme.
2. Interactive meaning
From the contact aspect, President Xi stares directly at the viewers in picture 1, making eye contact with the audience and magazine readers. The producer tries to convey the spirit of the congress to the viewer, which makes the picture a “demand” (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, pp.117-118). The picture uses a long shot to fully present the venue layout. Viewers are placed at a long distance, suggesting an ‘impersonal relationship’ that can understand the event more comprehensively and objectively (Jewitt and Oyama, 2001, p.146). A frontal angle is used to ‘increase the viewers’ involvement’ with the congress (Jewitt and Oyama, 2001, p.138). It seems to be an eye-level angle, placing readers and the officials in the same position. However, the large area of red bricks elevates the rostrum invisibly, giving President Xi and officials superiority and power visually.

In picture 2, President Xi forms a 90-degree angle with the viewer, making it defined as an ‘offer’ picture and having a sense of disengagement (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, pp.119-120). In terms of distance, the picture uses a long shot to show Xi's body movement and the pillars below as a panorama, which allows readers to feel the theme of China's economic slowdown more intuitively. The eye-level angle puts the reader and President Xi in an equal position.

Picture 3 is also an ‘offer’ (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, pp.119-120). The traffic policeman stares into the far distance, creating detachment from the viewers. He is framed from the knees up, which is a ‘medium long shot’, allowing readers to capture the expressions of the traffic policeman as well as the surroundings (Villarejo, 2013, p.43). The photo is shot at an extremely low position, which creates a huge height difference between the viewers and the characters in the picture. It indicates that the traffic policeman has absolute power, giving the surroundings a strong sense of oppression (Jewitt and Oyama, 2001).

3. Compositional meaning
Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) argued that the information value from top to bottom is corresponding to ideal and real, and the representation of centre and margin refers to significant and insignificant. In picture 1, the bright red venue is placed on the top, indicating that this is the bright world idealized by the CPC, while the dark red brick wall and the headline at the bottom are the reality. Besides, President Xi is put at the centre of the picture to show his significance. The red background with ‘The Economist’ in white at the upper left corner serves as branding, showing its authenticity. The horizontal line in the middle disconnects the venue above from the wall below, symbolizing that the party leadership is a castle in the sky. The contrast of two different shades of red emphasizes this point as well. The same suits of the officials form a connection, which means that the leadership team is a community of interests. However, in terms of salience, there are still some elements that underscore Xi's prominence in the team. Firstly, his figure is larger than the others; secondly, he is the only one who does not wear a mask and has a speaking microphone; finally, the background behind him is brighter than in other places. The huge party emblem above Xi is also a salience, both illustrating the nature of the event and hinting at the theme of the cover. Since this is an illustration and many parts are artificially processed, the picture has a low modality.

In picture 2, President Xi and the pillars are in relative positions of up and down. In other words, Xi's goal of continuing to move forward is an ideal, while the declining economic data under his feet is a reality. As the information value from left to right matches with given and new, the pillars on Xi’s left can be regarded as the economic data in the past while the right side is forecasts (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006). Xi walks from left to right also means that he is imagining a new look of the economy. The red background and red pillars form a connection, showing a warning of the Chinese slowdown, while President Xi in a black suit forms a disconnection from the surroundings. The strong contrast between red and black also shows the salience of Xi in the picture. Though black is typically used in formal suits, it also has a passive meaning in both western and Chinese cultures (He, 2009; Adams and Osgood, 1973). The two strong colours constitute a striking combination which can convey a sense of power. As an illustration, this picture has a low modality.

The traffic policeman in picture 3 is placed in the centre of the picture and acts as the dominator. And the traffic cones behind him are his ‘belongings’. The signs ‘People’s Road’ and ‘Entrance’ at the top are China’s ideal to serve the people, while the forbidden roads at the bottom are the reality of blocking the people. The black background around the photo forms a disconnection, revealing that China is surrounded by darkness. The traffic policeman is a salience who occupies most of the centre, and the fluorescent gilet is also an eye-catching prop. Red, as a marked colour, is universally used in transportation systems (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2002). The red traffic cones form a highlight with the surroundings through the colour contrast. The picture has a high modality because the sharpness and colour saturation of this picture is similar to what the viewers can see by naked eyes, and the depth of field is shallow without any blurring.

Critical Analysis on China’s Image

Overall, The Economist presents a negative China as authoritative in politics, recessionary in the economy and miserable in living from the three covers. More importantly, the common root of these issues stems from the flaw of the concentrated power of the CPC, especially the authoritarian system under Xi Jinping. The Economist has an ideological bias in image choosing to a certain extent.
The theme the editor chose in picture 1 is a significant event in China recently and can best reflect China's political status. At the 20th National Congress, Xi Jinping was re-elected, which has been his third term of office. In 2018, China amended the constitution to abolish the restriction of the president’s terms. Since then, there have been many speculations that Xi wants to be emperor, and The Economist is no exception. As the essay mentioned above, Picture 1 uses various elements to show the salience of Xi, indicating his dominant position in the party in an all-round way. The huge party emblem is a symbol of power, the brightly coloured flag and golden background show the bright future that the CPC glorifies. The high rostrum implies the hubris of the Party, leading to Chinese people being isolated. An interpretation of a metaphor can be done by independent images or combined with text (Tseronis, 2021). In this picture, the congress establishes the reference to the target domain while the headline refers to the source domain, constructing the metaphor that what China wants is centralized and endless power.

Picture 2 subtly shows China's economic predicament caused by Xi’s misleading strategies in the post-epidemic era. A series of falling pillars symbolises the declining economic status and the use of large areas of red symbolises the warning of the Chinese economy, acting in cooperation with Xi’s ghastly facial expression. Significantly, Xi Jinping is the only one drawn in the picture. On the one hand, it implies his absolute power in the party; on the other hand, it implies that he is determined to go his own way without others’ support. What’s more, his footsteps do not follow the pillars down but continue to move forward, indicating that he is still immersed in the fantasy of realizing the great national rejuvenation. Megacities such as Beijing and Shanghai have experienced lockdowns due to the ‘zero-Covid policy’, resulting in the stagnation of business development. Another policy is to control the development of large enterprises to protect the state-owned economy. These actions have jointly led to economic stagnation or even regression.
Through the selection of various visual elements, picture 3 shows a deserted city under lockdown and the authority of epidemic prevention workers. There is a directional sign of ‘People's Road’ on the road sign, which happens to be blocked, subtly implying the restricted freedom of the Chinese people, whether physical or mental. The identity of both the traffic policeman and the anti-epidemic worker are the symbol of regulation and power, in this way the actor is double coded in the photo. The looking-up angle also confers a higher status on the traffic policeman, showing his authority as he controls the area. Citizens are absent since they are under lockdown, but such a depiction can motivate viewers to imagine the desolation of the city and the misery of citizens in such an environment. With one positive case, a building and even the whole community will be put on lockdown and can only be unblocked if there are no new cases for 14 consecutive days. The negative space around the photo which is filled with black colour also contributes to a dark style. This picture can be regarded as a ‘verbal-visually conveyed metaphor’, showing what China is getting wrong is not Covid, but the control of freedom and the falling economy brought by anti-epidemic policy (Tseronis, 2021).
These three covers show the three aspects of China in the post-epidemic era, but they all point to a core, which is the flaw of the more and more concentrated power of the CPC. Xi's re-election demonstrates his ambition to power. In order to ensure the smooth holding of the 20th National Congress, Xi adopted a series of measures to ensure China’s stability and success, including the zero-Covid policy, suppression of the private economy. In other words, Picture 1 expresses the biggest goal of the CPC in the post-epidemic era, Picture 2 and Picture 3 are the negative impacts brought about on the way to achieve the political goal. Both pictures 1 and 2 directly show Xi's absolute leadership in the party. While picture 3 is not, it is still Xi Jinping who implements the zero-Covid strategy and empowers the anti-epidemic workers. Although The Economist no longer used the emperor-like features of Xi on the China-related cover as explicitly as in previous years, it continued the same core on ideology.

And the ideology can be seen through these covers. The factors on the covers operate as parts of ‘visual code’, which are processed by photographers and editors by power, so as to present China’s negative side (Lister and Wells, 2001, p.76). The first and second pictures are artistically processed illustrations. While the third one is a photo, the oblique angle and the choice of the scene are all manifestations of the photographer’s power. Since its inception in 1843, The Economist has been adhering to classical liberalism, which means that they advocate for the government to give up intervention and let the economy develop freely (Zevin, 2021). At the same time, they advocate freedom of speech. All these ideas they pursue are exactly on the opposite side of China, which insists on socialism. From this ideological point of view, it is reasonable that they would make such an edit on the cover.

Conclusion

In general, the selection of magazine covers is influenced by ideology to a certain extent. According to the rhetoric of The Economist, China is suffering in terms of politics, economy and living. Moreover, no matter from which angle the image of China is presented, it is fundamentally an extension of politics, as the ideology is like an ‘invisible hand’ that controls the whole society. The research also deserves further analysis from the perspective of historical development. A larger sample of Chinese covers can be selected to summarize the changes in The Economist's views on China, and how the rhetorical strategies change according to different periods. This essay tries to understand the image of China from the perspective of ‘the other’, that is The Economist, and combines the social background of the Chinese post-epidemic era to provide a preliminary interpretation of different aspects of Chinese society, which may be helpful for subsequent research on the national image from the perspective of ‘otherness’. In addition, this paper may provide some ideas for the future construction of China's international image.

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