Abstract
China’s economic liberalization reforms and quest for global status have raised concerns over ideological inconsistencies (the adoption of market economy is discrepant from China’s avowed belief in socialism) and image problems (the world that China wants to embrace perceives her as a menace). Official media discourse makes frequent reference to globalization and uses it to manage the inconsistencies and to bolster China’s global image. These discursive functions, though related to media discourse’s meaning-making functions, are sufficiently distinct from the latter to merit their own analysis. This article provides a theoretical discussion of the functions derived from social—psychological research on inconsistency justification and intergroup relations, with illustrative examples from relevant articles published in the People’s Daily between 1996 and 2006.
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