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In:COVID-19: Metaphor and metonymy across languages and cultures
Edited by Xu Wen, Wei-lun Lu, Joe Lennon and Zoltán Kövecses
[Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication 11] 2025
► pp. 301–317

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Chapter 12
Visual metaphors in news cartoons on covid-19 in China

 | Southwest University
 | Liupanshui Normal University
Published online: 6 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.11.12wen
Abstract
For a long time, the use of non-verbal symbolic patterns was considered to be an emotional and instinctive issue, and the cognitive and communicative functions of visual metaphors were ignored. But with the frequent use of visual metaphors in political cartoons, advertisements, propaganda posters, cartoon stories, picture books, and even body language, sculptures, movies, and other multimodal contexts, people have become increasingly aware of its importance in sociocultural communication. Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth of visual metaphor studies in a variety of genres, which has reinforced the interdisciplinary aspect of this line of research. News cartoons often use visual metaphors to express ideas and comment on social concerns, and since 2020, the covid-19 pandemic has been the subject of many news cartoons in China. These news cartoons are interesting to study because in them we can read the attitudes and core values of the society. This study identifies visual metaphors in Chinese news cartoons on covid-19, and offers an explanation of the meaning construction of these metaphors. These metaphors can be classified mainly into warfare metaphors (pandemic is war) and legend metaphors (pandemic is grim reaper). In terms of the meaning constructed in the cartoons, they demonstrate that the Chinese people are determined to fight confidently and insistently against the pandemic.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical foundations
  • 3.Method
  • 4.Metaphors about COVID-19
    • 4.1Metaphors of war
    • 4.2Metaphors of legend
  • 5.Meaning construction
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
References (17)
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