Cover not available

In:Analysing Chinese Language and Discourse across Layers and Genres
Edited by Wei Wang
[Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse 13] 2020
► pp. 177–194

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 10
Impact of power relations on news translation in China

A critical discourse analysis perspective

 | The University of Sydney
Published online: 28 August 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/scld.13.10xia
Abstract
Global news transmission relies on language and particularly on the services of translation. Decision making exists in every step of the translation process, for instance, from the text selection to the discursive expression, and from information transference to culture communication. This study examines the translation practice of news in Cankao Xiaoxi (Chinese: 参考消息), the most read Chinese daily run by the Chinese government that collects various news or information from international media, translates and reprints them in Chinese. This study outlines various powers that underline text manipulation in this state news agency and explores the impact of power relations on both the process and the product of news translation. Combining an ethnographic approach with a critical discourse analysis of news translation, this study investigates the institutional contexts and human agencies involved in the news making process, which lead to the manipulation of the news production. This study reveals that various powers determine how to shape the already shaped news via translating and that network of power relations underlying news translation in China is hierarchical. This hierarchy of power relations affords both macro and micro-analytical perspectives on the realisation of manipulation in news translation in China.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background of this study
  • Method and data collection
  • Analysis
  • Power relations in news translation
    • Immediate power
    • Direct power
    • Indirect power
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (39)
References
Baker, Mona. 2007. “Reframing Conflict in Translation”. Social Semiotics, 17(2), 151–169. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bassnett, Susan. 2004. “What Exactly Did Saddam Say?” The Linguist, 43(6), 176–178.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bielsa, Esperanca, and Susan Bassnett. 2009. Translation in Global News. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chan, Red. 2007. “One Nation, Two Translations: China’s Censorship of Hilary Clinton’s Memoir.” In Translating and Interpreting Conflict, ed. by Myriam Salama-Carr, 119–131. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheng, Maria. 2002. “新闻编译的原则和策略 [The principles and strategies of trans-editing for the news media].” Fanyi xuebao, 7: 113–134.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Ya-mei. 2011. “The Ideological Construction of Solidarity in Translated Newspaper Commentaries: Context Models and Inter-Subjective Positioning.” Discourse & Society 22(6): 693–722. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conway, Kyle. 2015. “What is the Role of Culture in News Translation? A Materialist Approach.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 23(4): 521–535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fischer, Beatrice, and Matilde Nisbeth Jensen. (eds). 2012. Translation and the Reconfiguration of Power Relations: Revisiting Role and Context of Translation and Interpreting. Zurich: LIT Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fowler, Roger. 1991. Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. 1992. Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1995. Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. Language and Power (3rd ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fujii, Akio. 1988. “News Translation in Japan.” Meta, 33(1): 32–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gans, Herbert J. 1979. Deciding What’s News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time. New York: Random House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gee, James Paul. 2005. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumul, Ewa. 2010. “Explicitating Political Discourse.” In Political Discourse, Media and Translation, ed. by Christina Schäffner, and Susan Bassnett, 94–115. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kang, Ji-Hae. 2007. “Recontextualization of News Discourse: A Case Study of Translation of News Discourse on North Korea.” The Translator 13(2): 219–242. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koskinen, Kaisa. 2008. Translating Institutions: An Ethnographic Study of EU Translation. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Chin-Chuan. 1994. “Ambiguities and Contradictions: Issues in China’s Changing Political Communication.” In China’s Media, Media’s China, ed. by Chin-Chuan Lee, 3–20. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levey, Stephen. 2000. “Language Change and Adaptation in a Tok Pisin Newspaper.” English Today 16(02): 20–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Defeng. 2001. “国际新闻编译方法探索 [Adaptive translation of international news from English to Chinese: An exploration of methods].” Journal of Translation Studies 6: 47–60.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Loupaki, Elpida. 2010. “Investigating Translators’ Strategies in Rendering Ideological Conflict: The Case of News Translation.” In Political Discourse, Media and Translation, ed. by Christina Schäffner and Susan Bassnett, 55–75. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schäffner, Christina. 2003. “Third Ways and New Centres – Ideological Unity or Difference?” In Apropos of Ideology: Translation Studies on Ideology – Ideologies in Translation Studies, ed. by Maria Calzada-Perez, 23–41. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. “Unknown Agents in Translated Political Discourse.” Journal of Language and Politics 24(1): 103–125.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, Ron. 1998. Mediated Discourse as Social Interaction: A Study of News Discourse. New York: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Su, Shaozhi. 1994. “Chinese Communist Ideology and Media Control.” In China’s Media, Media’s China, ed. by Chin-Chuan Lee, 75–88. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tymoczko, Maria. 2007. Enlarging Translation, Empowering Translators. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tymoczko, Maria, and Edwin Gentzler (eds). 2002. Translation and Power. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wei, Guangyi. 2000. “毛泽东叮嘱办一张独一无二的报纸——参考消息创办的前前后后 [Mao Zedong advised to run a unique newspaper: The whole story of starting Cankao Xiaoxi].” Zongheng 4: 81–84.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xia, Liang, and Wei Wang. 2015. “Reframed News Discourse: The Manipulative Impact of Translation on News Making.” In Linking Discourse Studies to Professional Practice, ed. by Lubie Grujicic-Alatriste, 270–289. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xinhua Net 新华网. n.d. “参考消息简介 [Introduction of Cankao Xiaoxi].” from [URL]
van Dijk, Teun. A. 1993. “Principles of critical discourse analysis.” Discourse & Society 4(2): 249–283. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Dijk, Teun. A. 1998. Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Leeuwen, T. 2006. “Translation, Adaptation, Globalization: The Vietnam news.” Journalism 7(2): 217–237. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth. 1996. Disorders of Discourse. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Zhao, Jiaye & Dechun Zhang
2024. Visual propaganda in chinese central and local news agencies: a douyin case study. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11:1 DOI logo
Zeng, Weixin & Dechao Li
2023. Presenting China’s image through the translation of comments: a case study of the WeChat subscription account of Reference News. Perspectives 31:2 ► pp. 313 ff. DOI logo
Zhang, Chang, Dechun Zhang & Hsuan Lei Shao
2023. The softening of Chinese digital propaganda: Evidence from the People’s Daily Weibo account during the pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue