Extending beyond customary boundaries: Using words to shape China’s new image abroad

The paper aims at analyzing the role of lexical choices in the formation of China’s external representation during official journeys abroad or leaders’ attendance of international events. The author proposes the methodology of software-assisted text analysis as a valuable tool for providing an empirical basis for the preliminary assumption of a more mature approach to foreign audiences by Chinese leadership, especially in terms of major focus on the psychology of the recipients of political speeches. The linguistic data in the paper are partial outcomes of extensive linguistic research on China’s political language in international contexts, conducted by the author during a three-year PhD program.