A Corpus-Based Analysis of Discourse on Tangshan Beating Incident in Foreign Social Media

Based on the corpus-based critical discourse analysis, this paper combines quantitative and qualitative method to analyze the tweets on Tangshan Beating Incident. By observing word list and keyword list, it is found that tweets prefer incident in which police is put in negative contexts to case in which police in positive contexts. Moreover, using passive arrested emphasizes the inaction of Chinese police and highlight the negative image. For the analysis of the use of CCP, tweets link the beating incident with China and its political parties and maliciously discredit the Communist Party of China by being straightforward; affirming status but actually irony; distorting facts and associate thought. Comparing woman and man, it turns out that the tweets stress the quantitative and physiological advantages of men and weaken the fact of their violence, which indicates discrimination against women. Faced with such situation, it is of great significance to enhance China’s ability to build its foreign image and improve the external public opinion environment.