Discourse Representation of China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation in African Media from the Perspective of Appraisal Theory

Under the framework of appraisal theory, this study specifically examines discourse representation of China’s practice of targeted poverty alleviation in African mainstream media. It is found in this research that African media have an overall positive attitude toward China’s targeted poverty alleviation. Among the three types of attitude resources, judgment resources are mostly used, followed by appreciation attitudinal resources and affect resources. As for the affect resources, security/insecurity resources are the most numerous, and for judgment resources, social esteem resources far exceed social sanction resources. Among appreciation resources, valuation resources far exceed both reaction and composition. In terms of the appraiser, African media mainly express their own views and attitudes directly, but also borrow views from the Chinese government, the Chinese people, foreign experts and scholars, and other countries to support and supplement the point of view. As for the appraised, the Chinese government is the mostly appraised, followed by the evaluation of poverty alleviation measures, poverty alleviation achievements, and the Communist Party of China. In addition, the discourse of African media indicates a kind of appreciation and agreement of the spirit and ability of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese government and the Chinese people in fighting poverty, and a kind of recognition of the social value and achievements of the targeted poverty alleviation in their news reports.