“The Lecturer is Like a Housemaid”: the Position of Women Revealed by Female Metaphor Vehicles in Chinese

Authors

  • Li Hongying Xianda College of Economics and Humanities Shanghai International Studies University Shanghai, China 200083

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18002/sin.v17i2.8233

Keywords:

Metaphor; Gender; Discourse dynamics framework; Wei Cheng.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that many metaphors conceptualize “women” in a derogatory way to present negative opinions about them. However, the issue of how “women” being metaphor vehicles function in discourse has rarely been addressed. This paper applies a discourse dynamics approach to conduct a multidimensional analysis of the linguistic, cognitive, affective, and socio-cultural-historical contexts of the 25 female metaphor vehicles identified in the modern Chinese novel Wei Cheng. The aim is to shed light on how this type of metaphors reflect the ideas, attitudes, and values towards women in Chinese discourse. The results show that, through highlighting certain negative features of their topics (i.e., male characters, female characters, university faculty and other non-human objects), these female metaphor vehicles at the same time display a corresponding view on women. Crucially, considering the historical background of the novel and the high degree of lexicalization of some of these metaphors in Chinese, these metaphor vehicles present a sexist view of women in traditional Chinese society and contribute to reinforce female gender stereotypes.

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Author Biography

  • Li Hongying, Xianda College of Economics and Humanities Shanghai International Studies University Shanghai, China 200083

    Xianda College of Economics and Humanities
    Shanghai International Studies University
    Shanghai, China 200083

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Published

2023-12-28 — Updated on 2024-03-11

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How to Cite

“The Lecturer is Like a Housemaid”: the Position of Women Revealed by Female Metaphor Vehicles in Chinese. (2024). Sinología hispánica. China Studies Review, 17(2), 69-90. https://doi.org/10.18002/sin.v17i2.8233 (Original work published 2023)