‘Historical’ Xi’an: A Corpus Analysis of Adjectives in Online Tourism Promotional Materials

This study examines the significance of highly frequent adjectives in promoting Xi’an, China’s online tourism promotional materials. It specifically focuses on the frequency and functional impact of these adjectives. Adopting a corpus-driven approach, a specialised corpus of English-language promotional texts from Xi’an’s official tourism website was constructed and analysed using AntConc software. The findings reveal that descriptive adjectives dominate, emphasising Xi'an's geographical, historical, and cultural attributes, while experiential and positive evaluative adjectives enhance the emotional and qualitative aspects of the promotional discourse. These adjectives not only describe Xi’an’s historical and cultural significance but also create a sense of appeal and interest among potential tourists. The study further explores collocation patterns to understand how these adjectives function within promotional texts. The results offer insights into how adjectives in Xi’an online tourism promotional materials promote Xi’an and highlight the importance of using high-frequency, positive adjectives in tourism promotional materials.