Visualizing the national voice: a multimodal metaphor analysis of Putonghua Promotion posters

Abstract This paper investigates how Chinese state-sponsored visual propaganda constructs national language ideologies through a multimodal metaphor analysis of Putonghua promotion posters produced for the National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion (NPWPP) between 1998 and 2024. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Feng and O’Halloran’s (2013. The visual representation of metaphor: A social semiotic approach. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 11(2). 320–335) visual representation framework, the study explores how verbal and visual modes interact to position Putonghua as central to national identity, governance, and collective aspiration. Three metaphorical themes emerge: Putonghua as infrastructure of the nation, a vehicle for collective progress, and a unifying and empowering force. These themes are primarily realized through symbolic attribution, defamiliarization, and culturally resonant imagery, with visual strategies guiding viewer attention. The analysis shows how multimodal metaphors fuse affect with ideology, positioning NPWPP posters as tools of discursive governance that promote a unified national voice while revealing tensions between standardization, diversity, and China’s hybrid market-socialist paradigm.