47
It seems understandable that a Chinese newspaper would cover the Games from a Chinese perspective, that is why a majority of the sentences are on China, totalling more than 70% of the sample (sum of figures at bottom of Columns 1 and 2, i.e. 56.7% + 15.5%). And within this group of sentences on China, 78.5% are enhancing her (2143 against the sum of 2143 + 585). Curiously enough, of the group which is on "others”, nearly 80% are enhancing others. Although this is so, the overall picture would still be one which is enhancing China because the proportion of this category accounts for more than half of all the value sentences. More so, if we look into the details of the factors and attributes of face reported in these sentences, the enhancing China picture stands out even more clearly.
Level Of Face And Face Situations
The ratios of sentences depicting enhancing or threatening face situations for China or other countries look the same, but the picture is reverted when we look at the level of face concerned in these face situations. There are altogether 1823 sentences which are categorized as face-enhancing to China by favourably bringing up her basic factors of face. In this pool, the majority still go to the individual athletes or teams of China, figuring 1427 or 78.3% of the total (Table 10). The second largest proportion still goes to the delegation, 296 out of 1823 or 16.2% of the latter. The sentences which cover enhancing factors of face to Chinese people, the nation/country, and her government are 22, 64 and 7 respectively. Although they are very small sums when compared to the sum of those at individual level, they together account for 5.1% of the total.
The sum of sentences portraying threatening factors of face to China are 540, meaning 93.1% of the total in this column. The second largest proportion is found at the level of delegation, 36 sentences or 6.2% of the column total. In each of the next two levels, only one sentence is found to be threatening to the basic factors of face. And at the level of government, even no threatening situation is reported. The total column percentage of these three levels is further relegated to 0.4% of the column total. This is insignificant to the figures at the more individual levels. Could this mean that when face-threatening situations occur, such as poor performance of the athletes, the individual athletes, teams or the delegation are solely responsible? And could this imply that when face-enhancing situations are imminent, such as gold medals won by Chinese athletes, the people,
VII
47
It seems understandable that a Chinese newspaper would cover the Games from a Chinese perspective, that is why a majority of the sen- tences are on China, totalling more than 70% of the sample (sum of fig- ures at bottom of Columns 1 and 2, 1.e. 56.7% + 15.5%). And within this group of sentences on China, 78.5% are enhancing her (2143 against the sum of 2143 + 585). Curiously enough, of the group which is on "oth- ers”, nearly 80% are enhancing others Although this is so, the overall picture would still be one which is enhancing China because the propor- tion of this category accounts for more than half of all the value sen- tences More so, if we look into the details of the factors and attributes of face reported in these sentences, the enhancing China picture stands out even more clearly.
Level Of Face And Face Situations
The ratios of sentences depicting enhancing or threatening face situations for China or other countries look the same, but the picture is reverted when we look at the level of face concerned in these face situations. There are altogether 1823 sentences which are categorized as face-enhancing to China by favourably bringing up her basic factors of face. In this pool, the majority still go to the individual athletes or teams of China, figuring 1427 or 78,3% of the total (Table 10). The second largest proportion still goes to the delegation, 296 out of 1823 or 16.2% of the latter. The sentences which cover enhancing factors of face to Chinese people, the nation/country, and her government are 22, 64 and 7 and 7 respectively. Although they are very small sums when compared to the sum of those at individual level, they together account for 5.1% of the total.
The sum of sentences portraying threatening factors of face to China are 540 meaning 93,1% of the total in this column. The second largest proportion is found at the level of delegation, 36 sentences or 6.2% of the column total In each of the next two levels, only one sentence is found to be threatening to the basic factors of face. And at the level of government, even no threatening situation is reported. The total column percentage of these three levels is further relegated to 0.4% of the column total. This is insignificant to the figures at the more individual levels. Could this mean that when face threatening situations occur, such as poor performance of the athletes, the individual athletes, teams or the delegation are solely responsible? And could this imply that when face enhancing situations are imminent, such as gold medals won by Chinese athletes, the people,
VII
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