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Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 02 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

 

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Exploring Chinese Economic Discourse and Translation Strategies in the Era of 
AI: A Digital-Tech Approach 

 
Junchao WANG 

 
Journal Department of GDUFS, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, E-mail: 201510091@oamail.gdufs.edu.cn 

Abstract  
Chinese economic discourse, often underexplored, serves as a comprehensive reflection of the country’s economic reforms 
and national governance system, while also epitomizing China’s unique developmental trajectory. This paper employs a 
digital-tech approach to conduct an in-depth analysis of the database from Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Vols. I to 
III), investigating the linguistic characteristics of Chinese economic discourse and its translation strategies. The objective is 
to provide strategic insights for the global dissemination of this discourse. Through both quantitative and qualitative analyses, 
the study identifies key terms such as “people,” “reform,” “opening-up,” “development,” and “security” that are prevalent in 
Chinese economic discourse. Additionally, it reveals that the discourse is rich in conceptual metaphors and culture-specific 
metaphorical expressions. Furthermore, the findings highlight the significant role that artificial intelligence can play in 
interpreting and promoting this discourse internationally. 
Key Words: Chinese Economic Discourse, ChatGPT, digital-tech approach, post-editing, AIPE, global dissemination 
1. Introduction 
In the wave of globalization, the advent of the era of artificial intelligence presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges 
for China’s national discourse analysis and its translation. Chinese economic discourse is not only a comprehensive reflection 
of China’s economic reforms and national governance system but also a concentrated demonstration of the experiences and 
successes derived from China’s developmental path. It encompasses a wide range of topics, including economic policies, 
reform and development, socio-cultural issues, and ecological civilization, forming an integral part of China’s national 
discourse. However, due to the unique nature of China’s political system and the prevalent depiction of Chinese politics by 
mainstream international media, Chinese economic discourse is often marginalized in international communication and fails 
to fully showcase its unique value and appeal. With the significant enhancement of China’s international status and 
comprehensive national strength, countries around the world, particularly developing nations, have shown a keen interest in 
drawing lessons from China’s remarkable economic achievements. This not only provides a vast platform for the international 
dissemination of Chinese economic discourse but also raises higher demands for the translation strategies associated with it. 
Therefore, this study aims to adopt a digital humanities and translation studies perspective to conduct an in-depth analysis of 
the database of “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Vols. I-III),” exploring the linguistic features of Chinese economic 
discourse and its translation strategies. The goal is to provide strategic guidance for the global dissemination of Chinese 
economic discourse. 
2. Literature Review 
With the enhancement of China's comprehensive strength and the elevation of its international status, the dissemination 
of Chinese national discourse—both domestically and internationally—has attracted significant attention from scholars 
in both China and abroad. This has emerged as a new perspective and a hot topic in the study of “China.” Research on 
domestic and international dissemination has evolved from a focus on domestic communication to the construction of 
international discourse power, with much of the international research examining China from political and diplomatic 
dimensions. 
2.1 Research within China 
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the construction and interpretation of the Chinese 
political discourse system, as well as its international dissemination, have received high-level national attention (Wang 
& Zhang, 2017; Qin & Kong, 2019; Xun, 2019; He, 2020; Zhang, 2022; Zhang & Zhang, 2024). According to China 
National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), there have been a total of 1,685 research papers over the past 70 years 
related to the translation and dissemination of Chinese political discourse/texts/literature. Over half of these focus 
specifically on the translation of political works by Party and state leaders (i.e., 864 papers). The primary research 
perspectives include studies on the types of Chinese political discourse from the viewpoint of discourse genres, 
interpretations of Party and state leaders’ discourse within a hermeneutic framework, linguistic features of Chinese 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 02 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

 

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political discourse from a linguistic standpoint, and translation studies of Chinese political discourse from the 
perspective of communication and translation. 
From the perspective of communication studies, research has focused on both the intrinsic translation (e.g., translating 
from Chinese to ethnic minority languages) and the interlingual translation (e.g., Chinese to English, Chinese to 
Japanese), including studies on external translation dissemination strategies, translator decision-making, translation 
norms, and international acceptance or effectiveness (Si & Zeng, 2021; Zhao & Zhao, 2022; Wang, 2023a). 
In terms of textual data, most studies focus on Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. Existing research often centers on 
issues related to the language and translation of specific volumes of the book, addressing topics such as metaphor 
translation, classical allusions, classical poetry and prose, subtexts, community of shared future for mankind, idioms, 
causative sentences, cognates, pragmatic markers, terminology standardization, culture-loaded terms, diplomatic 
discourse styles, euphemisms, and China-specific terminology (e.g., Zhang, 2020). Many studies leverage theoretical 
perspectives such as translation studies on external propaganda translations, German functionalism, post-editing, 
ecological translation studies, relevance theory, narratology, and reception theory to discuss translation strategies, 
methods, and principles related to the transformation, rephrasing, explicit strategies, creative translation, foreignization, 
and interpretation of Chinese political and diplomatic discourse (e.g., Zhong & Fan, 2018). However, research driven 
by corpora in the context of external propaganda translation remains scarce, with notable exceptions such as Ye and 
Zhu (2022) and Wang (2023a). 
These diverse studies provide valuable insights, particularly reflections and suggestions for the international 
dissemination of Chinese political discourse within communication studies (Guo, 2020). However, research within 
China is largely constrained by modern Western disciplinary boundaries, with few scholars systematically exploring 
the translation publication and international dissemination of Chinese economic reform discourse from interdisciplinary 
or digital humanities perspectives (Wang & Li, 2024). There is a pressing need for research focused on the significance 
of Chinese economic reform discourse and the construction of its international discourse system. 
2.2 Overview of International Research 
According to the Web of Science (WOS) database, international research on Chinese political discourse began later and 
remains relatively sparse. Sydney (1998) highlighted the identity construction issues concerning ethnic minorities within 
Chinese political discourse, drawing academic attention. Since the 21st century, international political and cultural 
researchers have increasingly discussed themes such as democracy, gender, development, environment, diplomacy, the 
“Belt and Road Initiative,” and territorial issues from a post-colonial perspective (Demirtepe & Ozertem, 2013; Noesselt, 
2016; Goron, 2018; Bertulessi, 2024). However, very few studies have examined the international role of Chinese 
economic discourse (exceptions include Munyrith & Jiatai, 2020). The relevant works published by Chinese scholars 
internationally primarily belong to the linguistic domain, focusing on corpus-driven political discourse analysis or 
research on translation strategies (Wang, 2017; Chen, 2020; Wu & Cheng, 2022; Pan & Wang, 2021). 
Research combining the fields of publishing dissemination and translation studies is extremely rare. Furthermore, the 
international translation studies community has begun to pay attention to the recent hot topics concerning the translation 
and dissemination of Chinese political discourse, even dedicating special sections for calls for papers, such as the theme 
for The Translator in 2024. 
International research is gradually transitioning from cross-cultural perspectives to interdisciplinary studies, which is 
significant in providing guidance and promoting progress. However, much of it tends to deconstruct Chinese political 
discourse and distort the image of its leaders from a Western discourse framework, often leading to a narrow focus that 
fails to recognize the international publication and dissemination of economic discourse within the Chinese political 
discourse system. Consequently, this has hindered the formation of theories, strategies, or methods intended to guide 
the dissemination of economic discourse and China’s reform experiences. 
3. Language Features and Translation Strategies of Chinese Economic Discourse 
By collecting bilingual corpora from Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Volumes I to III), we established a parallel 
database comprising over one million Chinese characters and more than 700,000 English words. These three volumes 
include 79 significant works (arranged in 18 chapters) from Xi Jinping published between November 15, 2012 and June 
13, 2014, 99 important works (in 17 chapters) from August18, 2014 to September 29, 2017, and 92 important works (in 
19 chapters by topic) from October 18, 2017 to January 13, 2021. 
3.1 Keywords in Chinese Economic Discourse 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 02 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

 

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In the era of big data and artificial intelligence, we can conduct comprehensive and systematic visual analysis of the 
Chinese economic discourse database by adopting the data-digital approach (Wang, 2023b). The total word tokens for 
Volumes I to III are 753,318 and 481,751, respectively. The high-frequency words are summarized in Table 1. 
Table1. High-Frequency Words in the Bilingual Database 

Chinese Corpus English Corpus 
Rank Word Freq. Rank Word Freq. 

1  2085 1 people 2129 
2  1653 2 China 2057 
3  1518 3 development 1999 
4  1334 4 Party 1823 
5  1293 5 Chinese 1636 
6  1185 6 work 949 
7  1054 7 reform 883 
8  1037 8 economic 821 
9  997 9 system 695 

10  980 10 build/s/ing/built 636 
11  851 11 CPC 604 
12  788 12 security 489 
13  683 13 culture/al 458 
14  641 14 growth 456 
15  553 15 need 451 
16  552 16 leadership 419 
17  506 17 interests 404 
18  392 18 economy 392 
19  383 19 progress 391 
20  366 20 long 384 
21  366 21 develop 359 
22  358 22 opening 337 
23  339 23 market 311 
24  332 24 innovation 310 
25  328 25 peace 290 
26  301 26 poverty 260 
27  287 27 environment 232 
28  279 28 education 217 
29  273 29 stability 205 
30  265 30 resources 200 

 
Using an online word frequency statistics tool (https://www.lzltool.cn/word-frequency), we can visualize the high-
frequency words to understand the topics present in the economic discourse of the original texts. This visualization 
aligns closely with Table1, indicating that the high-frequency content words in Chinese economic discourse include: 
people, socialism, economy, country, issues, system, comprehensive, characteristics, leadership, system, spirit, path, 
reform, mechanism, development, deepening, stability, and resources among others. 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 02 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

 

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Figure 1. Visualization of High-Frequency Words in Chinese Economic Discourse 

3.2 Rhetoric and Translation Strategies of Chinese Economic Discourse 
Chinese economic discourse features distinctive Chinese expressions, terminological specificity, metaphorical usage, 
allusions, poetic qualities, and Xi Jinping’s particular wording style. Consequently, it embodies a high degree of 
economy, literary quality, philosophical depth, and experiential insight into China’s economic development. Due to 
space constraints, we will focus on metaphorical expressions within the economic discourse found in the database, 
employing AI to compare the translations of professional translators with those generated by AI to explore how 
technology can better serve the international dissemination of Chinese economic discourse in the AI era. 
(1) Keywords of Chinese Economic Discourse: Reform 
China’s national discourse system has undergone significant shifts, evolving through revolutionary discourse, 
construction discourse, and reform discourse. The reform discourse is a central reflection of China’s economic 
development (Wang & Li, 2024). Metaphor is a commonly used rhetorical strategy in articulating Chinese economic 
discourse, allowing for a vivid conveyance of the implications of economic policies and development ideas, thereby 
exerting a more powerful and far-reaching persuasive effect on readers. By exploring the database, we can identify a 
plethora of metaphors utilized to explain core terms in Chinese economic discourse, including “reform” (e.g., deep 
water zone, tackling tough battles, hard nuts to crack, opening green lights, etc.), “development” (e.g., dual-wheel, dual 
wings, new normal, new track, baton, quality revolution, artisan spirit, supply-side reform, etc.), “innovation” (e.g., 
mass innovation, sharp blade), “regulation” (e.g., fine-tuning, expansive stimulus, strategic resolve, targeted regulation, 
timely regulation, precision regulation, “six ensures” and “six guarantees,” etc.), “ecology” (e.g., declaring war on 
pollution, building a beautiful China, “green mountains and clear waters are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver,” 
blue sky defense war, “five-in-one” strategy, scientific policymaking, treatment of both symptoms and root causes, 
strong-armed governance, green consumption, carbon peak, carbon neutrality), and “outcomes” (e.g., building a 
moderately prosperous society in all respects, targeted poverty alleviation, lifting out of poverty, designation of poverty 
alleviation efforts, rural revitalization, sustained efforts). 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 02 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
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Figure 2. Visualization of Keywords in Chinese Economic Discourse: Reform 

In the Chinese database of Volumes I to III, “ ” (deepening or furthering reform) appears 210 times, while 
“reform” appears 883 times in the English database, with occurrences of 425, 260, and 260 in Volumes I, II, and III, 
respectively. This keyword is concentrated in the early parts of each volume but runs throughout the economic discourse 
of the text. By further analyzing its collocates, we encounter the following constructs: 

 Verb + reform: drive ... to a deeper level, promote ... in all respects, continue ... in all areas, carry out, launch, 
advance, further, achieve, support, center on, initiate, carry forward, uphold, introduce, keep on, uphold, ensure, 
push forward, integrate, seek, extend, adopt, etc. 

 Noun phrases: Reform and Opening up, the reform and opening-up policy, the reform and opening-up initiative, 
the reform and opening-up drive, the reform and opening-up move, the reform and opening-up effort, the reform 
and opening-up period, the reform and opening-up process, the pre-reform-and-opening-up phase, the post-reform-
and-opening-up phase, reform and development, reform and innovation, etc. 

 Adj. + reform: comprehensive, progressive, systematic, integrated, coordinated, economic, structural, social, 
financial, supply-side, SOE (state-owned enterprise), all-round, continuous, continued, overall, deeper, profound, 
etc. 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 02 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

 

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Figure 3. Concordance Plot of the Keyword “reform” 

(2)  Conceptual Metaphor Network of Reform  
Contemporary metaphor studies generally propose that metaphors are not just rhetorical devices enriching language 
expression but are crucial cognitive modes underlying human thought (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Chinese economic 
discourse contains rich metaphorical expressions that vividly describe and elucidate the nuanced meanings behind 
China’s economic reform and development. By “close reading” the context of the 883 occurrences of “reform” in the 
database, we can derive a collection of conceptual metaphors related to the discourse of “reform”: ∑REFORM IS X = 
{REFORM IS ACTION, REFORM IS TRAVELLING, REFORM IS MARCHING, REFORM IS SAILING, REFORM 
IS DRIVING, REFORM IS GRAZING, REFORM IS FLYING, REFORM IS PLAYING, REFORM IS GARDENING, 
REFORM IS BATTLING, REFORM IS EATING, REFORM IS ILLNESS, REFORM IS NAILING, ...}. 

Figure 4. The Conceptual Metaphor Network of Reform

(3)  Metaphorical Expressions and Translation Comparison 
In Chinese economic discourse, the rhetoric of “reform” contains both shared conceptual metaphors between Chinese and 
English and unique metaphorical expressions within its specific context. We contend that universally shared conceptual 
metaphors are relatively easy to understand and translate, and AI can provide appropriate translations. However, for 
metaphorical expressions that are unique to the context of Chinese reform and culture, AI can assist in enhancing our 
understanding and rendering of the source texts from Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Xi, 2014, 2017, 2020).  

Source text 1: ( 2018) 
Source text 1 Romanized: gǎi gé kāi fàng zhǐ yǒu jìn xíng shí, méi yǒu wán chéng shí. 
Target Text: Reform and Opening up is always ongoing and will never end. (Xi, Vol. I) 
AI ChatGPT-4o: Reform and opening-up is an ongoing process, never a completed one. 
AIPE: China’s reform and opening-up is an ongoing process rather than a completed one. 

Here, the conceptual metaphor of “REFORM IS ACTION” is applied, making the source text easy to understand. Both 
versions effectively capture the intended meaning and convey it clearly. However, the official translation (TT1) is slightly 
softer and more nuanced in terms of the tone, as the AI translation highlights a more gradual and developmental perspective. 
By post-editing it, we can produce a refined version, i.e., the AIPE version.  



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 02 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

 

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Source text 2: 
( 2018) 

Source text 2 Romanized: zhōng guó gǎi gé yǐ jìn rù shēn shuǐ qū, kě yǐ shuō, róng yì de,  jiē dà huān xǐ de gǎi gé yǐ 
jīng wán chéng le, hǎo chī de ròu dōu chī diào le, shèng xià de dōu shì nán kěn de yìng gú tou. 

Target Text: China’s reform is sailing in uncharted waters with tough challenges. It can be said that the easy part of the 
job has been done to the satisfaction of all. What is left are tough bones that are hard to chew. (Xi, Vol. I) 

AI ChatGPT-4o: China’s reforms have entered deep waters. It can be said that the easy and widely welcomed reforms 
have already been completed; the good and juicy parts have been consumed, and what remains are the tough 
bones that are hard to chew.  

AIPE: China’s reforms are navigating challenging waters. It can be said that the easy and widely supported reforms—
akin to the juicy parts—have been completed, leaving behind the tough bones that are hard to chew. 

Compared with the official translation, the AI version stays closer to the original meaning while maintaining clarity and flow; 
it effectively captures the metaphor of undertaking a challenging phase of reforms, making it accessible to and resonate well 
with a broader readership. However, considering the sentence structure of AI translation is a bit repetitive and redundant, we 
post-edit into a refined version.  

Source text 3: “ ” “ ” ( 2017) 
Source  text 3 Romanized: zài tuī jìn zhè “sì gè quán miàn” guò chéng zhōng, wǒ men jì yào zhù zhòng zǒng tǐ móu 

huà, yòu yào zhù zhòng qiān zhù “niú bí zi”. 
Target Text: In implementing this strategy, we should attend to both general planning and specific, critical problems. 

(Xi, Vol. II) 
AI ChatGPT-4o:“In promoting these ‘Four Comprehensives,’ we must focus on overall planning while also paying 

attention to key points.” 
AIPE: In promoting these “Four Comprehensives,” we must strike a balance between the broader picture and the finer 

details. 
Comparatively speaking, both the official and AI translations lose the metaphorical depth of the original text, and thus are 
less poetic. By looking in the dictionaries and chat with AI, the original metaphor can be rendered into “cut off the head of 
the snake” or “take the bull by the horns”, both of which are slightly different from the nuanced meaning underlying the 
source text. By adopting a more balanced and metaphorical approach, we post-editing the AI translation into a more 
metaphorical expression that conveys a sense of diligence in planning while also focusing on critical aspects. 

Source text 4: 
( 2017) 

Source text 4 Romanized: zhōng guó duì wài kāi fàng, bú shì yào yī jiā chàng dú jiǎo xì, ér shì yào huān yíng gè fāng 
gòng tóng cān yù, bú shì yào móu qiú shì lì fàn wéi, ér shì yào zhī chí gè guó gòng tóng fā zhǎn, bú shì yào 
yíng zào zì jǐ de hòu huā yuán, ér shì yào jiàn shè gè guó gòng xiǎng de bǎi huā yuán.  

Target Text: China’s opening up is not a one man show; it welcomes joint efforts from other countries; it is not a fight 
for spheres of influence, or a means of building a “garden” in its own backyard, but to support the common 
development of all countries or build a “park” that can be shared by the international community. (Xi, Vol. II) 

AI ChatGPT-4o: China’s approach to opening up to the outside world is not about staging a one-man show, but rather 
inviting all parties to participate; it is not about seeking spheres of influence, but supporting the development 
of all countries; it is not about creating its own exclusive backyard, but building a garden shared by all nations. 

The AI version not only vividly conveys the metaphors, but also reproduces the tone and intention of the original text, that is, 
by repeating the “not about, but rather” structure thrice, it expresses the original text’s reaffirmation of the purpose of China's 
reform with a serious tone. 


