A Study of American Media's Metaphorical Construction of China's Images—Taking Reports on PLA's Military Exercises in the Taiwan Strait as an Example

News media often employ metaphorical strategies to create national images in their reports, but there are few researches on foreign media's construction of China's images in the military reports. By analyzing the metaphors in The New York Times' report on the PLA's military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, the image of China portrayed by these metaphors, and their causes, based on the theory of critical metaphor analysis, it was found that it mainly used metaphors such as conflicts, journeys, bodies, and constructions to stigmatize China as a country that flaunts its power and undermines regional peace. This is closely related to the history and culture inherent in U.S. military expansion, the fear of China taking over its status as the world's superpower, and the ideology of competitive individualism.