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本文通过对数据的详细分析，发现中美银行业公司致股东的信函中，对利润导向型商业问题的关注主要集中在“业务”和“货币”以及“服务”的语义域上。与美国银行业相比，中国银行业更关注经济改革，更频繁地提及公司高层管理人员，表现在“变革”和“权力”两个语义域。另一方面，美国银行业更关注贷款和抵押贷款服务以及债权人之间建立的关系，表现在“债务”和“属于”两个语义域。

CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION

1.1 Research orientation

The present study aims to investigate metaphors used in Chinese and Americanbanking companies’ letters to shareholders. More specifically, it attempts: 1) toexamine how Chinese and American banking companies construct their majorconcerns using different conceptual and linguistic metaphors; 2) to elicit what kindsof stances are constructed through metaphor usages; 3) to elicit what kinds ofidentities are constructed; and 4) to delve into the reasons for the patternsdiscovered.

Under the background of the “Silk Road”, more and more Chinese companies aregoing overseas and expanding their international markets. The overseas image ofChinese enterprises is closely related to the overall “Belt and Road Initiative”construction. It has also become a vital part of China’s national image, and animportant window for the international community to understand China. Enterprisestend to use strategic communication to control and positively construct their images,one approach of which is to project a positive corporate identity (Van Riel, 1995;Fombrun, 1996).

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1.2 Rationale

Companies listed in the Fortune 500 are most representative of China’senterprises, among which Chinese banking industry draw a lot of attention, for thefact that China’s banking industry obtains excess profits leveraging its monopolystatus. As shown in Figure 1-1, in recent years, Chinese banking companies’ profits account for around 50% of those of all the Chinese enterprises on the Fortune 500list. Its American counterparts, in stark contrast, account for only slightly higherthan 10%.

Figure 1-1 Profit rate of Chinese and American Fortune 500 banking companies

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CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Previous studies on metaphors in letters to shareholders

The letter to shareholder is written by the CEO, chairman, or president of a company,and generally presented preceding the more detailed annual report. Metaphor studieson letters to shareholders can help readers to better understand the cultural beliefs,values, and future plans of a corporation. Lago and Ríos (2017) adopts acognitive-axiological approach (Krzeszowski, 1990; Pauwels &Simon-Vanderbergen, 1995) to explore how corporate values are expressed throughmetaphor (e.g., LENS, PATH, and GAME), metonymy, and image schemas, inaeronautical sector discourses. He finds that the metaphorical tools are used to stressthe positive axiological load in the promotional nature of the letters to shareholders,particularly in the dynamic, innovative and high-tech fields such as aviation andmanufacturing industries.

Some scholars devote themselves to the study of metaphor usages when theeconomic environment of enterprises changes. For example, Nicolae (2010)analyzes the metaphors employed in the letters to shareholders during the 2008economic crisis by using a Critical Metaphor analys本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。