«Network» imagery in Chinese political discourse (based on speeches of Chinese President Xi Jinping)

Political discourse is a multidimensional linguistic phenomenon. With the constant expansion of political communication, it is becoming more and more important to analyse it. As China's international position is strengthening, political scientists and linguists pay more attention to the speeches of Chinese leaders, especially President Xi Jinping. Accurate and expressive language ensures the effectiveness of a political initiative. An interesting resource of verbal eloquence in a politician's speeches is the use of images popular in the networks communication practices. Alongside the development of Internet technologies, politicians often use certain words and images from Internet discourse, as the scope of using such expressions is constantly expanding, entering economy, diplomacy and culture. This article attempts to analyse the use of the most frequent 'network' words in President Xi Jinping's speeches and to identify the underlying social and political connotations associated with these words. The conclusion is that Xi Jinping makes skilful use of various types of 'network' imagery, adjusting it to the expression of political ideas. This article presents a typology of «network phraseology» in Xi Jinping's speeches, based on the subject matter of the speeches and outlines political, economic, diplomatic and everyday types of «network discourse». The target group for the Chinese President's speeches is extremely numerous and diverse (in terms of ethnic-cultural, age and intellectual characteristics), but it is the «network» imagery resources that help convey important social and political information to a wide variety of people.