Patriotic Rhetoric in Chinese- and Russian-Language University News Discourse

This study identifies linguistic and discursive similarities and differences in the patriotic rhetoric of China and Russia by analyzing university news discourse published in Chinese and Russian from 2017 to 2025. It is determined that the instruments of this rhetoric comprise rationally structured arguments with ideological and axiological orientation, as well as emotional appeals achieved through the individualization of experience and its subsequent transference into a collective ‘we’-experience. The findings establish that an informational-institutional framework underpinning rational argumentation dominates both the Russian and Chinese university news discourses; however, its implementation demonstrates a significantly higher density of official clichéd expressions in the Chineselanguage discourse compared to its Russian counterpart. Furthermore, it is shown that the institutional frame, axiology-driven precedent phenomena, personal narratives, and sublime emotional tone collectively construct a rhetorically rich semantic field within the university discourse of both nations. The research concludes that a wide spectrum of linguistic resources is employed to realize patriotic meanings: ranging from official formulaic phrases and frequently reproduced collocations aligned with state documents, to actively evolving patriotic onomastics, emotionally charged metaphors, lingual creatives (linguistic creations), and youth slang.

1. Aslanov, Ya. A. (2015). Patriotic education of youth: modern trends and technologies of education. Humanities, socio-economic and social sciences, 4: 18—21. (In Russ.).

2. Bai Xue. (2025). Discursive and pragmatic aspects of China’s patriotic rhetoric in Chinese and English. PhD Diss. Vladivostok. 200 p. (In Russ.).

3. Fomicheva, I. G. (2004). Philosophy of education: some approaches to the problem. Novosibirsk: Publishing House of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 242 p. ISBN 5-7692-0635-7. (In Russ.).

4. Franz-Boeringer, B. (1963). Rhetorische Kommunikation. Quickborn b. Hamburg: Schnelle. 99 p. (In Germ.).

5. Galoyan, S. H. (2016). The globalizing world and sociocentric models of education. Actual problems of humanities and natural sciences, 9—1: 186—191. (In Russ.).

6. Golodnov, A. V. (2008). The invasive strategy of text formation in rhetorical metadiscourse. Bulletin of the A. S. Pushkin Leningrad State University. The series “Philology”, 4 (18): 113—125. (In Russ.).

7. Golodnov,A. V. (2009). Rhetorical meta-discourse as an integrative type of discourse. Proceedings of the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, 104: 77—87. (In Russ.).

8. Golodnov, A. V. (2010). Argumentative structure of a rhetorical (invasive) text. Bulletin of IGLU, 1: 109—114. (In Russ.).

9. Golodnov, A. V. (2011). Communicative and pragmatic characteristics of rhetorical meta-discourse. Bulletin of the Leningrad State University named after A. S. Pushkin, 1 (2): 178—185. (In Russ.).

10. Ivanitsky, V. L. (2010). Homogeneous national audience: towards the definition of the term. Mediascope, 4: 65—71. (In Russ.).

11. Khazagerov, G. G. (2018). Rhetoric, grammar, discourse, homeostasis. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 22 (2): 357—372. DOI: 10.22363/2312-9182-2018-22-2-357-372. (In Russ.).

12. Khomutova, T. N., Parulina, I. Y. (2017). Thematic structure of news university discourse. Bulletin of the South Ural State University. Series: Linguistics, 14 (4): 32—40. (In Russ.).

13. Kobzhitskaya, O. G. (2019). Ways of expressing the pathos of patriotic songs. Kazan Science, 5: 131—136. (In Russ.).

14. Kotelevskaya, V. V. (2016). The rhetorical project of the second half of the XX — beginning of the XXI centuries. Practices and interpretations, 1 (2): 27—40. (In Russ.).

15. Kotelnikova, L. A., Ruzavin, G. I. (2001). A systematic approach to the process of persuasion and argumentation. In: Theory and Practice of Argumentation: a collection of articles. Moscow: [b. i.]. 7—27. ISBN 5-201-02057-7. (In Russ.).

16. Lebedev, A. A., Kokhanova, L. A. (2015). The concept of “patriotism” in modern interpretation: etymology and semantics. Bulletin of SUSU. The series “Linguistics”, 12 (1): 29—34. (In Russ.).

17. Nikolaeva, O. V. (2024). Patriotic rhetoric as a macro strategy in Chinese mass media discourse in English. Philological Sciences. Questions of theory and practice, 17 (3): 747—752. (In Russ.).

18. Panova, E. Y. (2019). Rhetorization of modern media space as a factor of relevance of the problem of rhetorical code in media discourse. Media linguistics, 6 (4): 484—495. DOI: 10.47475/2070-0695-2021-10220. (In Russ.).

19. Perelman, Ch., Olbrechts-Tyteca, L. (1991). The New Rhetoric. A Treatise on Argumentation. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 576 p.

20. Rhetoric and speech-communicative disciplines in science and practice of modern society: proceedings of the XV International Scientific Conference on Rhetoric (February 2—4, 2022). (2022). Moscow: Gos. Pushkin Institute of Fine Arts. 543 p. (In Russ.).

21. Shomova, S. A. (2003). Media rhetoric as a method of political PR communication. Moscow Bulletin. Uni. Ser. 10. Journalism, 4: 49—60. (In Russ.). Tian Hailong. (2015). The Emergence of New Rhetoric and the Rise of Critical Discourse Analysis. Modern rhetoric, 4: 32—40. (In Chin.).

22. Trotsuk, I. V. (2021). Everyday Russian National patriotism: possibilities and limitations of sociological research and typologization. Bulletin of the RUDN University. Series: Sociology, 21 (4): 891—902. DOI: 10.22363/2313-2272-2021-21-4-891-902. (In Russ.).

23. Tyupa, V. I. (2025). Discursive formations: essays on comparative rhetoric: a monograph. Moscow: Yurait. 274 p. (In Russ.).

24. Vorobyeva, A. V. (2013). Conditions for achieving clarity of rhetorical discourse. Concept, 4: 1—5. (In Russ.).

25. Vorozhbitova, A. A. (2025). Linguistic education as an innovative pedagogical system (design principles and implementation experience): monograph. Moscow: FLINT. 312 p. ISBN 978-5-9765-0823-1. (In Russ.).