In his On Rhetoric, Aristotle grouped the way of argumentative persuasion into three categories, namely ethos, pathos and logos. Metaphor can be said to function as all three of these categories at once. Firstly, metaphorical language can move the mind and bring the listener into the state of mind desired by the speaker, thus giving the speaker and the listener, mainly the listener, a sense of being one and opening the way for the transmission of concepts. Secondly, developments in neuroscience and cognitive science clearly show that rational thought is possible only if emotional experience precedes cognitive processes (Marcus 2002) [14] . It is emotion that allows one to prioritise, so that one can focus on what is most important. In this way, metaphors are able to reason after moving with emotion, enabling a link between metaphor and reason. Finally, metaphors are also able to link temperament. Several studies have shown that the relationship between the use of language that evokes or inspires images and the creation of a charisma that attracts a crowd of speakers cannot be underestimated. In this way, metaphor is a tactic that can be used to persuade the listener in a sensible and reasonable way, in the context of “justice”. The potential of political metaphors to influence people’s thoughts and actions, and their common and unquestionable use, were valued by political language long before their function of constructing meaning and shaping cognition was recognised through conceptual metaphor theory. When used as a cognitive tool, political metaphors, more than any other metaphor, are intended to create a force for change in reality.

The Governance of China profoundly reflects the development of the theory and practice of state governance in the new era, and the language used is simple yet profound, vivid and thought-provoking, and highly distinctive. One of the linguistic features worth studying is the good use of metaphors to express the strategies and ideas of governance. For example, “dào cǎo rén,” “dìng dìng zǐ,” “shí liú zǐ,” “kěn yìng gǔ tóu,” and “gōng chéng bá zhài.” These metaphors, from familiar things to profound ideas, have a powerful persuasive effect and generate great power for action. An in-depth study of the metaphorical expressions of Xi Jinping’s thoughts on governance will not only help people gain a deeper understanding of Xi Jinping’s scientific planning for governance, but also help them learn Xi Jinping’s language style, enhance their ability to express themselves in political language and improve their efficiency in promoting work.

We have focused on two of the most prominent conceptual metaphors in the second volume of The Governance of China, namely the JOURNEY metaphor, which is intended to conceptualize events or characteristics of events as a journey or characteristics of a journey, and the WAR metaphor, which is intended to conceptualize events or characteristics of events as a war or characteristics of a war. Volume 2 of The Governance of China contains 99 speeches, talks and addresses by General Secretary Xi Jinping between 18 August 2014 and 29 September 2017 [15] , divided into 17 topics.

The JOURNEY metaphor is a representative example analysed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) [7] in their interpretation of conceptual metaphor theory, and is the most frequently used basic metaphor in our daily lives, so it has high accessibility for concept construction and low cognitive cost for cognitive processing. Moreover, in Chinese political discourse practice, “道路” has become a metaphor with great political connotations, as it is about the political direction and development of the country and the realistic choices of the people. As what is said in The Governance of China, Volume 2, the direction determines the path and the path determines the destiny. Therefore, the metaphor of JOURNEY appears very frequently in the corpus we have collected, with as many as 56 expressions using the word “dào lù” as a metaphor, and others containing the words “guǐ dào”, “lù xiàn” and “zhēng tú”. Together, these metaphors present a sense of confidence on a great journey.

1) dèng xiǎo píng tóng zhì chóng gāo xiān míng yòu dú jù mèi lì de gé mìng fēng fàn, jiāng jī lì wǒ men zài shí xiàn “liǎng gè yī bǎi nián ”fèn dòu mù biāo, shí xiàn zhōng huá mín zhǔ wěi dà fù xìng zhōng guó mèng de zhēng tú shàng fèn yǒng qián jìn.

His lofty revolutionary ideals and charisma will always be an inspiration to us on our path towards the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

2) yī qiē xiàng qián zǒu, dōu bú néng wàng jì zǒu guò de lù; zǒu dé zài yuǎn, zǒu dào zài huī huáng de wèi lái, yě bú néng wàng jì zǒu guò de guò qù, bú néng wàng jì wéi shí me chū fā. miàn xiàng wèi lái, miàn duì tiāo zhàn, quán dǎng tóng zhì yī dìng yào bú wàng chū xīn, jì xù qián jìn.

We shall move forward, but we shall not forget the path that we have taken in the past. No matter how far we go towards a bright future, we should not forget why we set out in the first place. Facing the future and challenges, all Party members should never forget why we started out and continue marching forward.

3) gǎi gé bì xū jiān chí zhèng què fāng xiàng, jì bú zǒu fēng bì jiāng huà de lǎo lù, yě bú zǒu gǎi qí yì zhì de xié lù.

Reform must keep to the right direction. We must neither follow the old path of a rigid closed-door policy, nor an erroneous path by abandoning socialism.

In the above three examples, the “road” metaphor is used. We know that one of the key features of conceptual metaphors is that when they are mapped, they often do not stop at a single concept, but extend to several related concepts, thus forming a conceptual system. When we think of our cause as a “road”, our cause will have a “direction” and a “goal”, and we will have to “move forward” and to distinguish between right and wrong.

The successful publication of the English edition of The Governance of China, Volume 2, was made possible by a strong translation team. It is known that the team consisted of 29 translators who have been working in translation for many years, including seven finalizers, one foreign rewriting expert and two foreign experts to assist in the work. The language used in the English translation of this document is therefore accurate and effective. When translating the relevant metaphorical language, it is not just a case of being unchanging, but of carefully identifying and adapting it to the meaning of the original. For example, in the example below, the concept of “dào lù” itself is not transferred to the translation, but still visually conveys the message of the original text accurately. So while we value the important role of metaphors in constructing concepts, we also need to consider the different linguistic and cultural habits of using specific metaphors in specific contexts.

4) wǒ men bú duàn zhàn shèng qián jìn dào lù shàng gè zhǒng shì suǒ hǎn jiàn de jiān nán xiǎn zǔ

China has overcome rarely-seen difficulties and removed barriers to progress.

In short, the use of the JOURNEY metaphor in Volume 2 of The Governance of China successfully builds the concept of “the blueprint has been drawn, the time for struggle is now”, which is conducive to a powerful force for action.

One of the most direct impressions of the article “Meet Challenges Head-on” in Volume 3 of The Governance of China is that the metaphor “dòu zhēng” dominates the entire article and is used throughout. In less than 2000 words, the metaphor “dòu zhēng” appears 56 times. The metaphor “dòu zhēng” is a kind of WAR metaphor. When we read the second volume of The Governance of China, we found that this metaphor also appears very frequently. There are 12 occurrences of the word“dòu zhēng” and 96 occurrences of the word “zhàn luè” alone. Other metaphors of WAR, including “zhèn dì”, “duì wǔ” and “wǔ zhuāng”, also appear with great frequency. The message conveyed by these metaphors is, as stated in The Governance of China, Volume 2, that the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a long and arduous historical task, and that one must prepare for a great struggle with many new historical characteristics.

5) tuō pín gōng jiān zhàn de chōng fēng hào yǐ jīng chuī xiǎng. wǒ men yào lì xià yú gōng yí shān zhì, yǎo dìng mù biāo, kǔ gàn shí gàn, jiān jué dǎ yíng tuō pín gōng jiān zhàn, què bǎo dào 2020 nián suǒ yǒu pín kùn dì qū hé pín kùn rén kǒu yī dào mǎi rù quán miàn xiǎo kāng shè huì.

We have sounded a clarion call in the battle against poverty. To win this battle, we should have firm resolve and solid goals, and work hard with a down-to-earth spirit, to bring reasonable prosperity to all poverty-stricken areas and individuals by 2020.

In example 5) above, we can see that “chōng fēng hào” and “gōng jiān zhàn” are both WAR metaphors, translated as “clarion call” and “battle”, respectively, with a basic conceptual correspondence. When we compare more examples, we found that there are more cases where there is no conceptual correspondence between the original and the English translation of the WAR metaphor than where there is a basic conceptual correspondence between the original and the English translation of the JOURNEY metaphor. For example, in examples 6)-9) below, the WAR metaphors “zhǔ zhèn dì”, “wǔ zhuāng”, “zhàn dòu lì”, “zhǔ zhàn chǎng”, “duì wǔ” and “lǐngjūn”are not translated into the English language as WAR metaphors.

6) wǒ shuō guò, hù lián wǎng shì dāng qián xuān chuán sī xiǎng gōng zuò de zhǔ zhèn dì.

As I have observed before, cyberspace is a major domain for publicity, thus a focus of competition.

7) huí gù dǎng de fèn dòu lì chéng kě yǐ fā xiàn, wǒ men dǎng zhī suǒ yǐ néng gòu bú duàn lì jīng jiān nán kùn kǔ chuàng zào xīn de huī huáng, hěn zhòng yào de yī tiáo jiù shì wǒ men dǎng shǐ zhōng zhòng shì sī xiǎng jiàn dǎng, lǐ lùn qiáng dǎng, jiān chí yòng kē xué lǐ lùn wǔ zhuāng guǎng dà dǎng yuán, gàn bù de tóu nǎo, shǐ quán dǎng shǐ zhōng bǎo chí tǒng yī de sī xiǎng, jiān dìng de yì zhì, qiáng dà de zhàn dòu lì.

The history of the CPC shows that its repeated triumphs over difficulties have a reason―it has always provided strong ideological and theoretical training for Party members and officials, so as to forge a shared faith, a strong will, and great strength throughout the Party.

8) dì sān, jiā qiáng kē jì gòng gěi, fú wù jīng jì shè huì fā zhǎn zhǔ zhàn chǎng.

Third, we will increase our scientific and technological support to economic and social development.

9) wǒ guó kē jì duì wǔ guī mó shì shì jiè shàng zuì dà de, zhè shì chǎn shēng shì jiè jí kē jì dà shī, lǐngjūn rén cái, jiān zǐ rén cái de zhòng yào jī chǔ.

China has the largest reserves of scientists and engineers in the world. This offers great possibilities for the emergence of leading masters, scientists and professionals.

The above examples show that WAR metaphors are more common in Chinese expressions and are more easily accepted and appreciated, but the situation is different in English culture. In fact, mechanically rendering these concepts of war in English translations may produce different conceptual associations and cause serious misinterpretations.