Framing China’s Ageing Population: A Diachronic Transitivity Analysis of China Daily Headlines

Abstract

Adopting Systemic Functional Linguistics’ transitivity as its theoretical framework, this study analyzes how news headlines in China Daily (English version) have framed China’s ageing population over time. The findings show a significant shift in the discursive strategy of Chinese media. The findings reveal that: (1) In terms of participants, the central roles in the headlines have shifted from singular to multiple: in the early stage, the focus was on the “ageing population”, highlighting its passivity and burden; in the middle stage, social actors such as “government” “cities” and “elderly care services” were gradually introduced, emphasizing governance and response; in the later stage, emerging roles such as the “silver economy” “innovation” and “experts” appeared, repositioning ageing as a driving force for social development. (2) In terms of process types, material processes have always dominated but with a declining proportion. The emergence and increase of mental, relational, and verbal processes indicate that news headlines have gradually shifted towards cognition, value judgment, and multi-voiced discourse. (3) In terms of circumstances, headlines increasingly provide contextual information such as time, purpose, roles, and targets, especially in the later stage, where “role division” and “goal orientation” are emphasized, highlighting the conditions and pathways of social responses to ageing. (4) In terms of attitudes, the stance of news headlines has undergone a transformation from “warning” to “positive”, with the overall trajectory summarized as “crisis-oriented---neutral---positive”. This study reveals the discursive strategy shifts of Chinese media in addressing the issue of population ageing, enriches the application of transitivity in social issues research, and provides insights for public opinion guidance and policy advocacy regarding population ageing.