Chasm and net: metaphors in elder-related texts in a Chinese economic newspaper

China’s population is aging rapidly; in 2023 there were approximately 297 million people aged 60 and above (21.1%), with the share rising by roughly one percentage point every two years. Prior scholarship in China has focused heavily on chronic diseases and geriatric syndromes, economic burdens of age-related illnesses, psychological well-being, elder abuse, and healthcare provision. While such work advances a healthy aging strategy, it risks reinforcing a one-dimensional, vulnerable image of elders. Simultaneously, the “silver economy” has emerged as a new driver of growth, complicating portrayals of older adults beyond vulnerability. Given sustained media attention to national policies on aging and the digital economy, examining how elders are represented in media can yield insights for improving their living conditions. News reporting often employs metaphor to frame issues, but metaphors can obscure authorial intent. Metaphor analysis helps uncover underlying rhetorical motives and policy preferences communicated to readers. This study analyzes elder-related texts from the Economic Daily, a prominent state media outlet in China, using a framework that integrates critical metaphor analysis with rhetorical criticism to interpret metaphor choices in context and evaluate their effectiveness. Research questions: (i) What metaphors exist and what are their features in elder-related texts of a Chinese economic newspaper? (ii) What rhetorical motives underlie the major metaphors, and how do they meet or fail to meet artistic, truth, ethical, and textuality criteria? (iii) What living conditions of elders are reflected through these metaphors in the context of the digital economy?

The study draws on Charteris-Black’s critical metaphor analysis (CMA), which comprises metaphor identification, interpretation, and explanation, and addresses critiques that CMA overrelies on critical discourse analysis and insufficiently links discourse with cognition. Incorporating insights from cognitive linguistics and cognitive science, and integrating rhetorical criticism, the authors streamline analysis into three steps: metaphor description (identification and classification), metaphor explanation (rhetorical motives in pragmatic and social context), and metaphor evaluation (artistic, truth, ethical, and textuality criteria; the effects criterion is excluded). Prior research shows media metaphors can activate cultural memory and reinforce national identity. Metaphor studies related to elders have largely focused on cognitive processing and production capacities, with limited work on metaphor usage in news discourse about elders. This gap motivates examining how journalistic metaphors in state economic media construct elders’ living conditions and policy orientations in the digital era.

Data source and sampling: The authors collected Economic Daily reports published from 01/01/2016 to 12/31/2022 via the outlet’s app using four Chinese keywords—“老年” (senile phase), “老人” (seniors), “老龄化” (aging), and “银发” (silver-haired)—to capture elder-focused articles, policy tracking, and silver economy coverage. From 358 retrieved reports, texts under 100 Chinese characters, advertisements, and duplicates were excluded, yielding 309 reports comprising 320,465 tokens (punctuation excluded). Selection and inclusion decisions were made jointly by both authors. Analytic framework and tools: The study integrates CMA with rhetorical criticism in three steps: (1) Metaphor description: manual identification and classification of metaphor candidates aided by WordSmith 8.0 (Concord window ±5 tokens). Candidates were retained when an analogy existed between distinct source and target conceptual domains. Classification referenced Lakoff et al.’s Master Metaphor List and Kövecses’s taxonomy, with context resolving ambiguous cases (e.g., “win” classified as WAR where war collocates dominated). The authors computed type frequency, token frequency, and a productivity metric termed “resonance” for each metaphor variety. (2) Metaphor explanation: exploration of rhetorical motives for metaphor choices considering pragmatic context and broader sociocultural factors (aging policy evolution, Confucian filial respect, digitalization). (3) Metaphor evaluation: assessment against four criteria—artistic (rhetorical effectiveness/readability), truth (faithfulness to reality), ethical (alignment with societal norms/values), and textuality (coherence and cohesion of metaphor chains); the effects criterion was excluded because the study centers on subjectivity rather than outcomes. Procedures: Both authors jointly annotated half the corpus each, reconciled classifications, and calculated distributional measures (types, tokens, resonance). WordSmith facilitated concordance checks and patterning. The analysis also examined metaphor chains and their interconnections across NET, BUILDING, and CHASM domains.

- Scope and density: 1,671 metaphor types and 3,978 tokens were identified across 15+ source domains in 309 reports, with an overall metaphor-token density of approximately 0.0124 (about 12 metaphors per 1,000 characters). - Dominant metaphor varieties by resonance: NET (37.78%), BUILDING (22.01%), and CHASM (18.45%) were the top three, mirroring token-frequency rankings. - NET metaphors: Frame protection and interconnected support systems for elders (e.g., “safety net”), often aligned with government initiatives and digital technologies (IoT, big data) to safeguard seniors. Evaluated as artistically effective, truthful to policy trajectories, ethically consonant with societal aims to protect elders, and textually coherent via metaphor chains. However, they frequently center social institutions over elders’ own agency. - BUILDING metaphors: Depict the construction and excavation phases of the silver economy—emphasizing both substantial market potential and current shortcomings (e.g., limited product diversity, insufficient age-friendly infrastructure). Artistically and ethically appropriate, truthful to the mixed reality of potential and hurdles, and textually cohesive; they invite readers to view market development as structured, staged work. - CHASM metaphors: Highlight barriers such as the digital divide, online fraud, and digital poverty that impede elders’ integration into the digital economy. These metaphors effectively dramatize obstacles, are truthful to widespread elder experiences, ethically framed to evoke empathy and mobilize support, and integrate coherently with other negative-connotation metaphors (e.g., “rogue software,” “advertising ocean”). - Metaphor chains and interplay: BUILDING metaphors frequently bridge CHASM and NET, e.g., “build mechanisms to address the digital chasm,” or “build a health service net,” suggesting a narrative in which construction efforts aim to overcome gaps and produce protective networks. - Emphasis patterns: Resonance suggests heavier coverage of protection-building (NET) relative to obstacle-focused (CHASM) framing, potentially indicating less media attention to elders’ difficulties than to institutional solutions.

The findings answer the research questions by cataloging metaphor types and features, explicating rhetorical motives, and linking metaphor use to elders’ lived conditions in the digital economy. Journalists favor NET metaphors in a policy context that emphasizes protection and social stability, consistent with Confucian respect for elders and ongoing state initiatives in smart elderly care. BUILDING metaphors articulate a developmental logic: leveraging the silver economy’s potential while acknowledging the labor of overcoming systemic deficiencies. CHASM metaphors foreground the digital divide and associated risks, dramatizing the urgency of integration and protection. Interconnections among NET, BUILDING, and CHASM create cohesive metaphor chains: BUILDING frames the work required to bridge CHASM and realize a robust NET. This triad communicates a policy storyline—identify gaps, construct mechanisms, and deliver protective networks. However, the dominance of NET metaphors can marginalize elders’ subjectivity by spotlighting institutional agency over elders’ own capabilities and voices. To align metaphors with inclusive aging goals, coverage should balance protection narratives with depictions of elder agency, digital literacy empowerment, and user-centered design. Policy-relevant implications include refining the safety net by improving market regulation in the silver economy, promoting age-friendly digital design, and expanding digital literacy initiatives, especially in rural settings. Calibrating metaphors to reflect both challenges and capacities may better mobilize public empathy and policy attention without inadvertently reinforcing stereotypes of frailty.

This study integrates critical metaphor analysis with rhetorical criticism to examine 309 Economic Daily reports on elders, identifying NET, BUILDING, and CHASM as dominant metaphor families. Two keywords—“chasm” and “net”—capture the core media framing: elders face significant gaps in the digital economy that call for protective, connected systems. While these metaphors effectively communicate protection needs and developmental pathways, they risk sidelining elders’ subjectivity by emphasizing institutional solutions over elder agency. The study contributes a structured, criteria-based evaluation of metaphors and highlights how metaphor chains shape narratives about aging, technology, and the silver economy. Future research should broaden data sources (across outlets and time), compare metaphor usage across media and international contexts, explore metaphors tailored to aging-specific experiences, and examine the practical impacts of metaphor frames on elders’ self-awareness, social participation, and policy uptake.

- Temporal and source scope: Coverage is limited to 2016–2022 and to a single state media outlet (Economic Daily), constraining diachronic generalizability and media diversity. State media’s role in reinforcing mainstream narratives may limit nuance. - External validity: Media portrayals may diverge from lived realities; findings reflect discursive constructions, not direct measures of elders’ conditions. - Comparative and contextual breadth: The study does not compare metaphor patterns across other Chinese or international media, nor fully capture metaphors uniquely tailored to aging contexts. - Outcome effects: Practical effects of metaphors on elders’ social engagement, self-perception, or behavior were beyond scope. - Analytical scope: While three dominant metaphors are examined in depth, other metaphor families receive limited treatment.