This paper is a phased achievement of the 2026 Jiangsu Province Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program project “A Study on the Effects of Prompt Engineering on Large Language Models’ English Translations of Liaozhai Zhiyi (26CXJH5081).”
Abstract
Under the background of globalization, city promotional videos serve as an important vehicles for showcasing the charm of cities and carrying out cross-cultural exchanges. Promotional videos usually combine visual, verbal, and auditory resources to construct a city’s image through coordinated multi-semiotic strategies. Based on relevant theories such as Halliday and Zhang Delu, this study selects This is Beijing as a research case to explore how the video can build a city image with the help of various modal symbols. Through qualitative analysis of images, subtitles and audio, the study found that the video shapes Beijing as an international metropolis with profound historical background, scientific and technological development vitality, and open and inclusive characteristics. Local cultural symbols, bilingual narration, visual composition, and sound design work together to improve the external publicity and communication effect of the city. This research enriches the empirical research materials of multimodal discourse analysis, and also provides reference for other cities in China to optimize the production of external promotional videos.
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