Visual (Mis)Representations on Sports and Weight Loss: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Study of Images in Official Health Posts on WeChat in China

In response to physical inactivity and rising levels of obesity among the population, the Chinese government has used social media, such as WeChat, to engage and encourage the public to do sports in order to lose weight and maintain health. Images in official social media posts on sports and weight loss constitute an important, but currently underexplored site. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), this paper examines the images in the posts in " (Healthy China)," the official WeChat account of the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, on sports and weight loss. It is found that the images employ medical-style discursive features to establish authority on sport. Neoliberal themes of individual responsibility and competition also emerge, framing sports as self-improvement and a personal obligation. Moreover, female figures dominate, and often are depicted in alignment with societal thinness ideals, reinforcing gendered body norms and anxiety. We suggest that the discourses in the official media may lead to certain misrepresentations, obscuring structural barriers to sports, and perpetuating sports anxiety and weight biases in the society, especially among women.