Online Self-Presentation by Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine Medical Professionals in China

Despite increasing research that examines language features of online medical consultation (OMC) conversations in China, limited attention has been directed to how medical professionals purposefully present themselves in their biographies on OMC websites, an emerging genre of health communication, with even fewer comparative studies on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine (WM) medical professionals in this regard. To fill these gaps, this study compares the personal claims and self-presentational strategies used in TCM and WM medical professionals' biographies on a Chinese OMC website. It is found that while Chinese TCM and WM medical professionals present themselves in similar ways, they also demonstrate some important differences. The similarities may be driven by their shared goal of building trust in the OMC context, whereas the differences may be ascribed to TCM-WM differences in clinical philosophies, education histories, clinical cultures, and medical practices.