The Evolution of Western Media Depictions of China: Getting Beyond the Hype

Shen Yamei

The Evolution of Western Media Depictions of China: Getting Beyond the Hype

Shen Yamei

In early 2011, a video clip featuring images of China launched by the Information Office of the State Council of China made its first voyage into the Time Square, a place that has been dubbed the crossroads of the world. The video was then broadcast on many televisions in the Euro-Asian landmass, triggering intense discussion regarding how the image of China should be presented in the world community. Provided that China’s comprehensive national strength swiftly augmenting, which greatly enhances China’s international influence and reconfigures the international political landscape, the West is now attempting to define China in various perspectives. As a result, international public opinions shaping China’s peaceful development are to a large extent subject to the Western perspective of China, and a sound national image has become an integral part of China’s international reputation and national interest. Chinese foreign policy now strives to be “politically more influential, economically more competent, visually more appealing and morally more charismatic,” and creating a positive national image has emerged as one key issue meriting heightened attention in Chinese foreign policy.

I. The Evolution of the “China Image” in Contemporary Western Society

Since the founding of the PRC, the “China image” has experienced numerous ups and downs in Western society.

Since the founding of the PRC, the “China image” has experienced numerous ups and downs in Western society. Prior to reform and opening-up, China was comparatively isolated from the outside world, and Western countries tended to categorize nation-states under the prevalent Cold-war mentality. Limited access to China’s diversity resulted an “image of China” that often evoked ideas such as “dictatorship,” “bellicosity,” “export of revolution”, and“red culture.” In the past three decades since China embraced reform and opening-up policies, the country has set economic reform as a core policy in its national construction. The top leadership accordingly adjusted its foreign policy, promoting a gradual accession into the international community. Other countries now tend to be impressed by China’s rapid economic development, which has helped soften China’s hard image. With China’s active participation in international affairs since the disintegration of Cold War, other countries have adjusted their perspectives on China, rendering these perspectives more comprehensive and balanced. Given the changing nature of the Western media’s view of China, the China image has attained some new dimensions.

1. Western views on China: a more diverse perspective, a full-dimensional China image

China’s image abroad in the post Cold war context can be pinned down into the following three stages. The first, extending from the early 1990s to mid-1990s, saw a Chinese image largely configured by Western stereotypes. During this period, drastic changes in former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, coupled with effective Western propaganda that demonized China and emphasized multi-party democracy. Driven by ideological concerns, the West made a great fuss over such “negative issues”as human rights, the death penalty, Tibet, social control, and government corruption.

The second stage began with the East Asian financial crisis between 1997 and 1999, in which the “China image” began to resonate with its own Chinese voice. During the financial crisis, China honored its promise not to devalue the RMB, and on top of that, it took great strides in building its sound image by providing struggling countries with financial assistance and loans. In addition, it strove to improve its relations with neighboring countries by putting forward the “New Security Scenario,” promoting common security in Asia through a foreign policy in which China would be a good neighbor, pacifying and enriching its neighbors. This stage further enhanced China’s image as a “responsible regional power.”

The third stage began in 2008 when China deepened its cultural exchanges and got more involved with the West. In the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Western media engaged in an attack on some problems left from past developments, including but not limited to the imbalance of international trade with the West, the RMB exchange rate, food and medical security, the Lhasa riot, and the global torch relay, which heavily impacted China’s image in the international community. But the international financial crisis in late 2008 highlighted China’s contributions in fuelling the world economy and stabilizing global economic development. The financial crisis reshaped China’s image in the Western media, becoming a calm evaluation and no longer an irrational accusation – coverage now emphasizes China’s development mode, its governance philosophy, and its foreign policy.

In general, Western countries now tend to put China in a comprehensive, multi-tiered and full-dimensional perspective, covering a multitude of issues concerning China in the first decade of the 21st century. Western journalistic subjects and points of view have been diversified, ranging from traditional culture, public security, civil society, climate change, Chinese brand names, technological innovation, tourist resources, globalization, and Chinese enterprise. Western media coverage has become a prism reflecting different dimensions of China.

2. The West’s historic China Complex becoming more rational

In 1994, Lester Brown sounded the “China threat” alarm to Western society with the publication of the report entitled“Who will feed China.” Since then, the “China threat” has been hyped constantly in the Western media, resonating in political, economic, military, cultural and diplomatic spheres. For example, in political area, China was charged with “imposing high pressures on its citizens”, and therefore was sometimes classified as a “totalitarian regime”. In the field of the economy, China was associated with either the theory of “China bankruptcy” or that of the “China miracle” and concerns were expressed about China’s tendency to become a short-sighted materialistic and unsustainable “economic monster.” In culture, culture initiatives, such as the growing Confucius Institutes, are distorted as important media for China to propagate the“Asian Value” in political circles and China is defined as a global challenger of Western values. In security issues, the strategic intention of China’s military build-up has been criticized for lack of transparency. In diplomacy, China’s diplomatic stances are interpreted as “resolute,” “overambitious,” and “aggressive.”

It is evident from the evolution of relevant public opinions that China, as a rising global power, strikes a combination of terror and hope into the hearts of Westerners.

Meanwhile, there are voices that diverge from this line of thought, perhaps best exemplified by the “Beijing consensus”initiated by Joshua Cooper Ramo, a consultant for Goldman Sachs. In 2007, Ramo refined his China model with “branding China,” which to a large extent sympathized with China’s opening up process. The year of 2009 saw the publication of When China Rules the World: the Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World by Martin Hacques, who argued that the “unique” modernity of China was far from a threat to the West. Both Ramo and Hacques caused great stirrings in the Western media, which came to view China in a more rational light. When they acclaimed China as an important driving engine for world economic development, they also embraced the Chinese “cultural craze”; when they saw the PLA as transformed into “a technology-intensive troop capable of cruising at sea and flying in the air,” they also appreciated China’s smart use of diplomatic means to heighten its influence and even praised the idea of a “harmonious world” as no less appealing than the “American dream.”

It is evident from the evolution of relevant public opinions that China, as a rising global power, strikes a combination of terror and hope into the hearts of Westerners. When worried about China’s threat to West, Western countries are also placing expectations on China to be collaborative with the West to safeguard the current world order. In a nutshell, China’s image in the West has bid farewell to a dichotomy of black or white and embraced a balance between practicality and idealism. They are projecting suspicion, anxiety and terror on the one hand, and envy and sometimes even appreciation on the other. The Western media is drawing and revising its image of China to reflect both sense and sensibility, which can be presented as a colorful water-color picture.

3. Western countries increasingly resort to major events to sketch out their own “China image”

It took a long time for the “China image” to become entrenched in the mindsets of Westerners, but when natural disasters, breaking events and major diplomatic incidents unexpectedly cropped up, the Western media adjusted its focus to such issues as the responsiveness of the government, decision making efficiency, leadership, social organization, and popular outlooks, and these factors directly influenced the image of China. If handled poorly, these events would overshadow the newly developing and positive “China image”, while if dealt with properly, they would emerge as opportunities to recast the“China image” in an even more positive light. This has confirmed the idea that “crises” bear not only risk but also opportunity to recast national image. In the past couple of years, China became experienced in public relations from such incidents as SARS, dangerous milk, and the March 14th Tibet riots. China has come to be more and more conscious and conscientious in building up its image and bettering its public relations in times of crisis, and this has helped cushion the impact of outside forces. The “China image” withstood and rose from previous challenges and disasters. For example, in 2008, American media remarked that the Wenchuan earthquake “brought to full play the soft power of China,” while media in South Korea commented that the quake relief campaigns in China “greatly enhanced China’s comprehensive national strength.” The 2008 Beijing Olympics and the subsequent Paralympic Games earned China international acclaims. In 2009, Le Figaro argued that the world community owed a lot to China after the international financial crisis. Since 2010, Pakistan, Indonesia, Haiti and New Zealand all were faced with severe natural disasters and China decisively offered timely and substantial assistance to the suffering countries, helping showcase China’s role as a responsible stakeholder in the international community. In February 2011, by virtue of the deteriorating domestic security in Libya, the Chinese government wasted no time in evacuating its nationals from the troubled country. In this case, which was the “largest scale organized evacuation of overseas Chinese since the founding of China in 1949,” Western media chorused their appreciation of the government for “the Chinese government didn’t shrug off when the citizens are endangered” and “the fact that China and the West share more and more common interests will greatly facilitate China’s integration into the world community.” It can be safely concluded that China took the initiative to transform challenges and crises into opportunities to publicize and communicate their national to the world.

“The fact that China and the West share more and more common interests will greatly facilitate China’s integration into the world community.”

4. “China image” in the West still reflects the deep-rooted Western ideological bias against China

It should be observed that the stereotypical “China image”in the Western media fostered the creation of a misguided and biased discourse in the West concerning China. A “China image,” whether it was coated with the “China threat” theory or that of the “China model” or “stakeholder,” reflects the West’s deep-rooted ideological bias against China. This bias was showcased in a wide array of different criticisms, such as accusing China of practicing the “Monroe Doctrine” in the east Asian region; criticizing China of pursuing neo-colonialism in exploiting the natural resources of Africa; condemning China for “shrugging off global environmental protection”, proving its“unwillingness to serve the community”; and depicting China as “an isolated military superpower endowed with unlimited human resources.”

This deep-seated ideological bias was best illustrated by that fact that when the mortgage crisis escalated into a global systematic financial crisis, Henry Paulson, the former Secretary of Treasury and Ben Bernanke, the chairman of Federal Reserve Board, both attributed the bubble in the U.S real estate market and the global economic imbalance to “the high savings rate of emerging economies such as China.” In 2010, the U.S sped up its “refocusing China” and doubled its efforts in hyping the“China threat.” Mainstream media even reported on the so-called theory that the South China Sea is the core strategic interest of China, a claim that has never been officially certified by China. Efforts revolving around the South China Sea were employed to substantiate the West’s claim that China was pursuing“expansionist military operation” and “hard line foreign policy.”

In 2011, China launched video commercials promoting its national image in Times Square, a move that was interpreted by CNN commentators as “China launching its ‘soft power’campaigns.” The deep-rooted mentality of seeing China as a deep threat has blocked Western countries from conceiving of China as it truly is. These biased notions and unjustifiable moral judgments have blurred the “China image.”

II. Knowledge Gaps Concerning the China Image

For a long time, the Western interpretation of China’s image not only shaped perceptions of China by the rest of the world, but also defined the self-consciousness of modern Chinese people. In the context of globalization, the outside world’s recognition, acceptance and welcoming of China is critical to China’s realization of its development strategy, namely deep integration into the world system. In this sense, it is of pivotal importance for people to properly understand that knowledge gaps between China and the West regarding China’s image so as to efficiently improve the national image of China.

First, there is a gap between self perception and external interpretation. China’s image in the international community results from an interplay between China’s self perception and the West’s interpretation of China, an interaction between the image and the mirror. For example, China boasts its international reputation as a wise, brave and philanthropic nation, but in the wave of economic globalization, this wisdom tends to be interpreted by Western media as utilitarian and shrewd, while bravery is misunderstood as aggressive and shrugging off obligation. The good neighbor foreign policy practiced by China was distorted to look like the big bullying the small. China held fast to its status as a developing country, while the West insisted that China participate in international affairs in the capacity of a developed country. When designing the grand strategy for constructing its national image, China should bridge the gap between the internal and external knowledge of a single “China image” so as to lay a solid foundation for a proper understanding of the relationship between China and the rest of the world.

Secondly, there exists a gap between the Western perception of ancient China and that of modern China.

Throughout history, Westerners have harbored rich knowledge of the ancient history and culture of China, which can be best evidenced by Voltaire, who argued in the 18th century that China was the best model to follow if the West aspired to break its own vicious historical cycle. China is “one of the four ancient civilizations” and “a country of profound cultural content,” and these factors have served as perfect historical context for the world to make sense of China. At the turn of 20th century, when China was outstripped economically and socially by its Western peers, Bertrand Russell toured China and came to the conclusion that “If any nation in the world could ever be ‘too proud to fight,’ that nation would be China.” But even today, over a century later, many Westerners still subscribe to the idea that China is an ancient power, bringing up traditions such as lion dancing, lantern appreciation and paper cutting. Others, however, uphold the notion that China is still as backward and uncivilized as it was in the early 1900s, totally ignorant of the great progress China had achieved. In some cases, outsiders may be selectively attentive to the impressive rating of China’s gross economic performance and the prosperity of central cities, or the visual grandeur of the ceremony to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. These outsiders seem to view China as a well-off country, oblivious to the fact that it is still a developing country. In general, Western countries have yet to appreciate the true nature of China and China has yet to work hard to transform the rich historical and cultural resources into competitiveness.

In general, Western countries have yet to appreciate the true nature of China.

Thirdly, there is a gap between China and the West with regards to the prospect of China’s rise. In the process of its modern development, China has constantly and consistently stressed that the essence of its diplomatic tradition is to value peace, treasure negotiation, and cherish credibility. China also distances itself from the old path of seeking hegemony through military expansion and violent warfare taken by some Western powers, it will not resort to ideological or militaristic confrontations to realize its development. That being said, a“rise” is still a move by a powerful country that can reconfigure the international political landscape, economic ecology, and international regime. Since the Peloponnesian War documented by Thucydides in 431 BC, every rising power has engaged in confrontations with the existing hegemon in Western international relations history. Past experience and academic research appear to prove that rising countries tend to undertake expansionist foreign policies to secure their needed resources. Questions and claims frequent in the Western media, such as whether China will rise peaceful, not only reveal a lack of trust for China’s peaceful development and deepening strategic suspicion, but also highlight the grave diplomatic challenges facing China. China should thus transcend the imposing international cultural pressures resulting from the so-called“dilemma of rising powers.” In fact, modern Sino-U.S. relations have been interpreted by the Western media as a reflection of the interrelationship between rising power and old hegemony. The internationalization of RMB was viewed as a challenge to the predominance of dollar, and China’s naval strategy has been closely analyzed to see if the country truly intends to be committed to peaceful development. One of the major tasks for China’s diplomacy in the new era is to show to the outside world that China’s development is not a threat but instead a beneficial opportunity.

III. Constructing a Charming National Image as the Ultimate Pursuit of China’s Diplomacy

In the first decade of the 21st century, globalization and media revolution continued to deepen the convergence and integration of the Western and Eastern worlds, which greatly modified people’s notions of different political economic models. All countries attached due importance to national image, public diplomacy, and philosophical publicity, giving priority to branding and imaging in enhancing national soft power. For example, in 2002, Great Britain launched national campaigns showcasing a “cool Britain” and a “creative England” so as to rectify the stereotypical conservative image of Great Britain and project itself as the pioneer in many creative industries. In 2003, France released a national commercial displaying 13 common French women, of which eight were immigrants or descendants of immigrants from North Africa, so as to highlight its image as a multicultural country. In 2006, the U.S named Michelle Kwan, the Hong Kong-born U.S. figure-skating superstar, as Washington's first Public Diplomacy Ambassador, which showcased the weight it places on celebrities in promoting its national image. India also endeavored to promote a national brand as the “world’s office,” and many other countries, including Switzerland, Korea, Japan, and Israel have all actively been involved in publicizing their national images.

In contrast, the international community has yet to piece together a distinct Chinese face, and the country is often distorted through political, cultural, national, religious, and human rights controversies, negatively impacting China’s image in international public opinion. In the long run, the improvement and perfection of China’s image will be a long-term process between China and the West. This can be attributed to the following three factors. First and foremost, in the new global interest structure, China, as an emerging power, will collide and conflict with traditional Western powers in terms of strategic interests, which will witness the intensified cooperation as well as competition between the two sides. Any major international political, economic issues or regional crises that touch on China will arrest intensive international attention and the “China image” will swiftly turn to be hyped and sensationalized. Secondly, the financial crisis exposed some endogenous inconsistencies in free-market capitalism, which means that the predominance of the Western values and development model are sure to be challenged, while the “China model” proposed by Western scholars serves as an important framework for reference in the diversification process of world development models. The rest of the world entertained a more subtle and sensitive mentality when dealing with China. Especially as the West is struggling to recover from the financial crisis, China is seeing rapid economic growth and international regime change is picking up pace, which intensifies the tension between China and the rest of the world. Thirdly, there is a wide gap between China and the West in terms of soft power in the international public opinions dominated by major Western media. As one important component of “soft power,” international discourse, if not in China’s favor, will definitely impact China in a negative manner, which means that the disparity in international discourse will cost China a lot in improving its national image. The game between “China threat”and “peaceful development” reflects the discourse warfare between China and the West. It is fair to argue that China’s image is configured by the West, which commands the discourse parameters in accordance with its own interests. In this sense, it has become imperative for China to take the initiative to construct a charming national image in all of its diplomatic endeavors.

It has become imperative for China to take the initiative to construct a charming national image in all of its diplomatic endeavors.

IV. How to Improve the China’s National Image

China leadership has placed constant importance on its national image since the founding of the PRC, which bred a country that is striving continuously to make progress, that is opening up and becoming more progressive, and that is seeking peaceful development. China is gaining more and more respect and support from the international community. In 2007, Hu Jintao, the general secretary of CPC, elaborated on the national commitment to “consolidate the efforts to construct national cultural soft power” in his report at the 17th Party Congress. In January, 2009, when Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, addressed the national council of heads of publicity, he stressed that the publicity efforts should be undertaken to “enhance China’s cultural soft power and further improve its national image”. As China attached strategic importance to its national soft power construction, it will be an inalienable component of China’s diplomatic efforts in the 12th Five-Year Plan to construct a peaceful, progressive, cooperative national image of China. In order to substantiate efforts in this regard, China should make efforts in the following dimensions:

1. Give overall consideration, and set a holistic national image strategy

China should proceed from the actual national conditions to stay focused on projecting China as a peaceful, developing, and cooperative country in the world community; image construction should be coordinated with the overall national development strategy so as to define the long-term goal as opposed to short-term aims, which should be accorded with relevant implementation measures. On the domestic front, China should prioritize institutional construction, perfecting and advancing socialist democratic construction, legal construction and human rights institutional construction and reinforcing institutional construction to improve people’s livelihoods. On the international front, China should integrate the resources of the government and mainstream media to improve the coordination of regional studies of Western countries and achieve concerted efforts in international communication among government agencies, enterprises, organizations and individuals. All of these should be based on a coherent strategy of national image construction.

2. Proceed gradually and perfect the mechanism in constructing and communicating national image

Given the chronic nature of uncertainty in international public opinions, China should diversify its means of learning advanced communication conceptions and training people for communication initiatives. China also must take full advantage of digital media to improve its international image. We should both make our voice heard in the platform provided by the Western mainstream media, but also develop our own communication flagships to diversify the channels of our communication efforts. China should take the initiative to address the issues of Western countries’ concern so as to enhance mutual confidence. When shaping and communicating its image, China should combine its short-term intensive efforts with long-term extensive endeavors.

3. All people must be involved to set the new horizon for public diplomacy

At present, public diplomacy has become the new focus and growth of Chinese diplomatic efforts, which is of essential importance to the national image construction in particular and the overall Chinese diplomatic endeavors in general. China should further enlarge the scope of public diplomacy to incorporate both governmental and non-governmental efforts. More governmental efforts should be made to find potential nongovernmental ambassadors and empower non-governmental actors such as scholars, enterprises, and individual citizens to be more involved in publicizing the image of China so that non-governmental exchange can be fully integrated to project a good image of China. At the same time, double efforts should be invested to educate people so as to prevent the negative elements of the national quality from damaging the national image.

4. Keep up with the times, hammer out an appealing external cultural exchange

Traditional philosophy and culture are the historical genes of a country, an imprint differentiating a country from the rest, but cultural symbols themselves are insufficient in mapping and communicating the cultural image of a country. In order to win respect from the rest of the world, China should make contributions to the international community by providing appealing conceptions that blend cultural tradition with the recent developments. China should reach an organic marriage between traditional culture and modern diplomatic philosophy. China should invest heavily in developing such modern cultural industries as food, clothing, tourism, sports, film, and television that are reflective of Chinese culture so that some unique brand names can be fostered and nurtured to illustrate and enrich the cultural core of modern Chinese society.

5. Seize the opportunity, and put in place the imagesustaining mechanism in the event of crisis

Major breaking events and crises are susceptible to eruptive deterioration and thus hurt the national image. In the wake of a series of critical events, China has accumulated rich experience in communicating national image in times of crisis. China should establish systematic pre-warning and response mechanisms to crises and get readily prepared to support crisis surveillance and quick response. During the in-crisis stage, pertinent preparation should be made to cope with the brewing, eruption, escalation, sustaining, termination and postcrisis management of crisis. China should observe the golden principle of speaking up at critical links so as to cushion the impact of crises on China. If they do this, they will be able to guide international public opinion and make it more objective, balanced and beneficial to China.

Shen Yamei is Associate Research Fellow at China Institute of International Studies.