On The Trans-Cultural Communication Methods Of China’s Image

The division of physical space into separate regions is a precursor to the concept of national image. Division of space also allows publics in different countries to produce diverging conceptual spaces. Cross-cultural communication seeks to explore how the development of information spaces can bridge the divisions between physical space and reconcile the different conceptual spaces held by interacting subjects.As such, research on national image logically starts by proposing that "image is the conceptualization of spaces" and uses this as a basis to explore how the West has, from early modernity, used China’s "absence" as a means of creating a dynamic image of "the Other." This research aims to look at the cross-cultural means through which China’s national image may be disseminated by exploring how China can construct its own identity, how China can have a voice in international discourse systems and other related questions.International discourse systems, similar to modern ideological systems, are West-centric and have helped create an image of China as an "inferior Other." The creation of this image legitimizes the West, and the West’s creation of other countries’ identities as "noble Others" helps fulfill its preconceived notions of the existence of Utopias.China’s image is caught in between the two extremes of respect and infamy because it lacks an established position in global discourse systems and is seen as lacking subjectivity. Efforts to solve the problem of China’s national image being constructed by foreigners through cross-cultural communication have failed, even though they have been based on empirical research based on structuralism, comparative literature concepts of imagology and other academic disciplines that have explored how national image can be disseminated.China has gradually worked to cast aside its "absenteeism" in the international system, "rising" to become a "powerful Other" for the Western world. This has been the result of China’s new position as the second largest economy as well as a number of cross-cultural communication efforts such as the expansion of Chinese media internationally, advertising that promotes a positive national image, Confucius Institutes and holding the Olympics.Although China’s rise has to some extent deconstructed the framework of West-centrism, the idea of China as a threat is becoming more common, obstructing fair and impartial narratives about China. The narrative of the Chinese Dream as an expression of Chinese people’s imagination of their identity avoids any possible threat implicit in the idea of a peaceful rise, changing the discourse from one of aggression to one of dialogue and establishing a starting point for China to engage with each and every country in the world.China’s creation of a positive national image does not depend on exporting its culture, is not a new form of neocolonialism and does not mean that China will replace the West to become the primary definer of the world order. Rather, a positive Chinese national image can be created through promoting internal and thus external subjectivity, using publicity and advertisement to guide the dissemination of a positive national image, strengthening the presence of China in the international system, stressing the contributions Chinese culture has made to world culture and promoting cooperation between China and the rest of the world through cultural exchange.