| Cultural symbols are an important carrier of national image,and the key element of soft power.The APEC leaders' costume,as the most representative visual cultural symbol in the 2014 APEC Informal Leaders' Meeting,provides material support for building national image and improving soft power.Under this special context,to dig out the relationship between leaders' costume and national image as well as soft power,and build a brand new outward discourse system is of high relevance and long-term value to study the special role played by costume and other cultural symbols in public diplomacy and economic diplomacy.With the emergence of the new media,state leaders have become the most direct symbol demonstrating national image.Their overall appearance and influence play a significant role in showcasing national strength enhancing cultural self-confidence and improving national reputation.The audience's cognition of state leaders' image is,to a large extent,determined by its expression and communication effects.Costume can guide the audience's cognition in cross-culture communication,enhance impression and communication,and acquire identity.In the components of soft power,costume and other cultural forms,because of their enduring appeal,ideological power,diplomatic popularity,and influence in the development path and institutional model,are gaining increasing significance and becoming an element of national strategies.The use of cultural symbols,development of relevant industries,and expansion of resource influence are of potential significance to public diplomacy and economic diplomacy.In public diplomacy,the costume should be appropriate for targeted audiences to form visual psychological and sensory suggestions.This,on the one hand,showcases profound cultural connotations and beauty of clothing,and on the other hand,builds political value and cultural foundation of national image through soft means to form constant momentum for international communication and change the preferences of foreign policies.In economic diplomacy,the growth and prosperity of the clothing industry will contribute to productivity and people's well-being,and enrich fashion styles.The large-scale industrial age,with newly-developing business types,is the right time for the return of traditional costume.Leaders' wearing traditional costumes can drive the newdevelopment of the clothing industry.This paper studies the roles played by APEC leaders' costume as visual symbols in building the national image;how the international image of leaders when they visit other countries impacts foreign policies;the relevance between the use of cultural symbols and the cultivation of soft power,so as to provide references for the theories and practices of China's public diplomacy and economic diplomacy.The Introduction presents the research dimensions of semiotics,the background,analyzing approaches,methodology,value and relevance of this paper.Focusing on historical analysis,comparative analysis and empirical analysis,this paper uses the Theory of semiotics and communication and explores the relationship between clothing,national soft power and cultural cohesion and provides inspiration to China's national image creation mode.Chapter 2 introduces the mechanism behind visual symbols,studies the theories of national image and soft power from the perspective of communication sciences,and explores the relevance between the building model of the national image and soft power and foreign policies.Chapter 3 states the visualized symbols of national strength,points out that traditional culture is the endogenous resources of national image and that costume,as an expression of social activities embedded in specific culture modes,embodies social and cultural development,and represents the connotation and development of a country's soft power.Chapter 4 compares how the media responded to the Leaders' costume of each year's APEC,probes into the political representation of leaders' costume,and concludes that the leaders' costume of 2014 APEC is a spiritual cultural heritage worth keeping.It also briefs the cultural symbols in the activities organized for the Leaders' spouses as well as the overall positioning of the Leaders' costume in terms of designing and making.Chapter 5 expounds the relationship between the two variables of national image and foreign policies and explains the building of national image through utilizing international communication,guiding political psychology and changing policy preferences.This Chapter not only analyzes the cultural and soft power significance of2014 APEC leaders' costume but also addresses the role of previous APEC leaders' costume in host economy's soft power transmission.Chapter 6 discusses the implications of a nation's soft power on internationalcommunication modes,and evaluates the importance of optimizing national image in new media context,the progress made in recent years,and existing problems.After analyzing the presentation modes of outward discourse system and the future of traditional culture this Chapter also proposes promoting the realization of economic diplomacy values of APEC leaders' costume by taking building national image and soft power as core.Besides it states how the development mode of the clothing industry contributes to the national economy and leads the return of the dressing culture.The conclusion part summarizes the previous chapters and briefs on the value of costume on public diplomacy and economic diplomacy and its basis.Costume as the visual symbol and carrier of culture reflects the image and soft power of a nation and plays an important role in cultural diplomacy and economic diplomacy. |
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