On The Vicissitudes Of Image Of China In The West

The Image of China in the west is diverse and in a state of flux in the development of history. It is multiform and phantasmagoric, sometimes positive, and sometimes negative, with various images in the same period and various images in different periods. This thesis aims to look into the books and media where China is the relevant topic in the history of the west, and which have great influence on westerners' viewpoint of China, investigating the vicissitudes of The Image of China in the west, thus sorting out the diverse images of China and approximately classifying them into the so-called Four models of Image of China, Apotheosized-China, Idealized-China, Utopia China (Politics-oriented China , or aestheticism-oriented China), or uglified-China ( Destined-China, or Monstrous-China).These so-called models of Image of China are rather a reflections of the west itself than an exact image or representation of China of the time.The thesis falls into five parts .The first part defines China and Image of China, thus determining the angle of view of this project and demarcates the domain of the project with a brief introduction to the status quo of the research on Image of China and the methodology of this project. The second part focuses on the relevant materials in the ancient time, mainly before the 14^th century and especially on the two best-sellers in Europe then, exploring the significance of the Apotheosized-China , Cathay. The third part deals with the Image of China in the Renaissance time, which shows us an idealized China, a mighty and powerful China Empire. In the forth part, Utopia China, is analyzed, first a politics-oriented Utopia China in the period following Renaissance, and then, Aestheticism-oriented Utopia China at the end of the 19^th century and the early days in the 20^th century. And the fifth part concentrates on uglified-China, first Destined-China, a stagnant and over-lagged anarchy and then Monstrous-China. Slowly panning across the tapestry of the vicissitudes of Image of China in the west, we can see clearly that the Image of China doesn't mean the reality of China, and it is a metaphor for western culture, which clearly reflects the changes and evolvement of the western society and western culture, indicating the relationship between the west and China in the history. With the analysis of the Image of China, we come to be aware of the foreigners' viewpoint of China, which is beneficial to our self-reflection and thus attributes to a better international communication. With the research on the vicissitudes of Image of China, we come to understand that phantasmagoric Image of China is out of the choice of westerners themselves. This disenchantment is meaningful to Chinese who are now exposed to a new China Hot nowadays and are trying to mold a vigorous and attractive China in a brand-new way.