Studies On Cover Of China Pictorial(1978-2012) In Construction And Communication Of China Image

China Pictorial is the first national comprehensive monthly magazine after the establishment of China, its initial issue was published in1950. Over the past decades, this magazine never stops its publication for any reason. Looking back to its cover pictures, we may witness great changes of New China in the past. Most of these pictures are telling stories of the society, the country and the era. One typical feature for this national magazine is these pictures showcased us a great number of pictures that record the great changes already happening to this country. Therefore, this magazine is well fitted for our study on the changing of China image.The research on China Pictorial, a national magazine, should be conducted on the basic of historical background. This "significant" pictorial is a kind of propaganda material, which was granted the meaning of communicating information as well as constructing people’s imagination to the country, the nation and the future. In the past, the research was used to start from international relationship, cross-cultural communication and communication strategy, in order to showcase the social changes and the changes of one industry during a certain period. But in this study, I will research on the image of "leader, citizen and nation" and detailed display the three aspects of national image by combining the quantization of analysis and the materialization of qualitative. Pictorial shows the development of the country with pictures, which are direct symbols. Pictures demonstrate national power, culture, nation, politics, gender and ideology. This study reveals the national images that under the control of ideology often demonstrate in a mean of metaphor. Nowadays, in the fierce competition of mass media, China Pictorial has lost its advantage, it is in need of improvement in constructing a fine China image.Based to the cover images of China Pictorial from1978to2012, this thesis tries to analyze how these cover images construct our national image. I will analyze this from the angle of visual culture communication in three aspects. After paraphrasing the concept of national image, I will firstly analyze the changing features of the leaders in the past and today by comparing with shooting scale and backgrounds of these cover images. Secondly, I will try to demonstrate how images of people shapes the national image. We, as ordinary Chinese, witness China’s development from the images of talented people in various industries. On describing the image of common people dualisticly, we may also see the evolution of national images. Thirdly, I will prove how nationality image constructs national image by the means of analyzing nationality symbols. Nowadays, the traditional nationality symbols are widely approved, but the newly created nationality symbols have its own advantages and features in building the national images.