A Study Of The Image Of The “Red China” In Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China

In the 1930 s,China witnessed the booming civil revolutions and the upsurge of the“Red China,” but Nanjing’s blockade made it impossible for the Communists to publish their political statements,for which the external world knew very little about the “Red China.” In order to explore the real situation of the “Red China,” American professional journalist Edgar Snow ventured to the Northwest Red headquarters and thus for the first time,constructed a positive and promising image of the “Red China” for the Western world in Red Star over China.So far,most researchers have focused on prominent journalism of the book,speaking highly of Snow’s truthful reporting,but few in-depth and systemic researches of the image of the “Red China” itself have been done.For this,this thesis,with the guidance of Imagology,probes into Snow’s image of the “Red China” in Red Star over China,discussing mainly what image he constructs,how he constructs it,and why he does this in such a way.This thesis is composed of three parts,including introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction covers the focus of the study,literature review,purpose and significance of the study,and theoretical foundation.On the basis of Imagology,the main body of the thesis sheds light on Snow’s image of the “Red China” in Red Star over China from three aspects.Firstly,it probes into Snow’s multidimensional image of the “Red China” from economy,politics,and troops.Economy in the “Red China” is vigorous in spite of its weak foundation,politics in the Red is democratic though it has unequal suffrage,and the Red Army in troops is very optimistic and boasts high revolutionary enthusiasm despite high casualties.Secondly,it examines Snow’s constructing strategies.He mainly uses multi-angle characterization to underline heroic and invincible image of the Reds,draws contrasts between the Whites and the Reds to create an equal and united living atmosphere the Reds boast,and succeeds in combining journalism and literature to create multidimensional image of the “Red China,” as well as artistic quality of the Red Star over China.Thirdly,this thesis highlights the reasons for Snow’s image construction from three aspects,which covers identity,pre-understanding and perceiving time and frequency,manifesting in his identity as a professional journalist withhigh journalism,pre-understanding of the perseverant pursuit for democracy and freedom,and his long-time interaction with Chinese progressives.The image of an exotic country is like a mirror,where both “the self” and “the other”could be reflected in the process of image construction.With the development of globalization,the “global village” era means that any discourse form of the image of “the other” will boast a more diverse presentation.The process of telling the Chinese story to the world involves the image construction as well,so the study of the image of the “Red China” in Red Star over China will have an inspirational effect on telling the Chinese story,during which it is of paramount importance to promote communication and enhance inclusiveness between “the self” and “the other” in the process of strengthening “the self.”...