Study On Chinese Image Building In The Opening Ceremony Of Large-Scale Sports Events

Under the international trend of “the unprecedented changes in a century”,“Sharing China stories by good communications” has become a key project in shaping and disseminating China’s national image to the outside world.As one of the important links of the Olympic Games which is the largest and most influential comprehensive sports event in the world,the opening ceremony has become an important platform to display the national image.So far,China has successfully hosted two Olympic opening ceremonies-the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and the2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.Relying on media technology,visual landscapes,and ritual empowerment,the two opening ceremonies,separated by 14 years,completed the national image promotion of China,becoming a micro window to explore the texture of China in different periods.This article takes the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games as the research objects.The purpose of the research is to analyze symbolic power,visual rhetoric and ritual effects contained in the ceremony to explore the construction of national image at the macro and micro levels through a comparative analysis with the theories of Media Events and Media Rituals.Firstly,this article focuses on the media symbolic power to analyze the spatial construction of Chinese image.Secondly,this article uses visual rhetoric analysis to analyze the visual landscape to explore the national image presented and constructed in the content of the opening ceremonies.Then,starting from the long-term and short-term effects and connective memory behind it of the opening ceremony and,this paper explores the different emphasis on the construction of the national image,while also achieving a more complete expression of Chinese national image and the construction of collective memory under the collusion of isomorphism.Thus,based on the analysis of “media empowerment”,“content empowerment”,and “ritual empowerment” in the previous chapters,the last chapter summarizes the practical thinking on the construction of national image.The study found that the opening ceremonies of the two Beijing Olympic Games outline the orientation and focus of Chinese national image over the past 14 years,from an ancient civilization to modern China.Under the precise of Chinese national image,through the effective use of media technology,a more immersive presence space has been created in the opening ceremony.In this space,the visual vision of the opening ceremony for Chinese national image gradually breaks the dual opposition framework of host-guest,moving from subjectivity to inter-subjectivity,finding the balance between cultural commonalities and cultural characteristics and adopting a more fluid ritual formula.Based on this,the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games integrates the value concept of “a community with a shared future for mankind”into the Olympic context and promotes the dissemination of local culture and values worldwide while interpreting the Olympic spirit and promoting the Olympic movement.In view of this,this study believes that in the future practice of Chinese national image construction,“Share China stories by good communications” can be carried out from three dimensions: seeking empathy through taking The perspective of civilian narration,bringing immersive experiences to viewers through fusion narration,and seeking dialogue through creating communication contexts.