| National image is a combination of a country’s self-cognitive and other behavioral agents’cognitive in the international system. It is important because national image directly affect the status and role of a country in the international society. It is an important category of national soft power. Previous study on China’s image in American media more focused on the area "what China’s image is" by using text analysis, while seldom study discussed how China’s image constructed from perspective of "framing" or "frame structure". And there has been little research to explain the formation mechanism of China’s image by using sociology of news production approach.The dissertation takes Wall Street Journal as the research object and aims at studying the frame construction, China’s image and its formation mechanism through four dimensions’coverage (economy, politics, military, diplomacy) from1979to2013by using content analysis, questionnaire survey and depth interviews.The introduction includes research background, research object, theoretical basis and significance of the research, elaborating the literature of China’s image and frame study, the research design and research methods.Chapter one works on China’s economic image construction. By studying three cases of trade friction between China and the U.S., the dissertation found China’s economic image in the past35years experienced cognition transformation in three stages: economy, ideology and state action, national security. In the period of economic dimension, though China’s economy which achieved "leap" development could influence American economy in some way, it was not enough to challenge America’s position; in the period of ideology and state action dimension, Sino-US economic and trade relations are greatly political, non-economic factors penetrate into the field of economy, China’s economic image began to appear negative impressions; in the period of national security dimension, with the expansion of China’s rapid economic rise and Sino US trade imbalance, Chinese economy is considered to be one of the factors threatening national security, China’s economic image became more negative.Chapter two analyzes the construction of China’s political image. Comparing with economic image, China’s political image constructed by Wall Street Journal in the fields of democracy, freedom of religion and freedom of expression didn’t have periodical characteristics. It is generally believed that Chinese political system is lack of democracy, Chinese government brutally suppress the pro democracy movement, Chinese citizens do not have freedom of expression, which is in opposition to American values and ideology. With the gradual marginalization of human rights issues in Sino-US relations, the ideology color of American media become more and more diluted. But the differences between China and the United States on human rights issues and conflicts still exist for a long time, China’s negative Chinese political image can not be eliminated.Chapter three analyzes China’s safety image in Wall Street Journal through coverage of American arms sales to Taiwan issue. On this dimension,"Chinese military threat" is the key tone about China’s safety image. During the five cases of American arms sales to Taiwan issue, Chinese military forces growth in the Asia Pacific region threat to America’s position and Taiwan democracy society appeared alternately. However, American arms sales to Taiwan issue can always be solved in the framework of Sino-US relationship.Chapter four elaborates the construction of Chinese leaders’image. Leaders are usually regarded as the country’s diplomatic "card". Based on the coverage of China’s four generation leaders’visiting to the U.S., it can be concluded that Chinese leader’s image experienced four transformations:the first change happened in Deng Xiaoping’s visit to the United States, Chinese leader’s image is of "political authority","pragmatic" and "easy to get close", which subverted American people’s negative view of Chinese leader since1949.The second transformation occurred in Jiang Zemin’s visit to the United States, Chinese leader’s image is "sincere","affinity", but because of the influence of "Tiananmen Square incident", coupled with the end of the cold war and changes in the international environment, the negative factors of Chinese diplomatic image began to appear. The third transformation occurred in Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States, with China’s peaceful rise, Chinese leader is image is "cautious","a retreat", and his personal color reduced. The fourth transformation occurred in Xi Jinping’s visit, Chinese leaders are positive, active, confident and began to seek equal dialogue with the U.S., which increase the positive factors of Chinese diplomatic image.Chapter five analyzes the formation mechanism of China’s image constructed by Wall Street journal. Employing "hierarchic system" model, the dissertation analyzes four factors which affect China’s image construction in the process of news production: individual factor, media routines, external media organization, social system. It can be concluded that China’s image is resulted from the interaction of above factors.The conclusion of this dissertation goes as follows:first, China’s image constructed by Wall Street journal is a multiplex and complex image with a negative dominance. China’s image varies from fields of Sino-US relations to topic and period. Even the same topic in different areas, the construction of China’s image also showed certain difference. Second, China’s image is the product of various dynamic factors, such as individual factor, media routines, external media organization, social system.
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