On "Utopian" And "Ideological" Duality In Imagologie

This dissertation attempts to analyse the image of Britain revealed in the Late Qing ambassador, Xue Fucheng' s Ambassadorial Diary, and argues that in the Sino-British Turn Period concerning Power and Position, i.e. before and after Opium Wars, Chinese made a special British image. Firstly, it is a Utopian image, oppugning china' s reality and overthrowing collective values, but what it oppugns is china' s current realistic "self" , not the ancient especially antediluvian "self" , which, on the contrary, becomes a birthplace of all the excellences of Utopian Britain, or a counterpart of Utopian Britain. When utopianizing Britain the image maker utopianizes china' s ancient "self" . In this respect, this special Utopian image also has the shades of an ideological image, playing the role of confirming and consolidating Chinese culture and society. The special image reflects the state of "Utopian" and "Ideological" Duality. The image-making strategy here is defined as "ideological strategy" , a self soothing Ah-Qism strategy invented by Modern Chinese after their being defeated and colonized. What' s more important is, through this significant case study, the dissertation attempts to reveal a general rule how a "disadvantaged" country makes the image of an "advantaged" foreign country after the reverse occurs between the two countries' power and position, therefore, makes prudent supplement for Contemporary Imagologie theories regarding "self" image, the role of Utopian image and self's attitudes to the "other" .This dissertation consists of 5 chapters. The first chapter concentrates on the changes of china' s British images before the Opium War. The second chapter investigates various British images appearing in the Sino-British Turn Period concerning Power and Position. The two chapters are to provide a frame of longitudinal (changes of British images in China' s history) and latitudinal (various British images made by Xue' s contemporaneous officials) reference for Xue Fucheng' s British image. The third and fourth chapters analyse the image of Britain in Xue Fucheng' s Ambassadorial Diary and the "self" image underlying in the image of this foreign country (the underlying myth about "self") . These two chapters clarify how Xue locates British image in the "self" image value system, how he lays the position of "self" and "the other" , and how he consolidates the myth about "self" while making the image of a foreign country. These two chapters make the "self" value system a frame of reference for Xue' British image. The last chapter puts Xue Fucheng' s British image in the light of Contemporary Imagologie theories, explores Xue' s special image reflecting "utopian" and "ideological" dualityand his special image-making strategy——"ideological strategy",evaluates the strategy' s positive and negative historical roles, and probes into the cultural psychology and cognitive mentality behind it as well.