Modern China In Media: Through The Lens Of Hallett E. Abend, The Chief Correpondent Of The New York Times From 1927 To 1940

Since the Italian Marco Polo's trip to China in the 13th Century, the image of China has been captured by and disseminated to the rest of the world. As the modern China increased her communication and interaction with other nations either voluntarily or involuntarily since the late Qing Dynasty, her image has been constructed and reconstructed by various social forces in a process of inheriting and subverting traditional cognitive approaches, In the meantime, foreign media organizations and journalists emerged as a very important force in building and spreading the image of modern China. Through their different professional practices, the image of modern China has assumed unprecedented coverage and dissemination around the world. Hallett E. Abend was one of the most prominent foreign journalists who participated in the construction of the modern China image. As the chief correspondent for The New York Times in China from 1927 to 1940, Abend had sent back to America and hence to the whole world news stories about China. He was a significant representative of American journalists in china, and his reporting was a key contributing text of how the mainstream America journalism in the 20th century how shaped and circulated the image of modern China. Therefore, a close examination of Abend and his journalistic creation concerning China is necessary and valuable.This dissertation, by examining Abend's 15-year reporting experiences in China and over a thousand reporting pieces about China, aims at uncovering how Abend and The New York Times with their characteristic discourse scheme framed a typical and historical media image of modern China—"China of Crisis"how such an image was embedded in the western liberal ideology, progress valuing system and pragmatic philosophy about international relations, and how the international media broadcast since the 20th century has been a complicated process intertwined with western ideology acculturation, value judgment monopolization, international political interests restriction, journalistic professionalism regulation and individual values pursuit.The first chapter focuses on the value and the origin of researching question. Firstly,international news making has historical and cultural values for building and spreading the Chinese image. It was a mirror that helped China understand and reflect on herself in terms of the image building of modern China. Secondly, this chapter illustrates the current situation and problems in the field of the western Chinese reporting and the Chinese image, arguing that the China-based research prioritizes the western news of late 1990s over the rest periods and relies more heavily on quantitative than qualitative methods. They accounted for the importance and necessity of studying Abend and his news products. The final session of this chapter demonstrates the influential status of The New York Times and Abend in America journalism history and holds that Abend's China reporting is an indispensable part of understanding how western media has framed a China image as well as a China concept for the United States.The second chapter discusses the general characteristics of Abend's China reporting. A statistical analysis of the 1257 reporting copies resulted in three arguments: Firstly, the amount and frequency of Abend's Chinese stories showed that they basically kept pace with the development of Chinese realities and comprehensively and timely reflected the important political, economic as well as social issues of China at that time. Secondly, most of Abend's coverage proved to be hard news and the main news agenda focused on the internal political instability in China and the conflicts between China and Japan. Thirdly, the data showed that the interval between Abend's reporting dispatching and publishing became shorter and shorter, the main locations of news making were Shanghai and other big cities, and the covering of the important pages shrinked All these changes illustrate that Abend's China reporting was influenced by a variety of social factors at the international level. The third chapter probes the dominant reporting framework:"China of Crisis", and argues that news framework is not only a direct reflection of the reporter's intention but also effective methods to grasp the deeper social implications of international news making. Abend's"China of Crisis"included two layers of meaning: one refers to the reality of China as dangerous and the other China as a big challenge and threat to the United States. The analysis of 132 pieces of news commentary of Abend reveals the presentation and expression ways of the"China of Crisis"news frame. It is believed that the"China of Crisis"was the basic guiding principle dominating the Abend's perceptions of and judgments about all the China issues from 1927 to 1940. The fourth chapter examines four important cases in Abend's China reporting, including"the Manchurian Issues","the Xi'an Incident","the Japanese Invasion of Shanghai"and"News Censorship"to reveal Abend's construction of"China of Crisis". Firstly,"The Manchurian Issues"reporting was the starting point of Abend's framing of"China of Crisis", which was negative account and judgment about modern China from the perspective of American foreign policies. Secondly,"the Xi'an Incident"reporting was a type of strengthening and highlighting of the conflicts and confusion in the Chinese society, which was a typical example of the"China of Crisis"image building process. Thirdly, the reports about"the Japanese Occupation of Shanghai in China"were the main evidence of Abend's framing"China of Crisis"during his late professional period in China. The aim of exposing the Japanese invasion of China was to prove that the American interests were being challenged and infringed by Japan in China and hence to urge the United States to actively intervene in the Chinese affairs. Fourthly, the reporting of"News Censorship"was a forceful affirmation of Abend's"China of Crisis"image by showing the danger of China and her violation of the Western social order.The fifth chapter explores the historical logic, discourse strategies and social significance of Abend's framing a national image of"China of Crisis", arguing that the China image building by America was a developing process full of historical and logical relations and involving missionaries, businessmen, writers and other various actors. Actually, Abend's"China of Crisis"was both a reinforcement and an advancement of the American construction of the China image in the context of a new era. An ensuing news discourse analysis as to content choosing, theme extracting, information relevance controlling and reporting vocabulary selecting furthers illustrates the ways and methods Abend adopted to mold the media image of modern China. Finally, the chapter argues that the Chinese national image"China of Crisis"was a unique psychological reflection of American politics and cultures during 1920s and 1930s. It was not only an inevitable result of evaluating Chinese conditions with American ideologies of progressivism and liberalism but also a mirror of the western concept of utilitarian diplomacy. Actually, the"China of Crisis"was a pubic speech about America herself and her interests during that period.The history of the China image in the United State has been more than two hundred years. The China reporting of The New York Times and Abend was an important element of the USA mainstream media construction of the China image. Chapter Six illustrates that this image concept was influenced by the traditional ideology of the United States as well as limited by the rules of news organizations, other interest groups and reporters'own experiences, which was a complex and interactive discourse building process.This study suggests that the media image of"China of Crisis"did not go beyond the classical"the Other"viewpoint of the western intellectual tradition. It was still a negative and opposing cultural image through which the western concepts, values, beliefs and emotions could be communicated and reinforced."China of Crisis"was virtually a public expression of American fears and anxieties during the 1920s and 1930s when the United States was undergoing a historical transformation of politics, economy and culture. It partly reflected and partly disengaged from the social reality of China, and it was only a statement about modern China from the angle of America. Abend's China reporting not only provided key resources for American's knowledge and imaginations about China in the 1930s but also to some extent affected the U.S policies concerning China in the 1940s. Therefore, Abend and his China reporting are valuable research areas in the history of the China image in America.