The Image Of China In The Chinese And German Media During The Shanghai World Expo 2010

With the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive national strength, especially with the Olympics 2008 and other major international events held in China, media around the world has paid more and more attention to China. Consequently, China's politics, economics, society and culture are frequently in the spotlight of world media. Reports of different perspectives and various contents about China peaked during the Shanghai World Expo 2010, delivering accordingly colorful images of China. This paper focuses on analyzing the reports of Chinese and German Media about the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and attempts to discuss the images of China they shaped respectively.As a student of cross-cultural Germanic studies, the author selects reports about Shanghai World Expo 2010 from altogether four print media (two of China and two of German) as object of study, then analyze the differences of the images of China these media delivered and the reasons that cause the divergences from the perspective of media politics and intercultural communication. Finally, the paper offers several suggestions about how China can deliver a more comprehensive image through media to the world and enhance the national "Soft Power". The paper consists of five parts. The first part is the introduction of the topic motivation, main topics and research approaches. It also reviews the main research achievements in the area and gives a brief introduction of the study object.The second part focuses on the relevant theories and is divided into two dimensions. The first dimension is the introduction of theories in the media studies area, including the actors in the mass media, the relationship between media and politics, public opinion and the "Spiral of Silence" theory, material selection of media, journalists as "gate keeper" theory, status of media studies abroad and so on. The second dimension concentrates on the intercultural theories, inclusive of theory of cultural comparison (the concept of culture, approaches and dimensions of cultural comparison) and intercultural communication (the theory of image and stereotype).Specific analyses of "China-Images" delivered by the four Chinese and German print media constitute the third part of this paper. This part deals mainly with the statistics, content and text analysis of the reports about Shanghai World Expo 2010 from April to October 2010 in the Chinese newspaper "Southern Weekly" and news periodical "Nanfengchuang" as well as their German counterparts "Die Zeit" and "Der Spiegel". The author gives comprehensive comparison and examination of the themes and approaches of the Chinese and German media, then discusses the differences and divergences of the "China Images" they shaped.With the relevant theories presented in the second part of the part, the fourth part tries to explain the differences and divergences of the "China Images" conveyed by the Chinese and German media. From the perspective of media politics and intercultural communication, the author puts forward five main reasons:(1) the differences of the "media system" in China and Germany; (2) the delivery of "Other-Image" from German media in the context of globalization; (3) the creation of "Self-Image" of Chinese media; (4) China regards the shaping of "positive image" as a way of enhancing its "soft power"; (5) the "China Image" in foreign media in a transition process.The fifth part of the paper offers specific measures on how to create a more acknowledged "China-Image" to the world through public media and advance the "soft power" of China. First, the reform of the Chinese media system should be continuously promoted through enhancing the degrees of transparency the news report, and consequently public media can establish its status of an effective means of supervision (the fourth estate). Second, the government should take a much more tolerant attitude to the negative news and attach more importance to the various problems that exist during the economic and social development of China. Thus the Chinese media can deliver a more comprehensive and trustworthy "China-Image" to the world. As a result, the world can have a better understanding and emotional recognition of China and its development. That is what "soft power" really means.