Mirror And He: "the Times Of India" China-related Reports Study

Chinese journalism researchers have paid much attention to China-related coverage in US-led western media, but our neighboring India's perception of China, especially Indian media's coverage of China, is barely studied. As two old civilizations, India and China are closely bonded in terms of history and culture. As the largest emerging countries, they boast increasing influence in international arena. For China, Sino-Indian ties bear growing importance and bilateral relations depend much on mutual perception and trust. The thesis aims to explore how a mainstream Indian English-language newspaper construct the image of China.The Times of India is one of the most influential national newspapers in India, so the image of China reflected by the newspaper is highly representative. Combined with content, text and discourse analysis, the thesis studies China-related reports in 2008 and 2009 in The Times of India. On the basis of analyzing reporting tendency and agenda, the thesis interprets China's image constructed by the Times of India. Through discourse analysis, the thesis explores how the newspaper represents image of China.A striking feature of the thesis is applying postcolonial critical perspective to analyze the Times of India's reports on China. The study relates the China narrative to Indian national identity construction, so as to disclose the Western discourse in the report, reflecting triangle cultural relation among China, India and the West. China is depicted as an image of"other", reflecting India's self-perception and self-imagination. In the mean time, considering ups and downs of bilateral relations, ranging from national defense, regional diplomacy to cooperation and competition of the two countries, the thesis analyzes factors influencing the newspaper's reports of China in a multi-faceted way. It has been found that there is misread of China under Indian ethnocentrism, so a more rational attitude to perceive each other is needed for both sides of the Himalaya, in order to achieve mutual trust and common development.