Branded City, Branded Nation: The Implications Of Nation And City Branding On The Western Audience From The Beijing Olympics And Shanghai World Expo

The summer Olympics and World Exposition both took place in China within two years of each other, demonstrating China's emergence onto the international stage of world events. This dissertation will examine the implications behind China's hosting of the two events, from different media theory perspectives. It will discuss nation and city branding, media framing, and Western perceptions of China in relation to these events, and will seek to understand how well China and the respective cities involved were able to effectively'brand'themselves. Making use of qualitative interviews, this study will compare and contrast the aforementioned theories with the responses of Western interviewees. It will conclude by noting that while the hosting of both events may have been successful, neither event contributed to a solidified nation brand for China from an international perspective.