The Image Of Chinese Tourists In Russian Mass Media

Due to the increasing outbound Chinese tourism and Chinese tourists' purchasing power,many tourist destinations including the Russian Federation have recognized the necessity to know Chinese tourists better.The image of Chinese tourists is presented through mass media.Reports as such can be found in Russian on the Internet.This study examines the image of Chinese tourist in Russian mass media contents.The study is made under the theoretical frameworks of Marvin Minsky's Frame theory and Erving Goffman's Frame Analysis.Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are made in the creation of the Chinese tourists' image in Russian mass media in order to reveal the frame"Chinese tourist".The research methodology used in this paper was frame analysis.65 samples from the most visited Russian-language reports,including those with the highest number of comments,are surveyed.The sample reports are extracted by Yandex Search and the scope of searching was specified in the Russian language.Three slotss of the Frame of Chinese Tourist,namely,behavior,economic and cultural peculiarities,are investigated.The findings reveal the image of Chinese tourists in the Russian mass media in a comprehensive way.The results of our study show that the image of Chinese tourists presents a negative stereotype over positive and neutral aspects.The positive image of Chinese tourists finds such keywords as punctuality,loyalty,obedience,etc.The neutral image is identified as"love to photograph","wearing caps with logos","love shopping",etc.The negative image includes noisiness,littering,poor manners,etc.The image of Chinese tourists in Russian mass media partly reflects the facts.But at the same time there is a gap from the real impression held by Russian people.On the one hand,China should improve the way Chinese tourists behave in Russia via a variety of ways,such as educating its tourists.On the other hand,Russian media should also abandon stereotypes and prejudices and shape the image of Chinese tourists more truthfully and objectively.The results and findings of the study may be used for promotion of national image of Chinese tourists in Russia.It is worth noting that this research also aims to be useful for people concerned with media organization in Russia.