The Western Image Of Pictorial In The Young Companion(1926-1945)

Founded in Shanghai concession in 1926,the pictorial magazine THE YOUNG COMPANION focuses on western politics,art,curiosity,women,advertising,etc.,which is a splendid and colorful intercultural communication album.As the most influential comprehensive pictorial newspaper in the Republic of China,THE YOUNG COMPANION was an important medium to open the minds of the people and construct the image of the West.The reason why THE YOUNG COMPANION pays attention to the image of the west is influenced by the ideological trend of "Westernology" in modern times."Westernology" is a system of intercultural concepts used to recognize and express the West in China.In nature,the examination and description of the West in modern times is different from that of the West in other periods in history.The change of modern society is always accompanied by the cognition of the west and its image.THE YOUNG COMPANION uses images to report the west and reflect the evolution of the western image.Thanks to the diversified cultural forms in the Shanghai concession,the media entered the mass communication era.The editors of THE YOUNG COMPANION,standing on the national standpoint,reflected the western society and depicted the western image to the public through images.There are two ways in which THE YOUNG COMPANION presents the image of the West:one is to reproduce and narrate the political news,art and even the strange things of the Western society in the most basic way.The second is the use of western aesthetics and elements in women and advertising images,which realizes the simulation and integration of Chinese and Western cultural symbols.Together,they plan a Western-style "utopia" for the reader to read and taste.In a word,the "Utopia" presented in THE YOUNG COMPANION is an ideal society of Chinese style dialectically built on the model of the West.The image of the West constructed by THE YOUNG COMPANION does not fully reveal the real West,but casts an image and reference of the West that is necessary for Chinese culture,so as to reflect on Chinese culture itself and examine the relationship between China and the West.Behind the image of "Utopia" is modern China’s desire for modernization,and it also implies the deep discourse logic behind the development and evolution of modern "Western learning",which has cultural significance for the history to learn from the present.