The construction of the China image model

Various different perceptions of the silk land have been generated in the West since ancient Greek times, and these images have gradually transformed alongside historical developments. Over time, images of China have varied from an admirable paradise, to a great and mighty kingdom possessing wealth and civilization by the eighteenth century. The giant country fell into Western contempt in the era of imperial expansion, and eventually became reconstructed as a Communist enemy after the Communist Party gained power during the Cold War. China, seen through Western eyes, becomes a “Chinese Chameleon”, claims Oxford Sinology professor Raymond Dawson, in reference to the instability of the images of China in different eras in the West, which also to some extent reflect the West’s own development.

180 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/941511.stm

In Polo’s times, the Middle Kingdom was an affluent and civilized dreamland. In the Era of Western imperial expansion, it was commonly held to be a mysterious and alien land swarming with poor and starving people, as described in missionary journals or travelogues. After Communist China was established and became the Soviet Union’s “little brother” in 1949, American was overwhelmed with concerns of a communist threat growing in China and Eastern Europe. The Chinese Communist government was regarded as a representative of brutality. However, ever since the late 1990s, Westerners have been startled by the striking economic take-off of communist China; the country once considered “backwards”, which used to governed by Western imperialist powers, is now rising as a new power on the global stage. This section will investigate general Western images of China from the early Greek and Roman times until the present day, and how contemporary Western images of China have been shaped by these historical images and follow certain image patterns. The core proposition here is that the Chinese nation is at present perceived from the Western perspective in terms of the following five aspects:

antiquity, tradition, diversity, transition and threat.

2.8.1 Antiquity

China is an ancient civilization, known to Europe as a silk land ever since Ancient Greece. The antiquity of China is closely associated with the long-lasting reputation of its expensive silk, delicate porcelain and tea drinking. According to historical records, these products have been manufactured in China for a very long time and renowned in Europe via the commercial trade between Europe and the Middle Kingdom. Nowadays, these commodities are no longer exclusive to China, but are nonetheless still classified as “Chinese” and their history links them with China’s unique antiquity. Since early times, these three products have been favored and valued by Europeans, even when China fell into a state of decline in the late eighteenth century. Regardless of the fluctuation of the Western historical images of China and the Chinese people from positive and negative images, and regardless of the state of development in Western nations, precious silk has maintained its symbolism as an indicator of elegance and taste, whilst porcelain still signifies

fineness and delicacy. Tea is also highly welcomed and adapted to suit the different tastes of European customers. Therefore, silk, porcelain and tea have been adopted as a cultural code in the West to represent the thousands of years of China’s continuous antique culture and history. This code is also used in the contemporary Western media’s representations of China, in particular in the film and television genres.

In addition, Chinese antiquity can also be represented by ancient constructions, such as the Great Wall or the Royal Palace, known as the Forbidden City in contemporary times. Both of these were selected to be listed as World Cultural Heritage sites, thus ensuring their standing as symbolic icons to represent China’s antiquity within contemporary cultural scope. Initially, the Great Wall was built by Qin Shi Huang Di¹⁸¹ to enclose the territory of Qin and protect the national border from the incursion of the northern nomadic tribes. After continuous renovation and extension work by a series of emperors, it only reached its current impressive length by the sixteenth century during the Ming Dynasty, which probably justifies its omission from Polo’s famous travel journal. Nowadays, the Wall is estimated as approximately 1250 miles long. It took the emperors more than two thousand years to complete the construction of this long fortress. Hence the time-consuming historical Great Wall is regarded as a symbol of China’s long, ancient and continuous history. The Royal Palace of the Mongol Yuan dynasty was in Polo’s eyes an extravagant world of gold, silver and skilful paintings, the greatest and finest palace in the world. Later, in Ricci’s account, it was described as a palace covered everywhere in yellow colours, as the exclusive colour of the royal family. As access to the royal palace was forbidden to the public and only opened to the public after new China was established, it managed to keep its mysterious appeal among the ordinary people.

When we look at the former royal residence today, it still implies a royal mystery and the long-term imperial rule over China.

181 Qin Shi Huang Di (259-210B.C) was the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC and started to build the Great Wall to fight againt normadic tribes living in the northwest.

China’s antiquity can also be seen in the evolution of Western images of China.

China was once seen as a land of abundant wealth with large amount of gold and silver. This image of a rich and shiny oriental world started to fade when European industrial productivity improved. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, European countries underwent the period of the Renaissance, which encompassed a resurgence of learning, arts and architectures which favoured the style of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Age of the Enlightenment came next, a time period referring to a huge transformation in the circle of philosophy and cultural life, a foundation for European industrialization. A more epoch-making economic and social systematic industrial revolution spread initially across Western Europe, then further to Russia and other Eastern European countries.

Compared with the thriving and advanced development proceeding in Europe, the Middle Kingdom was under the strict, oppressive and cruel rule of the Ming Emperor.

The Chinese rulers implemented the policy of isolating China as a so-called “celestial empire” by permitting very little communication with the outside world, meaning that China did not manage to catch up with the wave of the industrial revolution. When missionaries arrived in China in the sixteenth century, they saw the land in “a thousand years of pagan darkness”¹⁸² and sympathized with the misfortune of the Chinese people. Much European sympathy over the centuries lay with the primitive agricultural lives of the rural Chinese. The image of barefoot peasants working in a rice field holding a hoe and pulling an ox was adopted in Western painting during the 18^th Century and later on very much inspired the Buck’s Pulitzer-winning literary creation. This way of living may be hard and backward, however the narration of such harsh physical labor triggered real Western sympathy, and as a result Chinese peasants emerge in Western cultural artefacts as real people, instead of mere negative images.

2.8.2 Tradition

182 Ricci, Matteo 1953: 82

Tradition is the second distinct label given to China, as it possesses the longest continuous history in the world, with rich and varied cultural traditions. The Chinese art of painting and calligraphy has been learned in the West for centuries. These arts have enjoyed a long-term reputation as a Chinese enigma, because their styles differ so distinctly from European artistic criteria. The Chinese language is complicated, inscrutable and must be written in characters with a soft brush. However, it is this different style which distinguishes them as a symbol of China’s unique cultural tradition. From the philosophical point of view, Confucius dominated China throughout its long history, making a profound impact upon the Chinese mentality.

For example, the Chinese society is decidedly collective, and so family relationships and loyalty to superiors are given great value. Socially, certain customs have been carefully preserved to the present day, such as the wine culture - serving rice wine at a Chinese banquet with family or friends remains an important tradition in contemporary Chinese society. The whole celebration and decoration tradition for the Chinese New Year, the most important traditional feast in China, has been largely preserved in the contemporary era.

2.8.3 Diversity

Diversity is another distinct characteristic of the country, as China is such a vast land, not only topographically but also ethnically. China has always been an enormously populous kingdom. This statement has already been confirmed by European merchants, missionaries, travellers, diplomats, journalists, and everybody else who has ever been to China. There is a great difference in the various customs, language, cuisine and so forth across the country between Chinese people from different regions. As well as the majority Han Chinese, there are other ethnic minority groups scattered all over China, including Mongols, Manchu, Uyghur, etc. Each ethnic group has its own cultural characteristics, which are highly different from those of the Han Chinese, but they all live in China and form an essential part of Chinese identity.

If we take Mongols as an example, we know that Mongols are more strongly built than the Han Chinese, and are experts at horsemanship. Genghis Khan’s invasion of

Europe brought the Mongols into the European horizon, even though theirs might not be a pleasant history for Europeans. Special European attention goes to the Khan. In the medieval era, most people from the noble class in Europe read about Polo’s meeting with the Great Khan in his intriguing magnificent golden palace located in this paradise land, too wealthy and prosperous to be believed. The charm appealed to Columbus and inspired his ambition to find a sea route to the oriental world. This legend continued to generate an impact even after five-hundred years - Voltaire included Genghis Khan as a wise king in The Orphan of China during the Age of Enlightenment. The missionaries portrayed a picture of Manchu in the reports sent back to Europe. The ethnic diversity of the vast land of China is not new to Europeans.

2.8.4 Transition

The historical Western images of China left an impression of a country enriched with antiquity, tradition and diversity. The modern development in China reflects a land undergoing a huge transformation in many respects. From the political perspective, the Chinese overthrew the Qing’s imperial rule in 1912 but failed to establish a strong and powerful government. China became a country divided by imperial powers. By 1949, Mao had unified the whole country and implemented communism as the political foundation.

From the economic perspective, China was regarded as a wealthy oriental country full of gold and silver for about a thousand years in Western history, until it changed to being seen as a backwards and poor country in the age of imperial expansion.

This image has held up into the 1990s. In these days, a rising China has attracted Western attention once again. By contrast to European vital modernization, China is seen as an ancient and exotic country. But nowadays, China also has a soaring skyline in Shanghai and other modern architecture in the metropolises. China paid a huge price in exchange for modernization in a small part of the county. The gap between rich and poor is widening dramatically. A very small fraction of the elite population possesses most of the national capital. In order to facilitate the

development of its heavy industry, the natural environment has been severely damaged.

Socially and culturally, under the impact of globalization, the life of the Chinese is changing and some of their traditions have had to confront the challenge of the Western lifestyle. Chinese women still have to play the traditional role of the good wife who cares for the family in contemporary Chinese society, but they are facing challenges and pressure to adjust themselves to this new changing society. All these transitions are happening in contemporary China, and China is developing so fast in the twenty-first century that it has left a lot of social problems behind. In order to adapt itself to pursue a more harmonious life style, both the Government and individuals have to confront these problems and seek solutions.

2.8.5 Threat

After new Communist China was established, it was positioned as a threat to world security in the West, especially in the United States. Above all, communism in Western minds is cruel, despotic, and pays no respect to individuality, and communist countries are where enemies come from in American film and TV productions. As far as the media is concerned, communism must only meet with strong condemnation and sharp criticism. In the Hollywood film My One and Only, Chris Noth played the role of an American general of the 1960s. During a family breakfast with his wife, Anne (heroine) and their sons, one of the boys complains about the boring uniform which the Communists wear in Soviet Union. The general replies, “That is why we are fighting communism, boys, because we are living in a country founded on individualism. If the communists did take over, everybody would be wearing the same clothes. Every street would have exactly the same store, no matter which town you went to, each the same as the next. That is why our boys are fighting and dying so that that does not happen.” From these lines, we can sense with how much hostility communism was perceived in the early sixties in the States.

So, we get a basic picture that communism equals uniformity without individuality.

Red China, or the Red Dragon, are special terms coined to describe Communist China. During the Cold War Era, Communism was seen as an evil and cruel regime.

Such a huge land under the communist regime was of course seen as a foe to the Western capitalist world. China is a populous country, and the large population is intimidating to European countries whose lands are smaller and who have fewer people. In the late seventeenth century, Napoleon once stood in front of a map and pointed to the location where China lay, and then said, “Behold the Chinese Empire.

Let it sleep, for when this dragon wakes the world will tremble.”¹⁸³ The fear of this threatening dragon breathing fire continued until the beginning of the twentieth century when the growing influx of Chinese immigrants into Europe and the States earned the Chinese a reputation as the “yellow peril”. This image of the Chinese army as a threatening yellow peril was further enforced during the Korean War, as the huge Chinese “human sea” definitely outnumbered the American army. In brief, contemporary Western images of China are derived from historical images and additionally affected by the interactions between the West and China. These images follow certain patterns, based on the sum of all the historical images of China in the West.