The “main melody” genre of patriotic Chinese films has gained much international attention among academics and analysts, and it is believed to be a core Chinese state strategy to promote a positive national image among the domestic Chinese population. However, the voice of international audiences about their understanding of the Chinese main melody films in terms of cultural soft power remain unheard. Therefore, this research focuses on the perceptions of China’s national image as projected in main melody films, especially from the perspectives of foreign audiences, to explore Chinese nation branding and cultural diplomacy with the foreign public. The main research method adopted was focus group discussion, complemented by analysis of IMDb user reviews as documents, to discuss how the main melody films affect foreign public perceptions of the national image of China. Content analysis was applied to the transcribed context by using the 5D model of national image as the coding structure. The research shows that while main melody films do affect international audiences’ perceptions of China’s national image, their impacts can be relatively limited. Besides, international audiences tend to consciously compartmentalise their negative preconceptions of the Chinese government and their generally positive image of Chinese people. Furthermore, non-government-commissioned online contents and offline living experiences are more likely to bring positive impacts for China’s national image.

Authors:
Anran Ju, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Anran's research interests focus on public's perception of Chinese diplomatic message on social media, especially X. She is also involved in the discussion around nation branding through general digital and cultural approaches.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-anran-ju/

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anran-Ju

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