Modern Social Science Research

Since the beginning of this century, research on China’s national image has entered a systematic and in-depth stage. However, given that related studies have primarily focused on media discourse of Western countries’, studies specifically addressing ASEAN or Southeast Asian nations remain relatively scarce. This paper analyzes 60 China-related reports from ASEAN media outlets and constructs a national image analysis model based on Grounded Theory. The study finds that ASEAN media construct the “China” narrative along five storylines: Externally Assigned Image, Contrasting Image, Subject Image, Relational Image, and Self-Projected Image. These are evaluated across two dimensions: Polarity and Contentiousness. Regarding Polarity, the Externally Assigned Image and Self-Projected Image exhibit higher levels of positivity than the Contrasting, Subject, and Relational Images. Regarding Contentiousness, the Externally Assigned Image shows the lowest level, while the Self-Projected Image is the most contentious. The Contrasting, Subject, and Relational Images fall between these two extremes, with their contentiousness increasing sequentially. The analysis reveals that China’s Externally Assigned Image is the most positive and least contentious. While the Self-Projected Image is highly positive, it is also the most contentious. The Contrasting, Subject, and Relational Images exhibit a mix of positive and negative elements in terms of Polarity, with the Relational Image and some aspects of the Subject Image showing room for improvement.

National image; ASEAN media; Grounded theory; Contentiousness; Polarity