Modern Social Science Research

This paper, aims to explore how Western film and television works construct Chinese imagery and image through visual rhetoric, and provide ideas for the optimal expression of Chinese image in cross-cultural communication. Taking the 2006 version of the film The Painted Veil as the object, the study analyzes the construction of Chinese imagery and image with the help of visual symbols and metaphors from the perspective of visual rhetoric theory and Orientalist criticism. Through literature analysis and case studies, it is found that the film constructs Chinese imagery through natural and cultural landscape imagery, and the natural landscape is shaped as a symbol of primitive power and is divided into binary divisions, and the cultural landscape and prop symbols reinforce Western stereotypes about China. In terms of constructing the image of China, there are stereotypes in the portrayal of characters such as Manchu Gege (Wanxi), the images of Colonel Yu and Dr. Wu are relatively three-dimensional, and the group images reflect the stereotypical cognition of the West; At the same time, the film uses a combination of visual symbols such as spatial layout and picture composition as metaphors, implying Western cultural superiority. This study is helpful to understand the strategy of Western films to shape the image of China, and to provide reference for the construction of Chinese image in cross-cultural communication.

Visual rhetoric; The Painted Veil; Chinese imagery; Chinese image; Cross-cultural communication