An enduring schema: the image of the Chinese in American prime time television dramas

Abstract

This study implements an in-depth investigation about the image of the Chinese presented in American prime time television dramas. Content analysis was utilized to record the portrayal of the Chinese in terms of characteristics, demographic attributes, and fiction al interactions with European-Americans. To compare different representations, comparable European-American television characters selected from data banks of the Cultural Indicators project were used. Findings derived from three kinds of statistical analyses lead to a consistent conclusion. This study provides an empirical evidence that the Chinese image is comparatively distorted.