Exploring China's Image Mediated Through First Lady Diplomacy Initiatives

Abstract

Chinese authorities have tried to show the world the country's readiness to be involved in world affairs as a responsible big power, in ways that are designed to gain it wide acceptance, through diplomatic engagement. The introduction of first lady diplomacy undoubtedly serves that purpose although no official narratives have been released that situate the development as such. Media coverage is often regarded as a speculum that reflects world politics. This paper examines the practice and effectiveness of China's first lady diplomacy in promoting China's image by analyzing newspaper frames uncovered in this research. The significance of this paper is that it investigates China's first lady diplomacy by comparing three levels of data (opinion research, global visibility in information flow and newspaper frames) from four countries on China's first lady diplomacy initiative. This will allow for the creation of a typology that can be further tested in a larger study that will be used in theory building relating opinion research, global salience and media frames. Such a study has not been conducted before and academic attention to Chinese first ladies is also something new.