Image of Russia in the Chinese “new media”: representation of Russia on the platform baidu.com

Abstract

This article discusses the concepts of “representation” and “image”, the difference between them in the Russian scientific discourse, as well as the image of Russia in the Chinese online media segment based on analysis of the search results by the keyword results “Russia” on the portal baidu.com for the period from October 2018 to October 2021. The author also provides quantitative analysis in accordance with several statistical parameters, as well as the content of news and informational articles during the peak frequency of requests for analyzing the interest of users of the new Chinese media pertaining to the image of Russia. In view of many users the Chinese online media segment, the political relations between Russia and China are currently at their historical zenith; however the representation of Russia still leans mostly only on the political component, and the iconic figures translating the image of Russia are the leaders and politicians of the country. In modern Chinese society and information space, a significant role is played by new media that have emerged in the era of Internet technologies and global networks; therefore, consideration of the public opinion of the users of new Chinese media is highly relevant for the analysis of the image of Russia.