A review of the current state of research on China’s international image management

Abstract

Image Management is a crucial aspect of China’s engagement with the world, and the related scholarship has already produced high-quality learned analyses. This article, however, identifies a certain stagnation in knowledge production. This stagnation, I argue, is first due to a tendency to focus research on a few recurring themes and second due to three contested areas and related research gaps. These contestations concern (1) the question how to describe and conceptualize image management practices, (2) the question what instruments belong to image management practices, and (3) most importantly the question of audiences and how to measure the impact of these practices. By mapping out these areas, this article provides avenues for further research and argues in favor of interdisciplinary mixed-methods research in this field. Taking those contested areas and the existing research gaps more seriously into consideration is imperative to understand China’s communicative practices which increasingly become a major component of China’s overall behavior on the global stage.