Research on the Changes in China’s Image in the UK from the Perspective of Appraisal System—Based on the News Coverage of Beijing Olympics by Mainstream British Media

Abstract

After Beijing became the world’s first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics, China’s response to this “public opinion battle” in the Olympics has been reflected to some extent through the reporting of major Western media. Using the theory of appraisal system, this project selected the dual Olympics coverage by two mainstream British media outlets, BBC and Reuters, and utilized Factiva news database and AntConc corpus to quantitatively analyze and summarize their narrative patterns and practical paths. It analyzes China’s image and changes in the mainstream media in the UK and sets a framework for future external propaganda, leveraging the residual heat of the Olympic communication window to effectively construct a new era of China’s national image.