https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7444-8690
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Abstract
The years between 1978 and 1992 saw China enter a turbulent period of socio-economic recovery and foreign policy recalibration after the death of Mao Zedong. A string of organised expeditions to Europe by Chinese journalists produced a collection of first-hand, in-depth reportage, which vividly exemplified the reconstruction of Chinese media discourse on the outside world. Through an interdisciplinary lens, this article explores how the delegations formulated their discourses on Europe and argues that these discourses revealed a series of ideological and practical paradoxes that would continue to dominate China’s perception of and strategies towards Europe far beyond 1992.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 See, for example, Meissner (Citation2002), Vámos (Citation2018).
2 The archive’s main URL is http://rmrb.egreenapple.com/, but it usually can only be accessed via the specific URL provided by each subscribing institution.
3 Identifiable personal information has been removed in this article upon request of the interviewees. Interviews were conducted via video call on WeChat due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
4 ‘Deng Xiaoping General Assembly Speech’, UN Audiovisual Library, 1 January 1974, available at: https://www.unmultimedia.org/classics/asset/C817/C817/, accessed 20 June 2022.
5 ‘Dashisuoqu’, People’s Daily, 25 January 1978. Unless stated otherwise, all translations of Chinese excerpts cited in this article are mine.
6 ‘Sulian yinying longzhao xia de bei’ou’, People’s Daily, 29 January 1980.
7 ‘Jiaowang haixu jiaotan’, People’s Daily, 4 November 1980.
8 ‘Cong “huanhe” de huanxiang dao xianshi de kaolü’, People’s Daily, 1 February 1980.
9 ‘Xi’ou jingji de qianjing’, People’s Daily, 8 March 1980.
10 ‘Kuaimakanhua fang xide’, People’s Daily, 27 May 1985.
11 ‘Shenqiu shijie bolan’, People’s Daily, 20 November 1985.
12 ‘Zizun, zixin, ziqiang: luomaniya fangwen ji’, People’s Daily, 28 March 1984.
13 ‘Miandui xinde tiaozhan: fang ying yinxiang’, People’s Daily, 17 May 1985.
14 ‘Dashisuoqu’, People’s Daily, 25 January 1978.
15 ‘Yinian lai woguo tong xi’ou guanxi de xin fazhan’, People’s Daily, 22 December 1991.
16 ‘Shehuizhuyi gaige qianjing guangkuo’, People’s Daily, 1 December 1988.
17 ‘“Ouzhou xuyao fenqi”: fang ouzhou gongtongti zongbu’, People’s Daily, 5 June 1984.
18 ‘Xi’ou lianhe dashisuoqu’, People’s Daily, 13 August 1979.
19 ‘Fang bianhua zhong de deguo’, People’s Daily, 20 January 1992.
20 Interviews: L, retired journalist, 12 July 2020; Z, retired journalist, 27 July 2020; X, retired ACJA official, 2 August 2020, via WeChat.
21 ‘Maozhuxi guanyu sange shijie huafen de lilun shi dui makesi liening zhuyi de zhongda gongxian’, People’s Daily, 1 November 1977.
22 See also Zofka et al. (Citation2018).
23 See also Wilson (Citation1990), Gnoinska (Citation2017).
24 Interview, L, retired journalist, 12 July 2020, via WeChat.
25 Interview, Z, retired journalist, 27 July 2020, via WeChat.
26 Interviews: L, retired journalist, 12 July 2020; Z, retired journalist, 27 July 2020, via WeChat.
27 Interviews: L, retired journalist, 12 July 2020; Z, retired journalist, 27 July 2020, via WeChat.
28 Interview, X, retired ACJA official, 2 August 2020, via WeChat.
29 See Sullivan (Citation1988).
30 See, for example, Pye (Citation1986).
31 See, for example, Chen et al. (Citation2021), Lau (Citation2021).
32 See, for example, Zhou (Citation1979), Liu (Citation1989).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Chun Gan
Chun Gan, Department of History, KU Leuven, Belgium. Email: [email protected]