The Discourse of Technology in Western Representation of China: A Case Study

It is well documented that Western images of China have been oscillating historically for centuries. However insufficient attention has been given to examining patterns of underlying structures of representing China. This paper aims to address this issue through an exploration of latent perspectives in the British mass mediated representation of China. It is conducted through a semiotic and discourse analysis of a BBC television documentary series Road to Xanadu. The paper argues, central to the portrayal of China a technological view of society is formulated, through which Western and Chinese identities are constructed to arrive at a unified and unifying version of ‘progress’, erasing tensions, complexities and contradictions.