National-Image Representation in Chinese Country-studies Publications: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Materials from 2003 to 2024

Abstract

Aims: Country-studies materials mediate linguistic and cultural knowledge while also framing contemporary China for foreign learners. This study compares selected Chinese country-studies publications from 2003 to 2024, examines how selected newer materials represent contemporary China, and considers implications for Chinese Studies education in Vietnam. Study Design: A qualitative comparative document study integrating catalogue-level descriptive data, structured qualitative content analysis, and interpretive analysis. Place and Duration of Study: The purposive documentary corpus comprises five representative older-generation works published between 2003 and 2007, including works from Peking University Press and Sinolingua, and nine selected newer Sinolingua publications or series issued between 2010 and 2024, supplemented by catalogue-level descriptive data. Methodology: The selected publications were compared at the publication or series level across thematic orientation, temporality, spatial framing, authorship, target audience, language accessibility, media form, interactional direction, representational mode, and critical plurality. Catalogue counts were treated separately as descriptive contextual evidence rather than population estimates, while Chinese-authored and foreign-voiced works were examined interpretively in relation to textbook-representation and public-diplomacy scholarship. Results: Within the selected corpus, older works were mainly print-based, China-centred, discipline-organised, and Chinese-authored. Selected newer publications place greater emphasis on contemporary life, technology, international interaction, multimodality, differentiated audiences, and foreign narrators. These corpus-bounded patterns suggest a shift from predominantly institutional self-representation towards a hybrid communicative architecture in which self-presentation is supplemented by curated foreign voices. Institutional selection and limited critical plurality nevertheless remain important constraints. Conclusion: Within the selected corpus, contemporary Chinese country-studies publications function as educational resources and as mediated forms of international cultural communication. Their pedagogical use is strengthened when instructors treat them as constructed representations, triangulate publisher-produced narratives with independent sources, and organise learning around critical comparison rather than passive reception.