Representing Africa in China: Comparing the Maoist and Post-Mao Eras.

Based on the visual and textual analysis of China Pictorial magazine in two historical periods (1964-1976 and 2000-2016), this study identifies six key genres of China's representations of Africa and explores how they have been shaped by the changing global geopolitics. This study finds that, different from western way of seeing Africa, China has presented a general positive image of Africa, especially during the Maoist era. The effort to romanticize Africa in the socialist era is conceptualized as a "socialist gaze" which functions as a counter-representation of the "colonial gaze". By re-historicizing China's representations of Africa since the Maoist era, this study aims to expand our understanding of south-south media flow and the Cold War media history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]