China through Multiple Lenses: Japanese University Students' Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Their Images of China through Photo-Taking and Sharing

• Author: Zhang, X.R.
• Position: Meisei University, Tokyo
• Pages: 205-212

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 6 (55) No. 2 - 2013

CHINA THROUGH MULTIPLE LENSES:

JAPANESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’

DECONSTRUCTION AND

RECONSTRUCTION OF THEIR IMAGES

OF CHINA THROUGH

PHOTO-TAKING AND SHARING

Xiao Rui ZHANG1

Abstract: In the current study I will describe and interpret how

stereotypical anti-Japanese images of China and Chinese people are

deconstructed and then replaced by Japanese university students through

their fieldwork in China. I will explore how photo taking and sharing serve

as active processes of inquiry that enable the students to think, reflect,

confirm, interpret, negotiate, and represent their experiences in China. I will

demonstrate how the process of conversing about and through the photos

that students took during their fieldwork help them to construct and

reconstruct alternative perspectives of China and Chinese people.

Key words: visual, narrative, deconstruction.

1 Meisei University, Tokyo.

1. Introduction

In the past couple of years, with political

tensions flaring between the Chinese and

Japanese governments, negative feelings

have prevailed among people on each side

toward one another. Mass media reports as

a part of such discourse create and are

created as well by the socio-political

environment. In Japan, the common image

of China is that the country is “anti-

Japanese”.

In the current study, I will describe and

interpret how the stereotypical anti-

Japanese image of China and Chinese

people is deconstructed and then replaced

with a multi-dimensional picture by

Japanese university students through their

fieldwork in China. I explore how photo

taking and sharing serve as active

processes of inquiry that enable the

students to think, reflect, confirm,

interpret, negotiate, and represent their

experiences in China. I demonstrate how

the process of conversing about and

through the photos the students took during

their fieldwork helped them to construct

and reconstruct alternative perspectives of

China and Chinese people.

2. Visual narrative as a means of inquiry

In this study, visual narrative is

employed as a means for the students to