International Communication and Position Tendencies of the Image of Beijing based on Large-scale Festival and Special Events: A Comparative Analysis of Twitter Contents about Winter Olympics produced by Chinese and American Mainstream Media

Abstract

Large-scale Festival and Special Events (FSE) are an important opportunity for the international communication of image of Beijing, which plays a key role in the construction of national image and the improvement of urban influence. Taking contents of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Twitter produced by Chinese and American Mainstream Media as samples, using the research method of content analysis, it found that: the mainly topics of the Twitter Contents were about cultural and international intercourse, and American mainstream media were more inclined to political issues. Ice and snow sports elements were well presented, but the iconic symbols reflecting the characteristics of Beijing were missing. Neutrality was the main emotional tendency, however Chinese media were more positive and American media were more negative. In terms of topic types, elements presentations and emotional tendencies, Chinese and American media had sequencing similarities, but the contents distributions were different and the Position Tendencies were obvious. On international social media platforms, the image of Beijing based on large-scale FSE is more objective and positive. The individual micro narrative focusing on FSE accords with the Social media communication rule. However, the international communication of the image of Beijing focuses on the capital and ignores the city, which has an impact on shaping the distinctive image of Beijing.