How Chinese Media Cover Ukrainian Cultural Heritage

The final speaker in this IAMCR 2024 session on Ukrainian cultural heritage narratives is Dmitry Romanenko, whose focus is on Chinese narratives on the Russian war against Ukraine.It has already been observed in some studies that Chinese media like the Global Times usually take a pro-Russian stance that’s justifies the war in Ukraine; however, an alternative perspective is that China’s public messaging is predominantly designed to promote its own, and not Russia’s, interests, and that it does not explicitly endorse the war. Whose narratives is China telling, then? What is their message, and can it be contested at an international level?

A perspective drawing on strategic narrative theory might be helpful here; this should also address questions of narrative power. What dominant storylines does the narrative seek to establish, what effects does it seek to generate, and what power does it attempt to exercise? Frame analysis can help to establish this, and this should also draw on internarrativity and intertextuality.

This study examined coverage in the English editions of major Chinese outlets Global Times and China Daily. 29 Chinese and 38 English articles in the Global Times have addressed Ukrainian heritage themes since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion; this positions it as a fairly marginal topic within the overall coverage of the war; only 8 did so in China Daily. Other than in the Chinese edition of Global Times, the intensity of such coverage was minor, too.

70% of such articles provided positive evaluations; 53% had a negative emotional charge, and 36% presented positive emotions. Visuals in such articles were largely bright and positive, however, with fewer no images of destruction. Many denied Ukraine’s agency, and instead positioned it merely as having (positive and negative) things done to it – by Russia, the west, the US, the EU, or UNESCO, for example.

From this, broader narratives about the decline of the west, the rise of the east, China’s peace-making role, and global initiatives emerged as major themes in Chinese coverage. This fits the overall perspective on Chinese media as mainly centred on telling China’s self-centred story to an international audience.