Western Images of China.

This study explores the ways in which Westerners, from the earliest times until the late 1980s, have perceived China. Examining sources from all media - literature, journalism, the visual and performing arts - the author shows the enormous variety in Western images of China over the centuries. He demonstrates the impact which the power relations of the day have exerted on the ways Westerners have perceived China and its people. At some time China has constituted a model for certain schools of thought in the West, at others China has been viewed as a threat to Western civilization.