Research Background and Design

The transformation of new media technology on the Internet has changed the traditional logic of city's international image communication, and put forward higher requirements for the city's external communication ability. However, the development level of international image communication construction among domestic cities is extremely unbalanced. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that "we should promote the construction of international communication capabilities, tell the story of China well, showcase the real, three-dimensional, and comprehensive China, and enhance the country's cultural soft power." This discourse has pointed out the direction for China's foreign communication work in the new era and put forward higher requirements. As an important component of national image, the international image of major cities is of great significance in building a dynamic and diverse national image and enhancing the country's discourse power in the process of globalization. This article takes the international image dissemination of major cities in China in the era of multimedia as the research object, summarizes the current situation and experience of the external dissemination of urban image in the new era, and explores the path and trend of international dissemination of urban image from the perspective of multimedia integration.

（1） Research object

This article selects cities that are competitive internationally, have regional center status and leading demonstration role domestically as research objects by integrating different urban evaluation standards at home and abroad. The selection criteria can refer to the National Central City Index, Globalization and World Urban Research Network (GAWC) Index, Global Urban Competitiveness Research Index, and the 2020 City Business Charm Ranking released by the First Financial and New First tier City Research Institute.

According to the definition of the National Development and Reform Commission, a national central city is a modern metropolis that leads regional development, participates in international competition and cooperation, and represents the national image. At present, it includes 9 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou.

The Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GAWC) index released by Loughborough University in the UK focuses on the leading and radiating role of cities in various global activities, evaluating their external relations and influence. GAWC categorizes world cities into four major levels: Alpha (first tier cities), Beta (second tier cities), Gamma (third tier cities), and Efficiency (self-sufficient cities, also known as fourth tier cities). This article selects Chinese cities selected for first and second tier.

The Global Urban Competitiveness (GUCP) is a report issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and UN Habitat. The report establishes an indicator system for measuring the economic and sustainable competitiveness of over 1000 cities worldwide through theoretical research and empirical investigation. This article selects the top 15 non Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan cities in China's global urban economic competitiveness ranking (with a total ranking of the top 84).

The "2020 City Business Charm Ranking" released by the First Financial and New First tier City Research Institute has a certain influence in China. The cities selected in this article are the first tier cities and the top 10 new first tier cities.

Drawing on the above city rankings and based on the principle of regional balance, this article removed some cities in East and South China, and ultimately identified 15 cities in China as the research objects (see Table 1).

表1 报告研究对象一览

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Table 1 List of research subjects in the report

（2） Research Methods

This article attempts to construct a three-level indicator system for the City International Communication Influence Index (CICII) of Chinese cities (see Table 2). Firstly, based on the significant influence of media on the mechanism of urban international image generation, this article constructs an evaluation model that includes four dimensions: media communication index, comprehensive social index, communication innovation index, and global cognitive index. Based on the collected data and expert opinions, weights of 0.35, 0.25, 0.2, and 0.2 are assigned to these four dimensions, respectively.

An important feature of the indicator system constructed in this paper is that it not only covers the external communication of urban traditional media channels in different languages, but also considers the important role of video, short video, pictures and other forms of communication in the current international communication. In addition, it also takes into account the search engine data and Internet platform life data to objectively present the international influence of cities as far as possible. After comprehensive consideration of various media platforms and various social network ranking data, this paper chooses Twitter related data to interpret the comprehensive social impact of the city image, Instagram as the research platform to measure the social impact of pictures, and YouTube, Google Trends, and Tiktok overseas as the indicators to evaluate the social impact of videos and short videos. At the same time, in order to comprehensively examine the dissemination effect and cognitive situation of the city's image overseas, we selected relevant data from the city on the Google Trends platform and the globally leading travel evaluation website Trip Advisor to measure the city's search engine influence and international visitor influence.

表2 中国城市国际传播影响力指标体系

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Table 2 Indicator System for International Communication Influence of Chinese Cities

In the above data, the media coverage influence data comes from the Factiva Dow Jones News database, which can obtain media coverage exposure data for cities within a specified time period, covering English and other foreign language reports; The comprehensive social cognitive data, video social influence data, and search engine influence data are all sourced from relevant official platforms. All the above data was collected from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, using the English name of the city as the keyword for retrieval (except for reports in other foreign languages). The social influence data of pictures and short videos are derived from the number of tags of corresponding cities on Instagram and Tiktok platforms respectively; The international visitor influence data is sourced from the TripAdvisor website, which searches for the total number of reviews of a city on TripAdvisor using its English name as a keyword.

Analysis of the Current Status of International Communication Influence in Chinese Cities

After data standardization processing, the international communication influence index list of the 15 selected cities in China from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 is shown in Table 3.

表3 中国城市国际传播影响力指数榜单（2019年7月1日～2020年6月30日）

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Table 3 List of China's Cities' International Communication Influence Index (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020)

（1） The international communication influence of cities presents a hierarchical distribution and obvious differentiation problems

Overall, the international communication influence of the 15 cities in China mainly presents five tiers. The first tier consists of Wuhan, Beijing, and Shanghai, with a total influence score of 85 or above; The second tier consists of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, with a total influence score ranging from 71 to 85 points; The third tier consists of Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Chongqing, with a total score ranging from 65 to 70 points; The fourth tier consists of Tianjin, Xi'an, Suzhou, and Changsha, with a total score ranging from 60 to 64 points; The fifth tier consists of Shenyang and Zhengzhou, with a total score below 60 points.

In addition, there is a significant difference in CICII values between different cities, with severe polarization. The average score of CICII for 15 cities is 69.49, but only 5 cities have scores higher than the average. Among them, the average score of the first tier cities is 88.33 points, and the average score of the fifth tier cities is 55.10 points, with a difference of up to 33.23 points (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Average scores of first tier and fifth tier cities in various dimensions

（2） The influence of urban international communication is closely related to the level of political and economic development

There are significant differences in resource allocation, administrative efficiency, and the degree of international communication influence among cities with different administrative levels. Comparing and analyzing the CICII values of cities with different administrative levels, it can be found that the international communication influence of cities decreases in a stepwise manner according to their administrative levels (see Table 4). The municipalities directly under the central government are located at the first level, with an average score of 76.45 in CICII and an average ranking of 6; In addition, among the 15 sample cities, the second and third places in the total score of communication influence are both municipalities directly under the central government, namely Beijing and Shanghai; Sub provincial cities are located in the second tier, with an average score of 70.17 on CICII and an average ranking of 7; Other cities are in the third tier, with an average CICII score of 58.33 and an average ranking of 13.

In addition, the international communication influence of a city is closely related to its level of economic development. As shown in Table 5, the first tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen) that rank among the top in GDP also rank among the top in international communication influence rankings. From the statistical analysis results, it can be seen that the international communication influence of a city is positively correlated with GDP, with a correlation coefficient of 0.754 and a P value<0.01, indicating a significant correlation (see Table 6).

表4 不同行政等级城市的城市国际传播影响力指数及排名

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Table 4 International Communication Influence Index and Ranking of Cities with Different Administrative Levels

表5 2019年样本城市的GDP

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Table 5: GDP of Sample Cities in 2019

表6 样本城市GDP与CICII值的相关分析

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Table 6 Correlation analysis between GDP and CICII values of sample cities

（3） First tier cities have strong comprehensive communication capabilities, and popular tourist cities are overtaking on the curve

From a single dimension perspective, the top five on the list are firmly occupied by Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, reflecting their strong communication capabilities and comprehensive communication strength. It is worth noting that although Changsha, Chengdu, and Xi'an are in a moderate position in the overall score column of the list, they have outstanding performances on social platforms in different sub fields. In terms of comprehensive social index, Changsha ranks 6th on the list with a score of 59.45; In terms of communication innovation index, Chengdu ranks 6th on the list with a score of 73.28, far higher than the average of the entire sample (69.39 points); In terms of global cognitive index, Xi'an ranks 6th on the list with a score of 77.62, far higher than the average of the entire sample (74.47 points).

Comparing Tianjin, a directly administered municipality, with Xi'an, an internationally renowned tourist city, their overall rankings are similar, with total scores of 64.72 and 64.62 points, respectively. Thanks to its location advantage and strong economic strength in the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region, Tianjin has slightly better media communication index and comprehensive social index than Xi'an, but its performance in social media communication is not satisfactory. In contrast, Xi'an utilizes various media platforms for differentiated, three-dimensional, and entertaining all-round communication, enhancing the city's communication influence and audience perception. From all dimensions, Xi'an's data values on Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok, TripAdvisor and other platforms are far higher than Tianjin's. The data shows that the difference in communication innovation index scores between Tianjin and Xi'an is 7.63 points, and the difference in global cognitive index scores is 7.91 points.

（4） Public health incidents have become an important 'opportunity' for the international image dissemination of Chinese cities

Influenced by the COVID-19, Wuhan has received sustained attention from international public opinion circles since January 2020. The total number of foreign media reports from January to May 2020 reached 500742, with an average of 100148 foreign media reports per month, far exceeding the average monthly foreign media reports in 2019 (3202). In June 2020, after the COVID-19 broke out in the wholesale market of Xinfadi, Beijing, the focus of media attention gradually shifted from Wuhan to Beijing. The amount of media reports about Wuhan fell slightly, and the amount of media reports involving Beijing showed a surge. In June 2020, the number of foreign media reports on Beijing reached 88061.

In addition, from the data of the entire sample cities (excluding Beijing and Wuhan to ensure objectivity), the media attention and exposure of major cities in China in 2020 were generally higher than in 2019 (see Figure 2). From July to December 2019, the average monthly foreign language coverage of the media was 5156, while from January to June 2020, the average monthly foreign language coverage of the media rose to 7206, which indicates that since the outbreak of COVID-19, more cities in China have been concerned by the international media, and the epidemic has also become an important "opportunity" for the international image dissemination of Chinese cities. Figure 3 shows the average monthly foreign language media coverage in Wuhan and Beijing from July 2019 to June 2020.

Figure 2: Monthly average foreign language media coverage in all sample cities

Figure 3: Monthly average foreign language media coverage in Wuhan and Beijing from July 2019 to June 2020

（5） Using the power of giant social media to influence the level of urban external communication

There are significant differences among cities in the use of traditional and social media for external communication. Specifically, the overall performance of traditional media communication is good and the score gap between cities is relatively small, which to some extent reflects that domestic cities have accumulated a lot of useful experience in using traditional media communication. In contrast, there is a significant gap in the influence of social media platforms. The data shows that all 15 sample cities perform well in terms of media communication index and global awareness index, with average scores of 73.49 and 74.47, respectively, and standard deviations of 9.08 and 9.33, respectively; However, the overall performance in the comprehensive social index and communication innovation index is relatively low, with average scores of 58.86 and 69.51, respectively, and standard deviations of 15.86 and 11.55, respectively (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 Standard Deviation of Four Dimensions Scores for Sample Cities (Divided by Gradients)

As shown in Figure 5, the performance of the first tier cities (Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai) in the four dimensions is relatively balanced, with average scores of 89.34, 87.56, 86.60, and 89.25, respectively; The average values of the other four tier cities in all four dimensions are lower than those of the first tier cities. Among them, the gap in the comprehensive social index is particularly evident: the average score of the comprehensive social index for the first tier cities is 87.56 points, while the average score for the other four tier cities is 53.02 points, with a difference of 34.54 points. This indicates that most cities have not fully utilized international social media platforms represented by Twitter for external communication, and they still have a lot of room for improvement in social media communication.

Figure 5: Average scores of sample cities in four dimensions (divided by gradient)

（6） Emerging social media platforms become a new channel for international image dissemination of Chinese cities

As overseas social media platforms are open and diversified, and visual information, mainly pictures and videos, is easy to spread and accept, the emerging social media platforms, represented by Instagram and Tiktok, have gradually become new channels for overseas image dissemination of Chinese cities (see Table 7), and some cities continue to make efforts in the dissemination of emerging social media platforms.

表7 照片墙（Instagram）和抖音海外版（TikTok）平台上城市相关数据

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Table 7 Relevant data of cities on Instagram and Tiktok platforms

At the same time, social media through images and short videos has gradually become an important focus for the international image dissemination of Chinese cities, especially in non first tier cities that do not have advantages in politics and economy (see Table 8). Taking Chengdu as an example, it fully leverages the advantages of social media platforms, using images and short videos to spread content with strong viewing and entertainment value, bringing the dissemination trend from China to foreign countries. Its social influence has achieved remarkable results (see Table 8): in terms of short video social influence, Chengdu ranks fourth on the list, with a score of 87.67 points, far higher than the average of the entire sample (75.96 points); In terms of image social influence, Chengdu ranks fifth on the list with a score of 71.44, which is also higher than the average of the entire sample (70.18 points).

表8 短视频和图片社交影响力TOP5

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Table 8 Top 5 Social Influence of Short Videos and Images

The Practice and Highlights of International Image Communication in Three Chinese Cities

Through systematic analysis of the exploration and practice of international image communication in Chinese cities in recent years, this article finds that the current external communication of Chinese cities presents highlights such as standardized management, matrix pattern, diversified subjects, and innovative ideas, providing valuable experience for the international image communication of other cities in China.

（1） The institutionalization and standardization development trend of international image dissemination in Chinese cities

In recent years, many Chinese cities have regarded international image dissemination and urban international image construction as important plans for urban development, and have outlined specific practical routes based on urban characteristics. As stated in the "Long term Plan for Promoting the Construction of National Cultural Centers in Beijing (2019-2035)" issued by the Beijing Municipal People's Government in April 2020, by 2035, Beijing, as a representative of the implementation of the national cultural going global strategy, will further consolidate its leading position and become the primary window for exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations in the world, playing an important role in showcasing the image of a great power and the charm of Chinese culture. The "Plan" also proposes that in order to build a global platform for telling the story of China well, Beijing will utilize major events and important exhibitions and competitions, seize the opportunities of national level important conferences, major commemorative events, important international conferences, international forums and other home diplomacy and external publicity activities, and strive for excellence in home diplomacy and external publicity work. From this, it can be seen that the "Plan" has refined the focus of work and specific measures, clarifying the direction for the construction of Beijing's international image.

In February 2019, Chengdu officially announced a three-year action plan to build the "Three Cities and Three Capitals" (world cultural and creative city, world tourism city, world sports city, international food city, international music city, and international exhibition city). The concept of "Three Cities and Three Capitals" is regarded as an expression of Chengdu's construction as a world-renowned cultural city. To this end, Chengdu has also established a leading group to promote the construction of "three cities and three capitals". In July 2020, the Shenzhen Municipal Government proposed six goals in the "Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Construction of a Regional Cultural Center City and a Modern Civilization City Demonstrating National Cultural Soft Power in Shenzhen": to create a model of spiritual civilization construction, an international fashion and creative capital, a benchmark for public cultural services, a pioneer in cultural and creative industries, a world-class tourist destination, and an international cultural exchange center.

（2） Matrix communication pattern has become a "standard configuration" for cities to go global

In the era of mobile Internet, the production and transmission mode of public information has changed, challenging the transmission mode of traditional media and promoting its reform. Overseas new media platforms have attracted attention due to their wide audience, strong influence, and fast speed. In the process of promoting the international image of Chinese cities, traditional media disseminates differentiated content on social platforms of different natures, breaking down barriers between media platforms and forming complementary information and overlapping influence in interaction. As a result, a three-dimensional communication pattern has become a "standard" for enhancing urban communication capabilities.

When building a city brand, domestic cities usually use multiple overseas Internet platforms to create a new media communication matrix. At present, most cities adopt a "1+N" overseas full media three-dimensional communication model, which means a multilingual official website with multiple different types of new media platform accounts. Through new media platforms, targeted information dissemination, implicit agenda setting, and leveraging the role of cities in the online society are key to promoting the international image of cities.

For example, the overseas social platform matrix created by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism has played a good role in dissemination. With the help of the "Visit Beijing" brand, it has built a multilingual official website for Visit Beijing, focusing on the dissemination of tourism information; Use Instagram and Twitter accounts to post images and text related to Beijing's city, lifestyle, and culture; On YouTube, urban culture is disseminated in the form of videos, forming a three-dimensional and diverse matrix dissemination pattern (see Table 9).

表9 北京市文化旅游局“Visit Beijing”社交账号一览

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Table 9 List of "Visit Beijing" Social Accounts of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism

Guangzhou, Tianjin, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and other cities have adopted similar models to build a three-dimensional dissemination system for overseas tourism in cities. After preliminary practice, official accounts in various cities have accumulated a lot of experience in operation. Twitter, as a comprehensive social software, is committed to providing real-time news, sports, entertainment and other information and interacting with audiences in real time. The official accounts in Suzhou, Wuhan, and Beijing all have over 100000 followers, with Suzhou's account surpassing Beijing's with over 180000 followers (see Table 10). In addition, although some accounts have a small fan base, they also demonstrate potential in disseminating content and interacting with audiences. For example, in terms of tweet forwarding, commenting, and liking, the Shenyang account @ ShenyangChina, the Shenzhen account @ szdaily1, the Nanjing account @ DiscoverNanjing, and the Hangzhou account @ TOURISHANGZHOU have all shown outstanding performance (see Tables 11-13).

（3） Building an International Image Communication Matrix for Cities through Political Media Collaboration

In the increasingly open and interactive global communication landscape, multidimensional, diverse, and diversified external communication has become a new trend. For urban external communication, effective cooperation between the government and media institutions helps to concentrate resources and achieve more accurate and effective authoritative release and dissemination.

表10 城市官方推特（Twitter）账号粉丝量排行TOP5

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Table 10: Top 5 official Twitter accounts with the highest number of followers in each city

表11 城市官方推特（Twitter）账号推文平均转发量排行TOP5

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Table 11 Top 5 average reposts of official Twitter accounts in cities

表12 城市官方推特（Twitter）账号推文平均评论量排行TOP5

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Table 12: Ranking of Top 5 Official Twitter Accounts with Average Comment Count for Tweets in Cities

表13 城市官方推特（Twitter）账号推文平均点赞量排行TOP5

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Table 13: Ranking of Top 5 Official Twitter Accounts with Average Like Count for Tweets in Cities

Currently, many Chinese cities' external publicity accounts are jointly created by government departments and local media. For example, the official social media account "hangzhoufeel" (Charm Hangzhou) for external communication in Hangzhou has been opened on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc. These accounts are managed by the Hangzhou Municipal Government News Office and operated by the Urban Express. The "EYESHENZHEN" (focusing on Shenzhen) English portal website created by the Shenzhen Municipal Government has been spreading the image of Shenzhen overseas since its launch in 2016, and has become an important window for foreigners to understand Shenzhen and integrate into Shenzhen. It is reported that the EYESHENZHEN website is jointly hosted by the Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee, Shenzhen Daily (English version), and Shenzhen News Network, and is one of the major projects of "Shenzhen Cultural Innovation and Development 2020".

In recent years, Shanghai has made full use of its abundant media resources to create an external communication media platform. SHINE (Shanghai Daily App), ShanghaiEye (Shanghai Radio and Television Station External Propaganda New Media Platform), SixthTone (Sixth Voice), YicaiGlobal (Yicai Global), Oriental Net Overseas Headlines and other external propaganda new media are also exploring new paths and establishing distinctive communication models to attract a large number of overseas netizens. According to the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, since the outbreak of COVID-19, "The Sixth Voice" has launched three series of short videos, including "Isolation Diary: My Nurse's Wife Was Confirmed", using Facebook account, which has yielded 6.09 million overseas coverage, 2.67 million views and 1.47 million interactions in a short time. As of April 21, 2020, media outlets such as Shanghai Daily, Shanghai Foreign Language Channel, "Sixth Voice", "Yicai Global", "Xinmin Evening News" Overseas Edition, and Dongfang Net Overseas Headlines have published over 3000 reports related to the epidemic, covering various aspects such as prevention and control, treatment, resumption of work and production, and social operation. The Shanghai Foreign Language Channel and its new media platform "ShanghaiEye" roll and push important information from press conferences of multiple departments such as the State Council, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government around the clock, timely conveying authoritative news on China's fight against the epidemic to overseas communities. Relying on its own resources, "Yicai Global" interviewed renowned overseas figures such as Nobel laureates Michael Spencer and Lars Peter Hansen, as well as Martin Wolf, Deputy Editor in Chief of the Financial Times, and published a series of reports to demonstrate the confidence of top economists in the sustained development of the Chinese economy.

（4） Key opinion leaders and individuals expand the consensus space for urban communication

In recent years, KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) and individuals have become indispensable new forces in the external communication of Chinese cities. On online platforms, KOLs expand the consensus space for the dissemination of the city's international image by interacting with their fan base and audience.

In the popular videos of Chengdu in 2019, the most watched video was "How to Make Chengdu Tempura with Chinese Instruments" released by "Office Ono" (Ms. Yeah Official Channel), with a total of 64 million views. The documentary "Nanjing Anti epidemic Scene" and "Long Time No See, Wuhan" directed by Japanese director Ryo Takeuchi objectively and truthfully records the city's anti epidemic life from a civilian perspective and down-to-earth way. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the documentary as "plain and unadorned, transparent with truth, goodness and beauty". Jia Xiudong, a specially appointed researcher at the China Academy of International Studies, pointed out that in the process of fighting against the epidemic, China not only suffered from the impact of the epidemic, but also faced the "attack" of Western public opinion. The broadcast of urban documentaries will help to dispel the prejudice of international public opinion against Chinese cities, and help the world understand China's urban life under the epidemic and the efforts of Chinese people in the fight against the epidemic.

In addition, in the era of mobile Internet, individuals are not only receivers of massive information, but also creators and disseminators of information. The construction and promotion of city image are often realized in the process of individuals' acceptance, processing and feedback of information. On social platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Tiktok, individuals represented by users have also become a new force in building the city's international image. For example, the short video platform represented by Tiktok overseas reduces the requirements for content production, and ordinary users can also create and publish short videos. Shanghai's Communication Innovation Index ranks first among the sample cities, which is closely related to the sharing of Shanghai cuisine, Shanghai lifestyle, and Shanghai landmark buildings by numerous users.

（5） Enriching the connotation and expression of the international image of Chinese cities

Observations have shown that many cities have made efforts to change the past "I say, you listen" model, striving to "de self localize" the communication perspective and establish audience awareness. On the one hand, it focuses on localized storytelling and crosses cultural barriers. Starting from the language habits, acceptance psychology, and narrative organization skills and techniques of the target audience, evoke emotional resonance through personal experience and dilute the ideological color. Taking Chongqing as an example, in order to promote the city's international image to overseas users, Chongqing's official overseas communication platform iChongqing hired foreign journalists to discover the beauty of Chongqing from their perspectives. In 2019, the Chongqing government also launched the Overseas People @ Chongqing Visual Contest, telling the stories of foreign friends and Chongqing in the form of photos and short videos, and initiating the interactive topic "# CaptureChongqing #" to mobilize the enthusiasm of foreign friends to participate. Finally, excellent works were displayed through the official iChongqing accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube platforms.

On the other hand, approaching the perspective of popularization and expressing "down-to-earth" content. This article takes the YouTu (YouTube) platform as an example. After searching for the keyword "Chengdu", 50 videos with high views were selected as analysis samples. It was found that these videos covered street food experimentation, nightlife exploration, tourism, giant pandas, sports and e-sports, and other aspects. The first and second ranked videos were both about foreign food self media accounts recording street food practices and evaluations, with views reaching 1.68 million and 1.49 million respectively. In addition, there are 9 food experience videos and 6 giant panda videos. These popular videos indicate that more down-to-earth products are in line with the preferences of current international audiences.

The dilemma of constructing an international image communication discourse system for four Chinese cities

Although the international image communication capabilities of major cities in China have significantly improved in recent years, it is not difficult to see through analysis that Chinese cities still face some difficulties in the process of building an international image communication discourse system.

（1） Insufficient ability to set topics around hot events

One of the prominent challenges in promoting the international image of Chinese cities is the lack of close integration with national strategies, initiatives, plans, and other hot events, as well as insufficient ability to set issues. Taking Guangzhou as an example, scholars Wang Dake and Li Benqian mentioned in their article "The Communication and Construction of Guangzhou's Urban Image in the Global Media Context" that in recent years, with the changes in the country's opening-up pattern, Guangzhou's leading position in the country's opening-up has declined. In recent years, with the implementation of national strategies such as the "the Belt and Road" initiative and the construction of the "Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area", the importance of Guangzhou in the pattern of opening up in the new era has been highlighted again. In this context, Guangzhou should deeply explore its own advantages, reform and innovate, and continuously strengthen the connotation construction of a national central city. In the process of deeply participating in the "the Belt and Road" and other national initiatives, Guangzhou will enhance its sense of presence and participation in global affairs, and enrich the form of external communication of its international image. Many studies have shown that global media attention to a city often overlaps with attention to major events held in that city. Although Guangzhou has also hosted major international events such as the Asian Games in recent years, there is still room for improvement in terms of the number, frequency, and influence of major events. How can the international image dissemination of Chinese cities achieve novelty? Timely integration with national hot topics and clever agenda setting are important approaches.

（2） The risk monitoring capability is limited, making it difficult to effectively eliminate the negative impact of public opinion

By analyzing the data of international image communication of Chinese cities from 2019 to 2020, this paper finds that Wuhan has surpassed Beijing, Shanghai and other cities in the list of communication influence. Global public health events such as the COVID-19 should be the main reason for Wuhan's rising ranking. The relevant situation of the Wuhan epidemic and the anti epidemic measures have become the focus of foreign public opinion, but also led to some negative public opinion, which has had a certain negative impact on the international image construction and dissemination of Chinese cities. In terms of negative public opinion risk assessment and public opinion response overseas, Chinese cities often remain silent or absent, and can only see responses from national institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Cities should realize that as the main body of external communication, they have authority in building their self-image and can eliminate negative public opinion by increasing the city's exposure and shaping a positive image.

（3） The homogenization of urban image symbols has led to the dilemma of "pseudo personalization"

In recent years, Chinese cities have gradually strengthened their strategic awareness in international image dissemination, actively using social media and other platforms for dissemination. However, an obvious dilemma is that many cities hope to build themselves as "internet famous" cities, committed to building exclusive "personalized" images on social media platforms, but often fall into the trap of "pseudo personalization". Many cities follow the "success path" of "internet famous" cities, positioning their city labels in areas such as food, internet famous neighborhoods, historical stories, etc. Although these cities have their own characteristics, they are generally similar, giving the audience a highly homogeneous impression. To break through the dilemma of "pseudo personalization" in international image, cities should deeply root their attention in daily urban life, find the core themes that connect the many cultural labels of the city, and present a complete and profound urban image to the audience.

（4） Cultural discount in the context of cross-cultural communication

One problem that has always plagued the international image dissemination of Chinese cities is the "cultural discount" in the context of cross-cultural communication. Cultural discount, also known as "cultural discount", refers to the phenomenon where cultural products in the international market are not recognized or understood by audiences in other regions due to differences in cultural backgrounds, resulting in a decrease in product value. This concept was first proposed by Hoskins and Mulhouse in their 1988 paper "The Reasons Why the United States Dominates the International Market for Television Programs". Some cities believe that their urban image design is already very perfect, achieving a high level of depth, breadth, and image unity, but they cannot be smoothly accepted by audiences in other cultural contexts through cross-cultural communication channels. At present, the concept of Chinese cities' external communication still carries the mindset of domestic propaganda, focusing on how to convey grand, abstract, and relatively empty ideas and information to the audience. The efforts in emotional impact and resonance are clearly insufficient, making it difficult for overseas audiences with different ways of thinking and communication habits to understand and accept, and greatly reducing the efforts to build the international image of cities.

（5） Overseas social media platforms find it difficult to break through first level communication barriers

Most domestic cities have attached great importance to and operated overseas social media, but its dissemination level is often limited to the first level, which fails to effectively guide the audience to spread, thus unable to form a multi-level dissemination trend from point to surface. As is well known, the driving force behind the dissemination of social media platforms lies in the repeated reposting of content, thereby promoting the continuous spread of information and opinion flows outward. Therefore, the "sociality" of urban international image communication should be given more weight, and the communication subject should adopt corresponding strategies to combine the social and content needs of the audience, promote the audience to generate the motivation to forward and share, break down the first level communication barriers, and promote the transformation of the communication path from "account subject corresponding audience social network", thereby enhancing the breadth and depth of communication.

（6） A systematic multilingual communication matrix has not yet been formed

At present, the construction of international image and communication platforms in various cities in China is developing rapidly, but it is still in the stage of extensive development. The content and platforms are relatively scattered, and a systematic communication matrix has not been formed. The communication content and accounts have not achieved good linkage. Establishing a relatively complete and orderly multilingual communication matrix, with differentiated and systematic communication platforms and content, will be the top priority for the sustained and high-quality dissemination of China's urban international image.

Strategies and Prospects for the International Image Communication and Construction of Five Chinese Cities

With the continuous changes in overseas communication patterns and ecology, the international image communication of Chinese cities urgently needs to be carried out from a broader, innovative, and rational perspective. The international image dissemination of Chinese cities towards the world and the future should focus on the following points.

（1） Driven by the concept of cross-cultural communication, enhance the international image dissemination capability of Chinese cities and tell the city's story well in communication

Compared to the overall dissemination of national image, the international image dissemination of Chinese cities often has advantages such as uniqueness and flexibility. Therefore, under the barriers of cultural differences between China and the West, the international image dissemination of Chinese cities not only needs to tell stories about history, culture, landscape, etc., but also effectively explore the stories of enterprises, communities, and individuals that trigger cross-cultural resonance. By making good use of tangible and recognizable "ordinary" cultural elements, enhancing emotional color and infectiousness through personalized design of communication content, highlighting the characteristics of mobility, scenarization, and socialization, we can promote the transformation of overseas audiences from emotional impressions to rational evaluation, from emotional arousal to cognitive construction, and from vague attitudes to cultural identity.

（2） Give play to China's leading advantages in the field of new Internet technologies and digital communication, and promote the development of urban external communication in the direction of three-dimensional, experiential and immersive

Currently, the rapid advancement of communication technology has made many new forms of communication possible that were previously unimaginable. There is no doubt that China has become a global leader in Internet technology, digital communication and other fields. Major cities have gathered a large number of science and innovation enterprises. If we combine the rich materials of Chinese cities with high paid technology to produce high-quality three-dimensional, experiential and immersive content products, these new content will be able to better attract the attention and participation of overseas audiences.

（3） Seize the promotional hotspots of major festivals and events, and implement the international image dissemination of Chinese cities into personalized experiences

In today's world where everyone is a disseminator, forging an "urban international fan culture" or reducing barriers to overseas communication is an effective path. Currently, major cities in China are about to frequently host large-scale sports events and international exchange activities, such as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Chengdu 2021 Universiade, Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, etc. These are all good opportunities for experiential communication to overseas audiences. Each city can collaborate with well-known local bloggers to find content producers with strong expressive power, high interactivity, and efficient information dissemination. They can perceive and spread the culture of the city through personal experience, and promote the international image of the city in a "personal" to "personal" manner, thereby generating individual emotional resonance across borders and cultures.

（4） Utilize big data methods to monitor overseas public opinion, establish risk assessment institutions, and accurately grasp the audience

Empowering innovation communication with big data technology has become a trend. On the one hand, using big data tools to analyze the current global public opinion situation of Chinese cities, as well as the mainstream cognition and value attitudes of overseas towards Chinese cities, establishing a central hub for monitoring and researching the international image and public opinion of Chinese cities, providing support for the selection and planning of international communication topics, and maximizing the prevention of communication risks. On the other hand, fully utilizing big data technology to evaluate the effectiveness of overseas communication, understanding the reading habits and personalized demands of overseas users, and providing data support for precision marketing, targeted communication, and customized design of overseas communication content.

（5） The international image dissemination of Chinese cities should follow the path of industrialization and specialization, and improve their external communication capabilities from the supply side

At present, various audiences have put forward new demands for the international image communication of Chinese cities. A single government led overseas communication model is difficult to meet these demands. Therefore, in the future, the international image communication of Chinese cities should form a composite and three-dimensional communication matrix led by the government, dominated by professional institutions, and extended by individual social platforms. The government also needs to introduce incentive plans and policies related to content production, encouraging cross-cultural communication talents in society to join the ranks of international image communication in Chinese cities through submission of works, thus forming a benign operation trend that is both orderly and dynamic, inheriting and innovating. At the same time, actively establishing expert think tanks for the international image dissemination of Chinese cities, leveraging the multidisciplinary resource advantages of local universities, and providing strong intellectual support for the international image dissemination of Chinese cities.