Misrepresentation of Chinese culture in American picture books through written and visual languages

Wangbei, Tu (author)

Language is a communication system which consists of signs, symbols, gestures, and so on. In picture books, a special genre of children’s books, pictures can be regarded as a visual language because meaning can be conveyed from the authors to readers by pictures. However, there are a number of limitations with regard to the cultural connotations implied in the picture-word language system in picture books, and previous studies found there were ste-reotypes of Chinese culture and Chinese people in American picture books. Using a mixed methodology approach, the author selected 78 picture books created by American authors, including Chinese Americans, from an initial sample of 3,000, and subjected them to dis-course analysis to examine the misrepresentations of Chinese culture. The results showed three main types of misrepresentation of Chinese culture in picture books and explored the reasons for this. The misrepresentations included: (1) the full view of Chinese culture is overshadowed by the excessive attention and localization of cultural symbols, such as the Chinese dragon and the Spring Festival; (2) the confusion of Asian cultures in visual language and written language weakens the uniqueness of Chinese culture; and (3) information disorder weakens the authenticity of Chinese culture. The reasons for these misrepresenta-tions are rooted in the attitudes towards multiculturalism in American, including in relation to Chinese Americans. The misinterpretations result in the following issues: (1) Chinese culture is equated with the culture of Chinese Americans; (2) Chinese culture is regarded as static, which leads to serious homogenization; (3) the sightseeing attitude towards Chinese culture results in an excessive focus on cultural symbols. Therefore, the misrepresentations and even stereotypes of Chinese and Chinese culture have been solidified by these books.

• Language: English
• Keywords: American picture books, visual language, multimodal, misrepresentation, Chinese culture
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 26.12.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 197-224
• Numbering: Letn. 17, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179118
• UDC: 930.85(510):821.111(73).09-93:087.5
• ISSN on article: 2350-4269
• DOI: 10.4312/vestnik.17.197-224
• COBISS.SI-ID: 267426819
• Publication date in RUL: 05.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Vestnik za tuje jezike = Journal for foreign languages
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2350-4269
• COBISS.SI-ID: 269600256

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Napačno prikazovanje kitajske kulture v pisnem in vizualnem jeziku ameriških slikanic

Abstract

Jezik je komunikacijski sistem, ki ga tvorijo znaki, simboli, kretnje in podobno. V slikanicah, posebni vrsti otroških knjig, lahko slike obravnavamo kot vizualni jezik, saj avtorji z njihovo pomočjo bralcem posredujejo vsebino. A kulturne konotacije, ki izhajajo iz slikovno-besednega jezikovnega sistema slikanic, so z več vidikov omejene. Dosedanje raziskave so tako opozorile na prisotnost stereotipov o Kitajcih in kitajski kulturi v ameriških slikanicah. Z uporabo mešanega metodološkega pristopa smo iz prvotnega vzorca 3000 slikanic izbrali 78 slikanic, katerih avtorji so Američani oz. Američani kitajskih korenin. S pomočjo diskurzivne analize izbranih del smo proučili primere napačnega prikazovanja kitajske kulture in ugotavljali razloge zanje. Rezultati analize so osvetlili tri glavne vrste napačnega prikazovanja kitajske kulture v slikanicah: (1) celosten pogled na kitajsko kulturo je zastrt zaradi pretirane pozornosti, namenjene izbranim kulturnim simbolom, kot sta kitajski zmaj in pomladni festival; (2) mešanica prvin različnih azijskih kultur v vizualnem in pisnem jeziku spodkopava edinstvenost kitajske kulture; (3) netočnost informacij zmanjšuje pristnost prikaza kitajske kulture. Opisano prikazovanje je posledica ameriškega odnosa do večkulturnosti in do Američanov kitajskih korenin, privede pa do naslednjih težav: (1) kitajska kultura in kultura Američanov kitajskih korenin sta prikazani kot eno; (2) kitajska kultura je prikazana kot statična, kar povzroča grobo homogenizacijo; (3) izletniški odnos do kitajske kulture privede do pretiranega posvečanja kulturnim simbolom. Proučevane slikanice torej utrjujejo napačne predstave in celo stereotipe o Kitajcih in kitajski kulturi.

• Keywords: ameriške slikanice, vizualni jezik, multimodalnost, napačno prikazovanje, kitajska kultura