Los conflictos transnacionales de América Latina en la prensa china (1879-1935): la construcción de la mirada exterior de la élite china en una realidad periférica

Abstract

During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, Latin America experienced several transnational conflicts due to the lack of border delimitation in the colonial era and the intervention of Western powers. At the same time, China became a semi-colony under "the treaty system" imposed by the powers. In this context, founded and inspired by foreign missionaries and promoted by vernacular "reformists", the modern press emerged in China. This, from the beginning, reported on the conflicts and presented the belligerent countries to Chinese readers, forging the elite's knowledge about Latin America, and even about the outside world. _x000D_ Considering this global scenario, this thesis analyzes the social representations instituted by the Chinese press about four transnational conflicts that occurred in Latin America between 1879 and 1935: the Pacific War (1879-1883), the Spanish-American War (1898), the Conflict of Tacna and Arica (1883-1929) and the Chaco War (1932-1935). The common factor of all four disputes was the influence or involvement of Western powers._x000D_ The methodology of the thesis is interdisciplinary. From a historical perspective to understand the connections between Latin American conflicts and China, we use the theory of social representations, the study of discourse and translation. In this way, we carry out both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the 2710 news items published in 116 newspapers, which are complemented by first-hand documentation stored in the archives of China. Based on a diachronic study, the research demonstrates a shared history between China and Latin America, while clarifying the Chinese elite's understanding of the region and its changing political, economic and cultural dynamics._x000D_ As a result, the thesis maintains that the newspapers published in China instituted a set of social representations about the aforementioned events. This creative process took place in two phases. In the first, the Chinese gaze was mediated by Anglophone journalists settled in the country, who became a foreign elite that, with the support of the local workforce, controlled the information and disseminated their worldview, defining the framework for thinking about the States participating in those conflicts. In the second, after the Chinese anti-imperialist movements of the 1920s, the dynamics of the relationship between Latin American conflicts and the Chinese newspapers underwent notable transformations. Chinese nationalist intellectuals began to dominate opinion on events in the region. This shift indicates that the Chinese elite's understanding of Latin America began to evolve toward gradual independence.

Date of Award	4 Jul 2024
Original language	Spanish
Supervisor	Arnau Gonzalez Vilalta (Director)