Abstract
Rurality is well-known to be over-idealised and romanticised as a result of the rural idyll in mass media. As online media evolves, diverse messages and images disseminated potentially reinforce inhabitants' mindset and influence outsider perceptions. In contrast to tourism websites that adopt only a single perspective, this study uses a web-content mining approach to examine Taiwan's rural image. A total of 3034 articles, including 2398 from online media in Taiwan and 636 from China on WeChat, related to rural Taiwan were collected and analysed. The results demonstrated that Taiwanese rurality as represented in local media is based on collective memories of the past and the harsh face of modern rural living mingled with idealised lifestyle concepts. Differences were also observed between the two local media: One presented a richly diverse rurality, whereas the other featured various topical reports about peasant resistance. Rurality from an outsider perspective evoked a picturesque Taiwan countryside instead of inhabitants' real lives. This study concluded that hybrid ideological influences, including urbancentric and market-oriented standpoints, a rural complex based on rural identity, the tension between Chinese and Western cultures, and the cross-strait relationship between Taiwan and China, influenced the construction of Taiwanese rural images.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 103968 |
| Journal | Tourism Management |
| Volume | 76 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 Feb 1 |
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Keywords
- Hybrid imagery
- Media representation
- Rural Taiwan
- Rural image
- Social construction
- Web-content mining
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Development
- Transportation
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
- Strategy and Management
Cite this
Online social construction of Taiwan's rural image : Comparison between Taiwanese self-representation and Chinese perception. / Sun, Yuting; Liang, Chaoyun; Chang, Chi-Cheng.
In: Tourism Management, Vol. 76, 103968, 01.02.2020.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Online social construction of Taiwan's rural image
T2 - Comparison between Taiwanese self-representation and Chinese perception
AU - Sun, Yuting
AU - Liang, Chaoyun
AU - Chang, Chi-Cheng
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - Rurality is well-known to be over-idealised and romanticised as a result of the rural idyll in mass media. As online media evolves, diverse messages and images disseminated potentially reinforce inhabitants' mindset and influence outsider perceptions. In contrast to tourism websites that adopt only a single perspective, this study uses a web-content mining approach to examine Taiwan's rural image. A total of 3034 articles, including 2398 from online media in Taiwan and 636 from China on WeChat, related to rural Taiwan were collected and analysed. The results demonstrated that Taiwanese rurality as represented in local media is based on collective memories of the past and the harsh face of modern rural living mingled with idealised lifestyle concepts. Differences were also observed between the two local media: One presented a richly diverse rurality, whereas the other featured various topical reports about peasant resistance. Rurality from an outsider perspective evoked a picturesque Taiwan countryside instead of inhabitants' real lives. This study concluded that hybrid ideological influences, including urbancentric and market-oriented standpoints, a rural complex based on rural identity, the tension between Chinese and Western cultures, and the cross-strait relationship between Taiwan and China, influenced the construction of Taiwanese rural images.
AB - Rurality is well-known to be over-idealised and romanticised as a result of the rural idyll in mass media. As online media evolves, diverse messages and images disseminated potentially reinforce inhabitants' mindset and influence outsider perceptions. In contrast to tourism websites that adopt only a single perspective, this study uses a web-content mining approach to examine Taiwan's rural image. A total of 3034 articles, including 2398 from online media in Taiwan and 636 from China on WeChat, related to rural Taiwan were collected and analysed. The results demonstrated that Taiwanese rurality as represented in local media is based on collective memories of the past and the harsh face of modern rural living mingled with idealised lifestyle concepts. Differences were also observed between the two local media: One presented a richly diverse rurality, whereas the other featured various topical reports about peasant resistance. Rurality from an outsider perspective evoked a picturesque Taiwan countryside instead of inhabitants' real lives. This study concluded that hybrid ideological influences, including urbancentric and market-oriented standpoints, a rural complex based on rural identity, the tension between Chinese and Western cultures, and the cross-strait relationship between Taiwan and China, influenced the construction of Taiwanese rural images.
KW - Hybrid imagery
KW - Media representation
KW - Rural Taiwan
KW - Rural image
KW - Social construction
KW - Web-content mining
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tourman.2019.103968
DO - 10.1016/j.tourman.2019.103968
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85071987724
VL - 76
JO - Tourism Management
JF - Tourism Management
SN - 0261-5177
M1 - 103968
ER -