China Through Foreign Voices: The Multimodal Construction of China in Food Short Videos

With the enhancement of China's comprehensive national strength and the promotion of international Chinese education, an increasing number of foreigners are learning Chinese, pursuing education in China, and sharing their experiences on social media.Such "other" narratives led by foreign creators have become an important folk channel for spreading Chinese stories and constructing China's image, serving as a valuable supplement to official foreign publicity discourse.Based on multimodal interaction theory, this study takes the influential foreign blogger "Chris the Foreigner" on Douyin as a case study.It systematically analyzes modal resources (including images, texts, and sounds) in his short videos, exploring how multimodal symbols collaboratively construct China's image and how the creator attracts audiences and achieves meaning resonance through modal combination strategies.This research aims to provide new perspectives and practical insights for cross-cultural communication and national image construction.