A multimodal approach to attitudes towards Tibet in Chinese language textbooks

Drawing on an examination of Chinese language textbooks for Tibetan ethnic students in the Tibet Autonomous Region of mainland China, this study scrutinises the representation of Tibetan images and the official attitude towards Tibet embedded in the textbooks. Using multimodal discourse analysis (MDA), the paper investigates how government perceptions of Tibet are constructed through the co-deployment of visual and textual semiotic resources in Chinese language textbooks. This study suggests an overall positive attitude towards Tibet shown in the textbooks. However, the references to Tibet or Tibetans are usually situated as topics of the 'past', which indicates a sense of their being uncivilised or backwards. The positive yet stereotyped portrayal of Tibet is in line with national identity construction to ensure a unified nation-state. This study examines both text and image in textbooks in order to understand state ideologies and official attitudes towards a minority group.