Beyond the “China Doll”: a systematic literature review on the discursive construction of Chinese women in international news

Chinese women, as one of the world’s largest, most institutionally complex, and culturally engaged female groups, have a transnational representation that involves not only gender issues within China but also holds considerable relevance for global scholarship on gender, media power, and body politics. However, current research on the international representation, of Chinese women remains scattered and lacks systematic synthesis, making it necessary to conduct a comprehensive literature review on this subject. The review process follows eight methodological steps: identifying research questions, designing the review protocol, searching the literature, screening and evaluating studies, extracting and analyzing data, and finally synthesizing conclusions. The findings indicate that existing research on the representation of Chinese women in international news is mainly concentrated in English-speaking countries, especially the United States, with less attention paid to Europe, Africa, and South America. Comparative approaches are frequently employed in these studies. Furthermore, it is found that international news reports often link Chinese women to national narratives, mainly constructing themes such as “depersonalized and instrumentalized national female images” “modern, independent, and empowered new women” and the “heterogeneous others”. This review provides a comprehensive overview of existing scholarship, identifies gaps in the literature, and establishes a foundation for further inquiry into this topic.

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