Author: Chao-Chun Shen

Abstract: With the widespread popularity of social media platforms in Taiwan, the methods, actors, and pathways of disseminating the image of mainland China in Taiwanese society have undergone profound changes. The traditional one-way communication model dominated by mainstream media has gradually shifted to a multi-actor interactive communication model involving official accounts, opinion leaders, and ordinary users. This study focuses on three major platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok—and employs theories such as framing theory, national image construction theory, and the "other-shaping vs. self-shaping" perspective. Through methods like content analysis, framing analysis, sentiment analysis, and discourse analysis, it examines content related to mainland China on Taiwanese social media over the past three years. The findings reveal that the image of mainland China on Taiwanese social media is co-constructed by multiple actors, with significant differences in framing strategies among them. Official accounts emphasize frameworks of political unification and developmental achievements; opinion leaders favor cultural resonance and emotional engagement, while ordinary users tend toward lifestyle and entertainment-oriented expressions. The cultural resonance framework is most likely to generate positive interactions, whereas the political unification framework is more prone to spark controversy and polarization. Platform algorithms, user interactions, and short-video mechanisms collectively influence the visibility and acceptance of mainland China's image. This study proposes communication strategies such as actor coordination, framing optimization, pathway innovation, and algorithm adaptation.

Keywords: Mainland China’s image, Taiwanese social media, national image, framing theory, other-construction and self-construction.

Article Info: Received: 14 Apr 2026; Received in revised form: 11 May 2026; Accepted: 15 May 2026; Available online: 20 May 2026

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.113.23