Branding the Dragon: China's Strategy for Crafting a new International Image and a Shared National Identity

Starting from a review on China opening reform and entrance in the international community, the thesis will analyze how China opened its "doors" to the world from Deng's economic reforms until the current "Xi Jinping era", and how the PRC is gradually utilizing the practice of Nation Branding to booster its international profile and its soft power overall. The second Chapter will provide the theoretical framework through which analyze the use of Nation Branding, the theories of I.R. Constructivism, Soft Power, Noopolitik, and Nation Building will shed light in the practice illustrating both how international power dynamics have changed from the end of the Cold War revealed a shift in nations' focus from hard to soft power, and how nations are more and more concerned with their image management both internationally and domestically. Finally, I will address directly China in the third chapter by advancing relevant case studies that show how China in the last decade, and probably for the years to come, it's spending billions of dollars in the attempt of reshaping its image abroad and creating a common national sense of unity and nation among its citizens at home.