Demystifying the dynamics of China's overseas image with a large-scale social media dataset

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a noticeable decline in global attitudes toward China. It remains unclear whether this negative shift is a temporary phenomenon linked to the pandemic or a reflection of a more enduring trend in China's overseas image. By analyzing approximately 1.7 billion representative English-language tweets worldwide from 2012 to 2018, this research investigates popular attitudes toward China using word embedding models. The findings indicate a general decline in global attitudes toward China, particularly in relation to its political system. At the same time, however, China has increasingly been recognized as an economic powerhouse, a rising global power, and a more eco-friendly society.