Represented schemas from China: In cartoons of the Western discourse after the prevalence of Corona

This article aims to study how China is represented and how it is constructed as Other in cartoons published by the Western discourse during the Corona crisis. In this study, 45 cartoons have been selected and evaluated and analyzed by social semiotics using three Representational, Interpersonal, and Compositional meanings of Kress and Van Leeuwen. To analyze the research results, labeling theory by Edgar and Sedgwick, representation theory Stuart Hall as well as cultural schema theory have been used. By examining cartoons related to China's role in the corona prevalence, the politics of representation in these cartoons can be divided into two general categories: "the abject other; Representation of the yellow peril" and "the power-hungry other; Representation of the red threat." The cartoons in the first category represent China as the potential enemy and abject other that needs to be trained and followed by the West. In contrast, in the cartoons fall into the second category, China is portrayed as a threat to the world in a way that induces the need for control policies and the preservation of Western hegemony. Based on the results of this study, it can be said that the media (here, published cartoons) by reproducing pre-existing stereotypes about China and equating this country with peril and threat, pave the way for people to believe in a negative bias towards China’s issues. This bias can infiltrate intercultural relations through racist actions and even pave the way for possible military confrontations.