Research on the Typological Presentation of Costume Images of Late Qing Chinese Figures in The Illustrated London News and Their Transformation in Character Design
Abstract
Images of Chinese figures in 19th-century British illustrated news frequently achieve identity recognition through costumes, hairstyles, props and body postures. Focusing on the images of late Qing Chinese figures published inThe Illustrated London Newsfrom 1842 to 1876, this paper selects officials, soldiers, townsfolk and female images as the main research objects. Combined with close reading of images, image-text intertextuality and character design analysis, it discusses how costume symbols transform complex social identities into communicable visual types. The study argues that the costume images in the pictorial are not direct restorations of the late Qing costume system, but character-oriented images reorganized under the influence of news media, British readers' expectations and imperial perspectives. When contemporary character design draws on such materials, it should extract methods from contours, identity hierarchies, movement relationships and media biases, rather than remaining at the collage of "Chinese-style" patterns.
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