and Road " initiative. There are three main ethnic
groups in Malaysia: Malay, Chinese and Indian,
and the proportion of Chinese is 23%. Therefore,
Malaysia is the country with the most complete
Chinese language education outside the Chinese
mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
However, due to some educational policies of the
Malaysian government, local Chinese are
constrained by a "Quota System" (Guozhong,
2002: 22-24) in terms of enrollment (admission
to the universities is not entirely based on the
candidate's grades, but rather on the basis of
specific ethnic priorities and then the merits,
Malays have a huge advantage). In addition,
some Chinese who choose to attend independent
secondary schools (not subsidized by the
government, using Mandarin as the medium) are
not recognized as diplomas upon graduation.
Under multiple factors, some local Chinese can
only choose to study overseas.
In 2016, the General Office of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China and
the General Office of the State Council issued the
"Several Opinions on Opening up Education to
the Outside World in the New Era"(Ministry of
Education of the People’s Republic of China,
2016), which clearly stated that quality and
efficiency should be the main focus, and it was
required to optimize the country of origin and
professional layout of international students
studying in China, increase the construction of
brand majors and brand courses, build a
socialized and professional service system for
studying in China, and create the "Study in
China" brand. This marks a new stage in the
development of Chinese education for studying
abroad in China, which is characterized by both
quality and connotation development.
Based on the above, this study intends to explore
the historical changes of Malaysian Chinese
community's "Study in China" in the past 10
years and the brand image of "Study in China"
from the perspectives of Malaysian Chinese.
Literature Review
Research on the image of China in overseas
newspapers and periodicals
The analysis and study of China's image through
overseas newspapers and periodicals will help us
understand China's overseas image and external
propaganda weaknesses, so as to put forward
relevant suggestions and countermeasures.
Therefore, this field has always been an
important place for scholars to work hard.
According to the incomplete statistics from the
author, the current research includes research on
China's national image from different overseas
media perspectives, such as the mainstream
English-language newspapers in India, Chinese
newspapers in Germany and Indonesia, “The
China Press” in the United States, the British
edition of the “Nouvelles D'Europe”, “Eleven
Media” in Myanmar, “Le Monde” in France,
“Lianhe Zaobao” in Singapore, Chinese media in
Africa, Japan, and Malaysia. Based on
quantitative and qualitative research methods,
combined with the theories and practices of
history, journalism, communication, statistics,
international relations and other disciplines,
these studies interpret China's national image in
overseas media, and put forward strategies and
suggestions for China's external image
construction. (Honggang, 2013: 34-35)
Research on brand image of "Study in China"
At present, there is relatively little research on the
brand image of "Study Abroad in China", mainly
focusing on how to build, develop in a
connotative manner, and strengthen the brand.
Cui Bo (Bo, 2022: 44-47) comprehensively and
dynamically analyzed the historical process and
development trend of "Study in China" with a
historical development perspective, which
emphasized that China's study abroad industry
has undergone an important transformation from
"nothing to something, from small to large, from
point to surface" and then "from emphasizing
expansion of scale to focusing on improving
quality and efficiency". International students
studying in China are witnesses to China's
development, and after gaining a deeper
understanding of the real China, they will
become the "civilian diplomats" who tell the
story of China well. Therefore, to satisfy the
needs of the times, the "Study in China" in the
new era should focus on the promotion of the
study in China activities in countries or regions
along the "the Belt and Road", pay attention to
the trend of education informatization, and
accelerate the digital construction of the "Study
in China" management front as well as the
teaching front. Owing to some controversial
events in recent years regarding "Study in
China", Qu Qi (Qi, 2020: 54-59) proposed that
the assimilation management of Chinese and
foreign students should be strengthened, the
application qualifications of international
students should be strictly enforced. In the
context of promoting the opening up of education
to the outside world in the new era, create key
and high-quality projects for studying in China,
take multiple measures to promote the