| Summary: | During the last three decades, China has made radical developments both socially and economically. Today, China is the world’s second largest economy and therefore has a significant impact on the global economy. Thus, China has attracted worldwide attention and concern. In Western debate, China is portrayed in various ways; for instance, China is on the one hand described as an opportunity due to the growing economy and a potential market for economic development and trade opportunities. On the other hand, China’s growing economic power is seen as a potential threat to democracy and human rights, as China’s growing power may have influence on Western societies. The Western debate also includes the idea that China is becoming more like West due to the modernization of the Chinese society, but that China “fails” to become like West as a result of China’s authoritarian government. This ambivalent view on China is interesting to study. This thesis explores how China is portrayed in Swedish textbooks aimed at compulsory High School, during the period of 1990’s to the early 2010’s. The result shows that China is portrayed as both becoming like West, but also “failing” to do so. Moreover, China is described as both an opportunity and a threat to Western societies. The result also shows that the idea of China as a potential threat is growing and is given more attention in the last edition of the textbook. In conclusion, this study shows that there is an ambivalence regarding how China is viewed by the West in Swedish textbooks.
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