1　Introduction

This paper traces the translation and introduction history of Li Bai in Russia, from V.P. Vasiliev's first introduction in 1880 to the subsequent dissemination by multiple sinologists, then points out that the overseas dissemination of Chinese literature has shifted to the deeper dimensions of cultural image construction and discourse power competition, and clarifies that the study of Li Bai's image holds dual value of innovation in classical literature dissemination and cultural cognition logic. On the basis of reviewing the three existing research perspectives of communication studies, comparative literature, and translation studies, it reveals their limitations of being predominantly qualitative analyses lacking large-scale data support, and finally proposes a research framework of corpus-assisted Discourse-Historical Analysis, taking Russian discourse from the Dow Jones corpus as the object, to explore Russian media's construction strategies of Li Bai's image and cross-cultural communication mechanisms.

2　Research Design

The research design is introduced, including four parts: corpus collection, theoretical basis, research questions, and research framework. For corpus collection, the Dow Jones database was used as the source to retrieve reports on "Li Bai" from Russian mainstream media from 2000 to 2025, and after screening, a corpus containing 124 valid reports and 32,422 characters was constructed. The theoretical basis adopts Discourse-Historical Analysis and corpus-assisted discourse research paradigm, analyzing Li Bai's image from three dimensions: discourse topics, discourse strategies, and discourse context. The research revolves around three questions: the image of Li Bai constructed by Russian media, the discourse strategies employed, and the reflected socio-historical context. The research framework uses the AntConc tool to successively conduct high-frequency word statistical analysis, discourse strategy examination, and socio-historical context discussion.

3　Data Analysis and Research Findings

Based on the Dow Jones corpus, a systematic study of the image of Li Bai constructed by Russian mainstream media was conducted using Discourse-Historical Analysis. The research first conducted word frequency analysis through AntConc software, extracting the top 30 high-frequency content words, and found that these words were interrelated around five core semantic fields: character evaluation, literary accomplishment, poetic style, political career, and drinking and poetry composition, jointly constructing the image of Li Bai. In terms of character evaluation, words such as "poet," "statesman," and "genius" demonstrate Li Bai's lofty status; words in the literary accomplishment semantic field such as "poetry," "verse," and "calligraphy" reflect the media's high attention to his works; words such as "romantic" and "lyrical" construct the image of a deeply emotional and highly romantic poet; words such as "imperial court," "seeking patronage," and "wanderer" reveal the media's multi-dimensional attention to his political fate; and words such as "drink," "wine," and "drunken" present his lifestyle of drinking and composing poetry.

Subsequently, the research conducted concordance analysis with "Ли Бо" as the search term, deeply interpreting the discourse construction of Russian media from a multi-dimensional perspective. In the dimension of character evaluation, the media constructs Li Bai's image as having far-reaching influence in multiple fields including literature, politics, and society through designations such as "great poet," "Immortal Poet," and "outstanding representative of the 'Golden Age' of Chinese poetry," among which the term "Immortal Poet" further endows him with transcendent qualities of divinization. In the dimension of literary accomplishment, expressions such as "Three Perfections," "Yuefu," and "Ci and Fu" demonstrate Li Bai's outstanding ability to master various poetic genres, particularly the allusion of "Three Perfections of the Tang Dynasty" highlighting his supreme status in the Tang literary world that no one could match. In the dimension of poetic style, words such as "simple," "without excessive ornamentation," and "romantic style" jointly construct the image of Li Bai as a romantic poet who does not rely on flowery diction yet is full of poetic charm, passionate and exuberant with magnificent imagination. In the dimension of political career, the media juxtaposes him with the ancient Roman poet Ovid as "banished writers," and through expressions such as "strong desire to enter officialdom," "not preparing for imperial examinations," and "leaving the imperial palace," shapes an image of a mad scholar and recluse who harbors political ideals yet adheres to principles and refuses to bow to power. In the dimension of drinking and poetry composition, expressions such as "drawing inspiration from wine," "indulging in drinking," and "Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup" construct Li Bai's image as "Wine Immortal" who uses wine to enter poetry and drinks freely without restraint, demonstrating his life attitude of stimulating creative inspiration through drinking and maintaining spiritual freedom.

Finally, the research analyzes discourse strategies from three perspectives: nomination strategy, predication strategy, and perspectivization strategy. In terms of nomination strategy, besides standard translations, Russian media widely uses referential vocabulary such as "poet" and "genius," presenting their frequency distribution characteristics through word cloud visualization, thereby constructing Li Bai's identity image.

4　Socio-Historical Context Analysis

This section explores the socio-historical motivations behind Russian mainstream media's positive construction of Li Bai's image. At the political level, the signing of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia in 2001 and subsequent "National Year" activities promoted cultural exchanges; in 2019, bilateral relations were elevated to "China-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for a New Era," with Li Bai's image becoming an effective vehicle for cultural diplomacy. At the historical level, China-Russia cultural exchanges can be traced back to the 13th century, with the rise of Russian sinology in the 18th century; after the founding of New China, Soviet assistance to China promoted cultural interaction, and in the 21st century, Putin's multiple visits to China deepened bilateral relations. In this context, Russian media interprets Li Bai with respectful discourse, both echoing the historical foundation of friendship and consolidating cultural ties, laying a public opinion foundation for strategic cooperation between the two countries.

5　Conclusion

Based on Russian reports from the Dow Jones corpus from 2000 to 2025, this study employs corpus-assisted discourse analysis to examine the construction of Li Bai's image by Russian mainstream media from three aspects: high-frequency content words, concordance lines, and discourse strategies. The research finds that Russian media, through five semantic fields—character evaluation, literary accomplishment, poetic style, political career, and drinking and poetry composition—shaped a multi-faceted image of Li Bai encompassing Immortal Poet, Wine Immortal, literary scholar, recluse, and mad scholar; mainly employing nomination strategy to present his multiple identities, predication strategy for positive evaluative modification, and perspectivization strategy to quote verses and enhance authority. The study provides a Discourse-Historical Analysis path for observing the overseas dissemination of Chinese literature from an "Other" perspective, and has practical significance for promoting international cultural exchanges and building a community with a shared future for mankind.