Policy narratives in the US on China have undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years. This column draws on various kinds of public records and employs text-as-data methods to examine the evolution of the US discourse on China over time and also across different sources of public narrative. Whereas the 19th century demonstrates oscillating trends, a clearer pattern emerges in the latter half of the 20th century, one driven less by fluctuating developments and more by ideological and political patterns. The overall trends in net sentiment suggest an interesting contrast between presidential discourse and other sources, with presidential speech appearing to have been a follower.



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