Образ Петра Великого в странах Восточной Азии

426 turn their attention to the image of Peter the Great as it is presented on Chinese television, with the analysis of the interpretation of Peter’s image shown in a part of documentary TV-series “ The Rise of the Great Powers” , which was broadcast by the state-run channel CCTV. This series presented Peter I as a tsar-reformer, to some extent, similar to Emperor Meiji from the part about Japan, thus helping Chinese viewers to shape the image of a progressive ruler. According to the creators of the series, Peter I made an outstanding contribution to the rise and flourishing of Russia owing to his policy of reforms and openness to the outer world (”opened a window to Europe”), which resonates with the ideas of the Chinese economic reform and opening-up ( 改革开放 ) implemented in China at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Chapter 4, “Contrastive analysis of the image of Peter the Great in educational, publicistic and net literature of the People’s Republic of China, Great Britain and the USA” (by E.G. Andreeva, E.V. Lankova, D.I. Maiatskii, N.A. Samoylov), gives the results of the contrastive analysis of the ways tsar Peter is portrayed in educational, popular scientific and net literature written in Chinese and English with the aim to reveal regularities and/or patterns in the perception of the figure of Peter I in China compared to some Western countries (the UK and the USA). The contents of some Chinese, American and British school books on history makes it possible to come to a conclusion that there are deep discrepancies in the way the material about Peter the Great and his reforms is recounted, which might be explained by the political and ideological factors as well as by the peculiarities of national mentalities of the countries under examination. An interesting fact is that in British school-books on world history there is virtually no information about Peter the Great and his epoch. The chapters dealing with the history of Russia inform students exclusively with the Soviet period, with the main emphasis put on the Cold war time and the related questions. As for American schools, their world history curricula do include the time of Peter the Great’s ruling. Although the history books used at schools speak of the positive transformations initiated and implemented by Peter I, they mainly draw students’ attention to despotism and cruelty with which he ruled Russia. In contrast, China where for the past 40 years large- scale reforms have been carried out, with dramatic changes happening in all spheres of life, demonstrates great curiosity about the history of reforms conducted in other countries, including Russia of Peter’s times and his personality. In all likelihood, this explains a more objective way used to present the facts about Peter I in Chinese school books which dwell on the achievements of the tsar and their significance for Russia. A prominent The Image of Peter the Great in the Countries of East Asia