<b>Kazakhstan Reimagined: Insights into Kazakhstan's Image Among Chinese Internet Users</b>

The image of a country is shaped by a combination of factors, including official representation and public perception. While Kazakhstan is presented as a reliable and important partner of the PRC at the official level, perceptions among the Chinese population may differ. This research aims to analyze Kazakhstan's image beyond the official narrative by studying its portrayal in the PRC's social media, specifically through content analysis of discussions on the popular social network Zhihu. The paper identifies prevailing themes in discussions about Kazakhstan among Chinese audiences and addresses the gap in literature, which was mostly focusing on Kazakhstan image among Western public.一国的国家形象由多重因素共同塑造，涵盖官方对外表述与公众主观认知两大维度。尽管官方层面将哈萨克斯坦（Kazakhstan）视作中华人民共和国（PRC）可靠且重要的合作伙伴，但中国民众的认知或与之存在差异。本研究旨在突破官方叙事框架，通过分析中华人民共和国社交媒体中对哈萨克斯坦的形象呈现，探究其真实国家形象，具体研究方法为对热门社交平台知乎（Zhihu）上的相关讨论开展内容分析。本研究明确了中国受众针对哈萨克斯坦的讨论中占据主流的核心议题，并弥补了现有学术研究的空白——既往相关文献大多聚焦于西方公众视角下的哈萨克斯坦形象。