The image of Peter the Great in web and popular scholarly literature in Chinese and English

The novelty of the study lies in examining the question of how the figure of the Russian Emperor, Peter the Great, is represented in the mass and popular scholarly literature of China and some English-speaking western countries (primarily Great Britain and the USA). The relevance of the study can be seen in the approaching 350th birth anniversary of the tzar, as well as in the growing interest and activities all over the world concerning the issue of perception of striking cultural and historical symbols of some nationalities in the media and media-related information space of other countries. The paper presents a review of the data about Peter the Great drawn from popular books and Internet publications widely available to readers in China and in the English-speaking world. The results of the comparative analysis carried out in the paper reveal both similarities and differences in the ways the figure of Peter the Great is shown and perceived in the East and the West. The authors make an attempt to identify the possible reasons for the main discrepancies, including some peculiarities that can be considered as characterizing the mentality of the Chinese and Western people.