The concept of “imagology” and “image science” in Russian and Chinese social and humanitarian sciences

The article examines the features of imagology and image science as independent branches of scientific knowledge. The paper represents the semantic similarities and differences of the concepts of “imagology” and “image science” in Russian and Chinese languages. The notion of imagology came to Russia and China from the West. Image Science is considered as a Russian achievement. In China, Image Science is not an independent branch of knowledge. Imagology as science studies the dynamic natural image of the foreign culture, which has been historically formed. Image Science reveals artificial, deliberately created image of someone or something. Imagological research in China is carried out in four directions: the specific features of the subject of the study, the boundaries of scientific discipline, the study of the image of China in the literature of a foreign country, the investigation of a foreign image in Chinese culture.