The image of Tibet in the Russian linguistic worldview compared to the Chinese one

This study examines the differences in the images of Tibet in the Russian and Chinese linguistic pictures of the world and their causes. Tibet, as a unique cultural, historical, and religious region, occupies a special place in the consciousness of speakers of Russian and Chinese. The work considers key aspects of the formation of the image of Tibet, including its historical heritage, cultural traditions, political status, religious significance, and geopolitical determinants. Particular attention is given to how these factors influence the linguistic representation of Tibet in the two cultures. The analytical perspective of the work is focused on the interdiscursive corpus of sources, including media texts from traditional media, journalistic works, literary texts, and digital communicative practices represented in online discourses, which provides a multifaceted analysis of the verbal representation of the region. This article, relying on contextual analysis methods and comparative research, analyzes the characteristics of the image of Tibet in the two linguistic pictures of the world in various aspects such as history, culture, politics, and religion. The study shows that, although the descriptions of the image of Tibet in the Russian and Chinese linguistic pictures of the world have common features, the comparative analysis reveals significant differences in the images of Tibet in the Russian and Chinese linguistic worldviews, which are mainly determined by different historical backgrounds, cultural traditions, political positions, and religious beliefs of the two countries. This study offers a new perspective on intercultural communication and regional studies and is important for promoting cultural exchange and mutual understanding between China and Russia. This analysis allows us to see how language becomes a tool for constructing images of a specific region, as well as how semantic fields and metaphors contribute to the formation of stable representations of Tibet in the Russian-speaking context.