Social conflicts have become frequent and regular occurances in contemporary China. By examining how these issues are covered, this research explores how the mainstream media cope with the dilemma of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) /Government image representation and pluralist opinion expression in a unitary-ideology society. Based on a news framing approach, this research conducted an exhaustive content analysis of the Three-Rural issues coverage in the 2001-2005 People's Daily. Findings

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... gest that news sources are highly dominated by the CCP/Government, and the CCP/Government has been depicted as the saviors of farmers. We also found that the CCP/Government image is shaped through revealing the Three-Rural Issues, which are mostly settled ones. ‧新聞學研究‧ 第九十一期 2007 年 4 月 ‧124‧ contemporary mainland China, mainstream media, which mainly consist of party medium organs, should try to avoid the state of being over-ideological and pave the way to equal expression.