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This thesis analyses China's national identity construction and its foreign policy implications especially towards Japan and the United States during the Hu Jintao period 2002-2012. The vast literature on China's rise takes “rising nationalism” in China as one of the key indicators of increased likelihood for aggressive behaviour in the future. This work problematizes some of the simplified assumptions made in this literature by emphasising the domestic context from which foreign policies rise. I argue that culture specific values deriving from national identities shape attitude structures and affect the whole thinking and conceptualisation related to foreign policy with wide-ranging consequences. Thus, in this research national identity is operationalised through values and attitudes deriving from it. With empirical evidence, I show in my thesis that most things discussed as "nationalism" in China studies literature can be analytically separated into at least two components, each with different foreign policy relevant correlates. Analysing two sets of survey material with statistical methods I show that the type of national attachment in China constrains foreign policy preferences in a different way than often assumed in the literature: "patriots" support an internationalist stance in contrast to "nationalists" who favour more assertive behaviour towards Japan and the US as well as generally protectionist economic policies. In addition to analysing the associations between core values and foreign policy preferences, I also provide other examples of cultural factors shaping Chinese foreign policy context including the role of historical legacies and their political use, and the role of the media in the formation of foreign threat perceptions and foreign policy preferences. The need to better understand these national identity dynamics is emphasised because of the ongoing pluralisation of Chinese foreign policy establishment, which gives more space to domestic input from various levels of society.