Abstract: Visual newspapers in the late Qing Dynasty is an important perspective to understand the great changes of modern Chinese sports and the legalization of "western sports" in the East. Based on the theories of rhetoric, communication and physical education, this paper tries to study the visual discourse and visual rhetoric in the images in "Dianshizhai Pictorial" (1984-1898) by means of literature study, content analysis and text analysis, and construct the legalization process of western sports in China and its identification. The study found that Dianshizhai Pictorial opened up the way of introducing western sports through naming and news reports. The pictorial firstly constructs the visual picture of western sports through story image narration, marked sports symbols and multiple temporal and spatial expression of image narration. In addition, the pictorial uses three rhetorical images: the appropriation of onlooker image, the requisition of body image and the creation of sports spectacle image to show Western sports as a visual representation of fashionable life and entertainment. In the enlightenment practice of modern national sports concept, visual narration and rhetoric of pictorial plays an important role in the late Qing Dynasty and constructs a unique path of sports visual modernity.

Key words: sports in the late Qing Dynasty, image sports, visual media, visual rhetoric