In the global competition, a favorable national image is of strategic significance for a country to seek and maintain national interests. However, emerging countries, represented by China, whose national images are in the predicament of “being shaped by others”, lack the discourse power in the international speech community. It is a thorny issue for emerging countries to find how to highlight the function of “public diplomacy” to build a favorable national image. Narrative, as a predisposition of human beings, plays a very important socializing and acculturation role and has become one of the most effective strategies commonly adopted in public diplomacy. Yet, there is only a limited number of systematic studies addressing how to build national images through appropriate and effective storytelling. Based on narratological theories, the paper explores the process of national image construction, elaborating the feasibility of the invitation of public diplomacy narrative in this process and its strategic practices. The paper proposes a model of national image construction, concluding that cultural identity, intercultural identity, the comprehensive national power and the derived political and economic relations are important variables that influence national image construction. The discrepancies between an avowed national image and an ascribed one are rooted in differences in cultural identities at home and abroad. The paper points out that adopting narrative in public diplomacy to improve cultural identity, as well as constructing intercultural identity, are ideal ways to build a favorable national image. The strategic practices include advocating the indigenous values that bear universal characteristics, seeking psychic similarities despite cultural differences, promoting cultural elements from the material level to the spiritual level, familiarizing with the rules of foreign communication and maximizing the positive influence of storytelling.