scholarly journals Confucius Institutes as Instruments of Soft Power: Comparison with International Rivals

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. Ngamsang ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirirat Ngamsang
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Late Development ◽  
Power Comparison ◽  
British Council ◽  
The World ◽  
Confucius Institutes

The Chinese Confucius Institutes, which have become common around the world and particularly in Asia, have followed the examples of the British Council, Alliance Française and the Goethe Institute. Yet by following the earlier examples, Confucius Institutes have the benefit of late development and can learn from the experiences of earlier approaches. This paper studies and analyses the overseas educations institutions of China, Britain, France and Germany to identify similarities and dissimilarities and then draws conclusions from this. It is shown that Confucius Institutes are a representative of the overseas soft power approach of the Chinese government and have multiple intentions and purposes.

scholarly journals A comparative study of the Confucius Institute in the United Kingdom and the British Council in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-63
Author(s):  
Liexu Cai
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Communication ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Confucius Institute ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
British Council ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Confucius Institutes ◽  
International Comparative

Since the first Confucius Institute was set up by the Chinese government for the promotion of Chinese language and culture overseas in 2004, the development of Confucius Institutes has become exponentially increasing. Currently, there are 29 Confucius Institutes in the United Kingdom among over 500 Confucius Institutes abroad; meanwhile, the activities of the British Council in China also became popular as one of the central paradigms for educational communication between China and the United Kingdom. Although there have been several studies on Confucius Institutes and British Council, respectively, little research exists about them from the international comparative perspective, with regard to both of them being cultural institutes abroad and the establishment of Confucius Institutes benefitting from the United Kingdom’s experience in promoting its national languages and culture. This article aims to discover the general similarities and differences between Confucius Institutes and the British Council in three aspects: the organisation structures and culture diffusion models, the language teaching and learning resources and activities, and the cooperation that the two institutes have with the other organisations.

CCTV's Global Outreach: Examining the Audiences of China's ‘New Voice’ on Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Gorfinkel ◽  
Sandy Joffe ◽  
Cobus Van Staden ◽  
Yu-Shan Wu
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Brand Awareness ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Global Media ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
China Central Television

This scoping article introduces key issues surrounding the globalisation of China Central Television (CCTV), focusing on its African operations, content and reception, specifically in Kenya and South Africa. At a time when the Chinese government is seeking to enhance positive perceptions of China and China–Africa relations, and its associated media outlets are seeking to compete with other major global players like CNN and the BBC, this article takes steps towards understanding the extent to which CCTV may be succeeding in these missions. Some of the challenges identified for CCTV-Africa in our small-scale pilot study include attempting to simultaneously target ‘African’, ‘Western’ and Chinese audience groups, which may detract from its ability to appeal to specific international audiences; competition from other international and local broadcasters who already have a strong spectator base; and a lack of accessibility, awareness and sustained interest in the channel. It calls for more in-depth research into global audiences' reception of CCTV-Africa, and CCTV more generally, in order to track CCTV's brand awareness and assess whether China's global media soft power activities actually have any leverage in enhancing cross-cultural relations and international audiences' perceptions of China in Africa and the world.

China and International Harmony: The Role of Confucius Institutes in Bolstering Beijing's Soft Power

Asian Survey ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 647-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Paradise
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The World ◽  
It Project ◽  
Confucius Institutes

China is setting up Confucius Institutes around the world to spread its language and culture and to increase collaboration with foreign academic institutions. The institutes could increase China's "soft power" and help it project an image of itself as a benign country. Concerns exist about a "Trojan horse" effect.

Rethinking China’s Soft Power

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Houlden ◽  
Heather Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
The World ◽  
Confucius Institutes ◽  
Chinese Popular Culture

AbstractWhat has been dubbed “China’s rise” has been met with trepidation or outright fear. The increasing economic and political power of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is often read as a harbinger of the West’s imminent decline, and as a threat to a Western dominated global order. To match its growing ‘hard’ power, leaders in China have outlined intentions to cultivate the country’s soft power, or its appeal and influence globally. These efforts too have been read in largely negative terms in a body of literature that has sprung up around Chinese soft power. Yet, these works tend to assume negative implications without being grounded in empirical research. The contributors to this issue were tasked with reconsidering China’s soft power in the light of research which attends to the ideas and practices of its mediums – mediums such as the expansion of China’s global media network, the opening of Confucius Institutes around the world, and the increasing presence of Chinese popular culture in global forums. This introduction, in particular, considers some of the lessons that considerations of Chinese soft power can learn from the field of global studies.

China’s Public Diplomacy Goes Political

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ingrid d’Hooghe
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
The World ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road

Summary China’s growing confidence on the world stage under the leadership of President Xi Jinping is reflected in the country’s more active, vocal and, lately, even ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy. It is also clearly visible in China’s public diplomacy approach, where priorities have shifted from advertising Chinese culture as the country’s major source of soft power to promoting China’s models of domestic and global governance. The Chinese government proudly presents policies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and, more recently China’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, as improvements in global governance or sometimes even as Chinese ‘gifts’ to the world. This article argues that under President Xi, the content and form of China’s public diplomacy have changed. China’s public diplomacy has hardened, it is more strongly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and the content of China’s public diplomacy messages have become more political.

scholarly journals Modernization of Confucianism: An Ethnographic Observation of Cultural Promoting Community

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Yu Zhu ◽  
Abdul Razaque Chhachhar
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
New Era ◽  
Chinese Traditional Culture ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethnographic Observation ◽  
The Cold War

Abstract China is becoming one of the super powers in the world and the Chinese government is trying to promote Confucianism, the core philosophy of East Asia to the rest of the world in order to strengthen its soft power. As modernization is becoming the global process since the Cold War, the modernization of Confucianism is as well under process to fit in the new era. This article is based on a case of Confucianism promoting project to study the process and effect of cultural modernization and test how modernization helps the promotion of traditional Chinese culture. Such as, 1. The modernization will trigger voluntary and involuntary changes of the culture. 2. Cultural modernization will create a common language with other culture background people that are helpful in order to better understand Chinese traditional culture. 3. Different cultural background people are more sensitive to their own cultural elements even modernization combines various factors of traditional and modern culture or foreigner and local culture.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document