Role of Confucius Institutes in Bolstering Beijings SoftPower

China and International Harmony: The Role of Confucius Institutes in Bolstering Beijing's Soft Power Author(s): James F. Paradise Source: Asian Survey, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 2009), pp. 647-669 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27742666 . Accessed: 06/02/2011 07:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucal. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Asian Survey. http://www.jstor.org CHINA AND INTERNATIONAL HARMONY The Role of Confucius Institutes in Bolstering Beijing s Soft Power James F. Paradise Abstract China is setting up Confucius Institutes around the world to spread its lan guage and culture and to increase collaboration with foreign academic insti tutions. 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. Keywords: Confucius Institute, Hanban, soft power, Chinese language Amid anxiety around the world about China's in creasing economic and military power, the Chinese government is at tempting to project a more favorable image of the country and reassure the world that its intentions are benign. Its approaches include espous ing theories of China's peaceful rise and development;1 boosting military cooperation with other countries through overseas naval visits and joint __-_??_?_ James F. Paradise is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Politi cal Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He would like to thank Richard Baum and an anonymous reviewer for comments on earlier versions of this article. He would also like to thank a program director for the Office of Chinese Language Council Interna tional, current and former directors of a number of Confucius Institutes, and others in the education field whom he interviewed for this article. Email: . 1. The latter expression is currently more in vogue. See Bonnie S. Glaser and Evan S. Medeiros, "The Changing Ecology of Foreign-Policy Making in China: The Ascension and Demise of the Theory of 'Peaceful Rise'," China Quarterly 190 (June 2007), pp. 291-310. Asian Survey, Vol. 49, Issue 4, pp. 647--669, ISSN 0004-4687, electronic ISSN 1533-838X. ? 2009 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permis sion to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: AS.2009.49.4.647. 647 648 ASIAN SURVEY, VOL. XLIX, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2009 exercises;2 and disseminating more information through white papers and websites oriented toward foreign readers.3 These activities are designed to better explain the Chinese point of view and to instill confidence that what China is doing is non-threatening. Increased transparency is another objective. At the same time that the Chinese government is putting out more in formation in English, it is also moving vigorously to provide more oppor tunities for people to study Chinese and to learn about Chinese culture. A principal means to this end is establishing Confucius Institutes. Over the past several years, Confucius Institutes have sprouted in many locations in Asia, Africa, North America, the Middle East, Europe, and Oceania. As of October 2008, a total of 326 Confucius Institutes had been set up in 81 countries and regions under the guidance of the Office of Chinese Language Council International4 (Guojia Hanyu Guoji Tuiguang Lingdao Xiaozu Bangongshi, known by its abbreviation, Hanban). This is a non-profit public organization affiliated with the Ministry of Education that is re sponsible for administering the program. Each institute has its own unique character?some, for example, are focused on business?but all are com mitted to the mission of "promoting Chinese language and culture and supporting local Chinese [language] teaching."5 That China would be setting up Confucius Institutes in the early years of the 21st century is somewhat surprising. Only several decades earlier, during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, Confucius was reviled, seen as an obstacle to social change and a throwback to the past. Now, however, Confucius is back in fashion, useful for the government that needs sym bols to unify the nation and lending a basis for ideas such as the "harmo nious society," which is essentially a Confucian concept. The Confucius Institute project can be seen at one level as an attempt to increase Chinese language learning and an appreciation of Chinese culture, 2. These other measures include inviting foreign countries to observe a People's Liberation Army (PLA) drill as happened during "Warrior 2007" in September 2007. The joint military exercises have been with a number of countries including Russia, India, and France. Exercises of this type could have a confidence-building effect or they could heighten concern as might have been the case in the United States when China and Russia teamed up in August 2007 to carry out joint drills. Chinese naval ships have been to a number of overseas locations, includ ing Pearl Harbor, Guam, Singapore, and India. In November 2007, a PLA ship visited a Japa nese port for the first time ever. 3. White papers have dealt with many topics such as China's political party system, food safety, national defense, space activities, and environmental protection. 4. This information is on the Hanban website, at . 5. Office of the Chinese Language Council International, "Introduction to the 'Confucius Institute' Project," , accessed March 5, 2007. JAMES F. PARADISE 649 but at another level it is part of a broader soft power projection in which China is attempting to win hearts and minds for political purposes. Other ways in which China is raising its cultural profile include broadcasting television programs abroad, staging concerts overseas by Chinese popular singers,6 translating Chinese literature into foreign languages, and spread ing Chinese contemporary art outside of China.7 While some of these activities are probably less the product of deliber ate government action (for example, the government does not seem to be actively promoting the spread of Chinese contemporary art around the world8), other activities appear officially orchestrated. For example, in the realm of overseas television broadcasting, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television gave Chongqing TV in November 2006 the green light to start an international channel.9 Earlier that year the interna tional Chinese channel of government-owned China Central Television (CCTV-4) held a conference to "better coordinate the dissemination of Chinese language content, and content about China into international markets."10 The staging of an exhibition of the Qin Dynasty terracotta army warriors at the British Museum beginning in September 2007 also had Chinese government involvement.11 6. An example is the North American tour of the hugely popular Zhou Huajian, also known as Wakin Chau, that kicked off at the Galen Center at the University of Southern California on November 9, 2007, and also included concerts in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in San Francisco. Although Zhou was born in Hong Kong, it hardly matters as people often misidentify where singers are from, and China is still able to reap cultural dividends. 7. See James F. Paradise, "Impressions of the Contemporary Chinese Art Scene," Asia Pacific Arts, October 19, 2007, . 8. According to Meiqin Wang, assistant professor of Art History at California State Uni versity, Northridge, the Chinese government's attitude toward contemporary art is lukewarm because it is difficult to control and open to different interpretations. However, there has been some support, e.g., at art shows in Europe, as the Chinese government has attempted to bring such art under its regulation and make it more official, she said in a talk at the University of California, Los Angeles, April 2008. 9. CMM Intelligence, 2007 China Media Yearbook & Directory (Hong Kong: CMM Intel ligence [HK], Ltd., 2007), p. 25. 10. Ibid., p. 24. 11. The exhibition was the result of "years of diplomacy" and efforts by China and Britain to improve cultural relations. An agreement paving the way for the exhibition was signed at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and witnessed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who had previously agreed to collaboration between the British Museum and Chinese institutions. The opening ceremony of the exhibition was attended by Chen Kuiyuan, vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Con ference, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. According to a statement from the Chi nese Embassy in the United Kingdom, "Prime Minister Brown expressed his thanks to Chen Kuiyuan and Fu Ying for attending the ceremony and to the Chinese government and relevant departments of the two sides for their endeavors in the preparation of the exhibition." See 650 ASIAN SURVEY, VOL. XLIX, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2009 In spite of the many activities happening on the language and culture fronts in China in recent years, there has been relatively little academic at tention given to them, particularly with regard to the impact that they may be having on China's standing in the world and the way China is perceived by foreign countries. Although a number of newspaper or online articles have appeared and one important book has been published,12 other major writings by China scholars in recent years have had little or nothing to say about China's soft power or its public diplomacy.13 One reason may be that development of China's soft power is still in an early stage. Another reason may be that China lacks some of the crucial elements of soft power14 such as the attractiveness of its political values. The purpose of this article is to understand how the Confucius Insti tutes and other language promotion activities may be helping China promote its goodwill agenda. Among the questions I ask are the follow ing: What are the Confucius Institutes doing? How do they fit into China's "grand strategy," if in fact there is such a strategy? How is soft power viewed in China? How are the Confucius Institutes thought of outside of China? What impact, if any, are they having on China's standing in the world? "Exhibition of First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army Was Formally Launched in the Brit ish Museum," from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, September 4,2007, ; "Terracotta Diplomacy," Guardian, September 15, 2007, ; Rachel Campbell-Johnston, "Terracotta Army Conquers British Museum," Times (London), September 11, 2007, ; and Simon Baker, "Exhibition Marks Cultural Watershed," AOL News, . 12. See Joshua Kurlantzick, Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power Is Transforming the World (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2007). Among the articles that have ap peared are the following: Purnendra Jain and Gerry Groot, "Beijing's 'Soft Power' Offensive," Asia Times Online, May 17, 2006, ; Esther Pan, "China's Soft Power Initiative," Council on Foreign Relations, May 18, 2006, ; Gideon Rachmen, "The Hard Evidence That China's Soft Power Is Working," Financial Times, February 20, 2007; and Howard W. French, "An other Chinese Export Is All the Rage: China's Language," NYTimes.com, January 11, 2006, . 13. Three examples are Avery Goldstein, Rising to the Challenge: China's Grand Strategy and International Security (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005); Bates Gill, Rising Star China's New Security Diplomacy (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2007); and Sujian Guo, ed., China's ' Peaceful Rise' in the 21st Century: Domestic and International Condi tions (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006). 14. These reasons are given by David Shambaugh, "The Rise of China and Asia's New Dynamics," in David Shambaugh, ed., Power Shift: China and Asia's New Dynamics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), p. 2. JAMES F. PARADISE 651 The Confucius Institute Project The Office of the Chinese Language Council International is governed by a group made up of members from state ministries and other organiza tions. These include the State Council, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture. The Confucius Institute Division is one part of Hanban, which also includes an Exami nations Division, focusing on Chinese proficiency tests; a Teaching Qual ity and Evaluation Division, which concerns itself with Chinese language teaching materials; and a Communications Division, which handles inter national cooperation and exchange activities.15 There are three main objectives of the Confucius Institutes, according to a Hanban program director. These are to teach Chinese, to promote cultural exchange, and to facilitate business activity.16 According to the director, Confucius Institute assistance is helping the Chongqing motor cycle industry export motorcycles to Thailand. Requests also come from companies abroad seeking to do business in China.17 "A lot of people want to do business in China. Now there are not enough resources to help. But our people will do their best to get them the information they need," he said in reference to the activities of the Confucius Institute headquarters in Beijing.18 Other activities include sending teachers from China to Con fucius Institutes that need them and preparing and supplying Chinese lan guage teaching materials.19 Cultural events include performances by Chinese art troupes, Chinese song competitions, and celebrations of Chinese holi days, such as the Spring Festival. Confucius Institutes typically are created through a partnership between two academic institutions, one foreign and one Chinese. Hanban provides start-up money for the institutes, which in most cases are physically lo cated on university campuses. Examples of Confucius Institutes operating on the university model are: the Confucius Institute at Japan Sapporo University, a partnership between Sapporo University and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies; the Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, a collaboration between Chulalongkorn Univer sity and Peking University; and the Confucius Institute at Far Eastern 15. The information in this paragraph comes from Hanban's website. See , accessed November 17, 2007; and , accessed November 17, 2007. 16. Interview with Hanban program director, Beijing, China, September 24, 2007. 17. Ibid. When asked about the nature of cooperation in Thailand, the Hanban director said, in an email of November 20, 2007, that it involved the Confucius Institute, connecting business leaders from two sides, which organized a meeting. 18. Ibid. 19. Ibid. 652 ASIAN SURVEY, VOL. XLIX, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2009 National University, a cooperative venture between Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok, Russia, and Heilongjiang University in north eastern China. In some cases, more than two universities may be involved as partners or in the setting up of an institute (for example, the Confucius Institute at Prince of Songkla University in southern Thailand involves cooperation between Guangxi Normal University in Guilin, China; Ritsu meikan University in Kyoto, Japan; and Prince of Songkla University). In some cases the Confucius Institute may include a partner other than a university (for example, at the China Institute in New York). According to Hanban, many inquiries arrive from abroad about setting up Confucius Institutes, and in some cases it has not been able to approve applications.20 At the same time, it is clear that Hanban (or universities in China) have been actively courting institutions, which have not always signed up.21 Much of the legwork on the Chinese side is done by the Chinese universi ties themselves. They hold field trips abroad and negotiate with foreign partners; normally, they are able to select those partners themselves, and "get married" of their own accord, says Hanban. Driving the universities' involvement has been a desire to strengthen contacts with foreign universi ties and organizations as a means to internationalizing themselves. By fos tering academic exchanges, association with a foreign university through a Confucius Institute can bolster educational globalization, which some Chinese universities are aiming for.22 Although all Confucius Institutes have certain commonalities, includ ing their pledge to abide by principles and requirements laid down by Hanban, there is considerable variation among them. The Confucius Institute for Business at the London School of Economics and Political Science, for example, has an "explicit business focus." The Confucius Institute at Waseda University is research-oriented, and the University of California, Los Angeles, Confucius Institute focuses on, among other 20. Ibid. 21. The director of a Confucius Institute in the U.S. told me, concerning the genesis of his institute, that he was approached by a Chinese university, and that "various Chinese have been given the initiative to go out." 22. The desire to upgrade scientific research and institutional capacity was formalized in a program called Project 211. As one organization summarized the project's goals for the government's Ninth Five-Year Plan of 1996-2000, "Top priority will be given to the strength ening of universities to help them approach and reach advanced international standards for the overall quality of teaching, scientific research, and the training of professional manpower, so as to establish their international prestige and