China's Cultural Diplomacy A Great Leap Outward?

This book examines China’s contemporary global cultural footprints through its recent development of cultural diplomacy.The volume presents an alternative analytical framework to examine China’s cultural diplomacy, which goes beyond the Western-defined concept of ‘soft power’ that prevails in the current literature. This new approach constructs a three-dimensional framework on Orientalism, cultural hegemony and nationalism to decipher the multiple contexts, which China inhabits historically, internationally and domestically. The book presents multiple case studies of the Confucius Institute, and compares the global programme located around the world with its Western counterparts, and also with other Chinese government-sponsored endeavours and non-government-initiated programmes. The author aims to solve the puzzle of why China’s efforts in cultural diplomacy are perceived differently around the world and helps to outline the distinctive features of China’s cultural diplomacy.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, Chinese politics, foreign policy and International Relations in general.

Introduction1. Look Beyond and Beneath the Soft Power2. The Vehicle and Driver of China’s Cultural Diplomacy: The Two ‘Wheels’ and Two Models3. Charting the Global Cultural Terrain of Struggle for China’s Confucius Institutes4. So Similar, So Different, So Chinese: Analytical Comparisons of the Confucius Institute with Its Western Counterparts 5. The Last Three Feet: Where Citizen Diplomacy Can Dissolve the Perception of Chinese Sharp Power 6. Cultural Diplomacy with Chinese CharacteristicsConclusion

Xin Liu is a Senior Lecturer and Chinese Course Leader at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.