Confucius Institutes v2 (1)

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CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES AND THE GLOBALIZATION OF CHINA’S SOFT POWER 9China’s Confucius Institutes: Understanding the RelationalStructure & Relational Dynamics of Network Collaborationby R.S. ZaharnaOn the surface, the Confucius Institutes initiative launched by thePeople’s Republic of China seems similar to the cultural diplomacy ofother countries. China appears to be promoting the Chinese languageand culture in an effort to increase its soft power in the internationalarena. Joseph Nye viewed the attractiveness of a country’s culture,political ideals, and policies of a nation as an important soft powerresource that a nation can wield to enhance its appeal or attraction. 1While many countries share the goal of promoting their language andculture, China’s Confucius Institutes (CI) are enjoying a remarkablegrowth rate. Following a pilot program in Tashkent,Uzbekistanin June 2004, the first Confucius Institute opened in Seoul, SouthKorea in November 2004. By late 2005, there were 32 more CI in 23countries. In 2006, a new Confucius Institute was established everyfour days on average. 2 In early 2007, there were 128 CI worldwide.Two years later, in 2009, the number had doubled to 256 institutes in81 countries. At the end of 2013, there were 440 CI in 115 countriesand regions in the world.This dramatic rise of Confucius Institutes has garnered muchattention from public diplomacy scholars and policy makers alike.Their works have highlighted the soft power disconnect betweenperceptions of China’s political ideals and politics and the stellargrowth of the CI initiative. 3 Only a decade old, Confucius Institutesappear poised to surpass or have surpassed long-establishedinstitutes of prominent powers with extensive resources, includingthose of France, Germany, and Britain. In terms of cultural appeal,some have been perplexed at how China has outpaced Japan despitethe wide appeal of Japanese manga, anime, karaoke, and sushi. 4Culturally,China is quite distinct from the non-Asian societies whereCI have flourished. The Western liberal democracies (United Statesand Europe) have the highest concentrations of Institutes. 5 Also,Chinese is not an easy language to learn, nor is it as prevalent asperhaps Spanish is. The challenges CI faced in terms of gaining
10 CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES AND THE GLOBALIZATION OF CHINA’S SOFT POWERaccess, recognition, and surpassing established institutes areformidable.While the raw numbers are impressive, focusing on the numbersas a competitive indicator of cultural diplomacy’s effectivenessmay obscure the valuable lessons and insights that other countriescan glean from China’s CI initiative. 6 The very name of the projectis revealing. Naming the institutes after the Chinese philosopherConfucius (551-479 BC) was originally intended to symbolize thelongevity of the Chinese culture, as well as the longevity envisionedfor the initiative. Confucius also captures the essence of Chineseculture, as it is permeated with Confucian values. 7 At the core ofConfucian ethics are proper human relations; humans are viewedprimarily as relational beings. 8 As this study illustrates, the Chinesephilosopher and the Institutes share most deeply this emphasis oncultivating and maintaining relationships.Relational structures and relational dynamics are the pivotalfeatures of the Confucius Institutes. Unlike most cultural institutesthat are stand-alone, independent entities in a host country, CI arepartnered with a Chinese university, and both are linked to the CIheadquarters in Beijing. This in effect creates a multi-dimensional,multi-layered global network structure. The relational structureis only part of the picture. Equally important are the relationaldynamics. The CI initiative’s many online and offline activities arenot just culturally themed, they also contain powerful elements ofinternal and external relationship-building that lead to collaboration.Understanding the relational dynamics is key to understanding thegrowth, sustainability, and collaborative benefits of the CI.This paper examines the CI initiative as a process model of anetwork collaborative approach to cultural diplomacy. The paperlooks at relational structure and relational dynamics through thelens of the “soft power differential” and network communicationapproach. The first section expands the idea of the soft powerdifferential in public diplomacy to cultural diplomacy. Thesecond section provides a strategic overview of the CI initiative
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