Chinese Soft Power Research Articles

The transformation of images of Nezha and the changing cultural discourses in Chinese national style animated films from 1979 to 2019

Nezha is a mythological and dynamic character in the Chinese cultural discourse. In traditional China, the mythological character of Nezha represents a cultural integration between Daoism and Buddhism. By applying the Chinese animated films as an approach, this article focuses on exploring the changing cultural discourses of the Chinese national style in post-Maoist cinema through critical analysis of the character of Nezha and the deployment of Daoist philosophy in the construction of Chinese national style from the post-Cultural Revolution context to the post-Socialist context. This article examines two Chinese national-style animated films. The first film is Nezha Naohai (1979) which was produced in 1979, and another animated film is Nezha Zhi Motong Jiangshi (2019) which was produced in contemporary China. Through the film and cultural analysis of Nezha Naohai (1979), this article argues that the Daoist philosophy engages in the cultural discourse of Chinese national style and shapes the narrative, rhetoric, aesthetics and characterisation of Nezha in the post-Cultural Revolution context. The contemporary film Nezha Zhi Montong Jiangshi (2019) reflects an ideological change in the discourse of Chinese soft power states the power of Chinese culture including Daoist philosophy within a modern and scientific paradigm, which promotes a more international Chinese national identity and national style.

Chinese Soft Power, written by Maria Repnikova

Chinese Soft Power, written by Maria Repnikova

A Soft Power Challenge, or an Opportunity? A Big Data Analysis on Chinese Soft Power during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract The Chinese government's rigorous efforts to enhance its soft power have confronted a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to look at how the Chinese soft power changed throughout the pandemic using English news articles that covered China. The research took a data science approach to investigate the contents of articles using machine-learning-based sentiment analysis and Dirichlet-Multinomial Regression (DMR) analysis. The results show a gradual downturn in overall sentiment and that the topics related to political issues made the most significant impact. Nevertheless, the major increase in referencing Chinese social media implied that the sources of Chinese soft power have been diversified throughout the pandemic. In addition, this research has aimed to engage in major debates around soft power theory. Providing a multi-disciplinary approach for analyzing soft power, this research has tackled the difficulties in the quantitative conceptualization of soft power.

Chinese Soft Power in Bangladesh: Debt Trap or Shared Interests?

Power and influence are important concepts in world politics. In this process, every country tries to maximize its interests and influence over other countries. The present world order, soft power, plays an important role in influencing others’ policy-making processes in one’s favor to establish a world order. This paper aims to give an overview of Chinese soft power and find out whether Chinese soft power is creating a debt trap or becoming a shared interest for both Bangladesh and China. Based on secondary sources, the paper has found that although Chinese soft power, especially its growing investment in Bangladesh, is a part of establishing its influence, it is a shared interest rather than a debt trap. Different infrastructure development projects are opportunities for Bangladesh, as that will open the door to economic development if Bangladesh can effectively utilize them, although China’s investment can put Bangladesh’s economy under pressure. However, economic and political instability, fragile institutions, growing corruption, leadership crisis, etc. are more harmful to its economy and can lead to an economic crisis.

Chinese Soft Power

China’s modern power is based on traditional sources: territory size, demographics, economy, and army. An important factor of power is soft power, which is based on culture, foreign policy (including economics), and values. Chinese soft power resources have an old tradition and the possibility of using them is large, and most importantly, in the current international environment, they can use them to gain and maintain an advantage over competitors. The article presents the elements of China’s soft power that determine its advantage over other countries and the weaknesses that may limit its influence. It largely determines the research methods used: statistics and system analysis. The latter method makes it possible to determine the scale of China’s influence and the chances of using them in the 21st century.

The geopolitical future of Chinese soft power policy towards the Arab countries in North Africa

تعتبر دول شمال افريقيا من بين الأقاليم ذات الأهمية الحيوية لاستدامة النهوض والتنمية الصينية. واختارت الصين إستراتيجية القوة الناعمة مقاربة لتعزيز العلاقات بالدول الإفريقية، ومن آلياتها الشراكة الإستراتيجية. وتهدف مقاربة القوة الناعمة الصينية للنشر القيم الصينية من خلال العلاقات الثقافية والدبلوماسية العامة والتعاون الاقتصادي انتهجت الصين سياسة خارجية اتجاه دول شمال افريقيا العربية تبعا وتماشيا لتطورات الحاصلة على الساحة الدولية منطلقة و من أولوياتها و قيمها وكذا أهدافها. وقد اعتمدت العديد من الوسائل والاستراتيجيات التي هيأت تغلغلها في القارة من المساعدات التقنية و المالية للدول الإفريقية وقامت بتعميق علاقاتها معها في مختلف مجالات الحياة بدءا من المجال الاقتصادي والتقني فالمجال السياسي التشاوري الأمني و الذي من المؤكد كانت له أثار و انعكاسات لطرفين الصيني و الإفريقي. إن الحضور المتنامي للصين في دول شمال افريقيا العربية يعكس أولوياتها من الناحية الاقتصادية والسياسية، ومن الواضح أن الأمر يتعلق أولًا بضمان التفوق التجاري والتنمية الاقتصادية للصين، ويتطلب هذا التطور داخليًّا وخارجيًّا تأمين المواد الأولية الاستراتيجية. وثانيًا من الناحية السياسية، رغم أن القارة الإفريقية ذات أهمية صغيرة بالنسبة لأجندة السياسة الخارجية للصين، إلا أنها تلعب دورًا داعمًا إلى حدٍّ كبير في استراتيجيتها الكبرى، وبدلًا من النظر إلى إفريقيا باعتبارها "غاية" أو "أولوية"، يُنظر إليها باعتبارها "تكتيكًا" أو جزءًا من "الأساس" الذي تُبنى عليه طموحات الصين الاستراتيجية الأوسع نطاقًا.

Evaluating China’s Soft Power Discourse: Assumptions, Strategies and Objectives

Both hard and soft power are important in promoting China's dominance. It is possible to argue that China has risen significantly in terms of economic and financial measurement criteria over the last 30 years, developing and increasing its hard power. The nation has substantially increased its soft power at the regional and global levels due to its cultural dimension and, in particular, its efficient foreign policy. The present investigation sought to address the key question: What is the essence of China's soft power, and what principles are behind it? This study emphasises the importance of Confucian culture in understanding the fundamentals of Chinese soft power and demonstrates how China has been able to utilise its efficient tools of economic activity and foreign policy to leverage various opportunities in cultural diplomacy to achieve significant impact around the world, particularly in its soft power areas of focus.

Çin Yumuşak Gücü ve Sağlık Diplomasisi: Covid19 Pandemisi Örneği

Çin devleti 21’inci yüzyıl ile birlikte dünyada küresel düzeyde yatırım projeleri üreten bir ülke seviyesine gelmiştir. Küresel projelerin başarılı olması için proje paydaşlarının projeye ve sürece ikna olması oldukça önemlidir. Uluslararası ilişkiler literatüründe projenin başat aktörüne duyulan cazibe yumuşak güç kavramıyla açıklanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda Çin’in yumuşak gücü, literatürde üzerinde durulan konulardan biridir. Yumuşak gücün araçları oldukça çeşitlidir. Sağlık diplomasisi bunlardan sadece biridir. Çalışmada Çin’in sağlık diplomasisini kullanarak kendi yumuşak gücüne yaptığı katkılar irdelenmiştir. Covid19 pandemisi Çin devletine sağlık diplomasisini sergilemek, diğer devletlere karşı sorumluluğunu göstermek ve yumuşak gücünü artırmak adına fırsatlar sunmuştur. Bu nedenle çalışmada özellikle pandemi sürecinde Çin’in faaliyetleri incelenmiştir. İnceleme sonucunda Çin’in pandemi döneminde diğer devletlere en çok yardım eden ülke olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Faaliyetlerin Çin’in yumuşak gücüne katkısı ise diğer devletlerin Çin sağlık diplomasisine bakış açısıyla anlaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. Diğer ülke siyasilerinin Çin sağlık diplomasisine dair söylemlerinin araştırıldığı çalışmada Çin yumuşak gücünün Covid19 döneminde arttığı sonucuna varılmıştır.

Exploring The Roots of The Chinese Soft Power

This article attempts to explore the roots of the Chinese soft power. For a few decades, Chinese soft power is under the rigorous scrutiny of the western media. The western media is severely critical of the Chinese economic model, authoritarianism, democracy, and Confucius institutes. China promotes its soft power through its civilization, culture, trade, and economics, win-win model, Shared Destiny, and mutual respect. However, the previous scholarship on China has focused more on the rise of China, the power struggle between China and the US, the Chinese economic model, and authoritarian leadership, whereas events that have helped shape Chinese soft power are less explored. Based on the secondary sources of literature on Chinese soft power, this research aims to explore and explain how Chinese soft power has evolved in China.

China’s media strategy towards Israel

ABSTRACT This article examines China’s media strategy and activities towards Israel, underscoring its recent increase in intensity. By way of doing so, the article explores Beijing’s use of journalism and other Israeli media outlets on the one hand, and the employment of direct Chinese soft power tools, from China Radio International (CRI), to the establishment of Chinese institutes in Israel, to public and media activities of Israel-based Chinese diplomats.

When Diaspora Politics Meet Global Ambitions: Diaspora Institutions Amid China's Geopolitical Transformations

Through a case study of China, one of the largest emigration states and a rising global power, this article probes how a homeland state envisions diaspora politics amid geopolitical transformations. Drawing on historical, policy, and interview data, I argue that China's changing positioning toward Chinese emigrants, triggered by the state's geopolitical vicissitudes, has reshaped and repurposed diaspora institutions. I find that since the 2010s, China's diaspora policies have shifted away from soliciting diasporic support for domestic economic growth and national unification and toward liaising externally with migrants to expand Chinese soft power abroad. In consequence, diaspora institutions with more extensive overseas connections and flexible working experiences have taken precedence over formal state agencies specialized in domestic policymaking. This article makes two theoretical contributions to a multilevel understanding of diaspora politics as traversing simultaneously the domestic and global political fields. First, following neo-pluralism, I examine China's diaspora bureaucracy as composed of a diverse set of state entities with distinctive, or even contradictory, interests, orientations, and philosophies. These organizational variations shape diaspora institutions’ different strengths and fluctuating significance in China's shifting geopolitical strategies. Second, by situating emigrants and diaspora institutions in the macrohistorical framework of world politics, this article pushes research on diaspora politics into more profound dialog with world-systems theory. Rather than assuming an asymmetric interdependence between weaker emigration countries and hegemonic immigration countries, I demonstrate how an aspirational homeland state seeks to challenge this established world order and accomplish its geopolitical ascendancy through diaspora re-strategizing and institutional reshuffling.

The modern Chinese geopolitical impact on the international system through the components of soft power

The research deals with the study of the geopolitical effect of Chinese soft power on the international system, and the historical sequence of the development of the concept of geopolitics has been clarified since the end of the nineteenth century until now, as geopolitics witnessed important developments and the purpose was to arrive at presenting additional components of soft power with the effect of geopolitics, namely; Geographical considerations of the state, economic resources and political factors. By getting acquainted with the Chinese philosophy of soft power that was recognized in the research, and showing the extent of its continuous consolidation by the Chinese leadership in harmony with its political values and the culture of its society, which are attributed to the historical culture of Confucius, it was revealed that China was able to build its soft power in areas that included political, economic and social foundations. It played an important role in establishing the principle of peace and international and regional cooperation, and through China's pursuit of its foreign policy to create a safe environment for economic growth, avoiding conflicts and disputes, and opening up to the world.

The Role of Confucius Institute in Shaping China’s National Image in Botswana: Case of CI Students

Abstract The purpose of this article is to examine the role of Confucius Institute in Shaping China’s National Image in Botswana in the case of CI Students. The Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana (CIUB) is employed as a case study which is identified as the most active Chinese soft power instrument in Botswana. The paper uses a qualitative research method to help better understand the benefits and limitations of CIUB in creating China’s positive image in Botswana. Primary data is obtained from questionnaires whilst secondary data is derived from journal papers, thesis, and books. The study is framed by soft power theory to assist in learning how China utilises its soft power to improve its image in Botswana. The analysis revealed that CIUB has been fruitful in promoting Chinese language and culture in Botswana impacting positively on China’s national image. The findings of the study show that CIUB has the potential to clear some negative perceptions about China in Botswana. However, the limitation as indicated by the study is that CIUB does not have wide coverage of the population of Botswana as it targets mostly students. It is suggested that CIUB as a single tool cannot fully address all the concerns affecting China’s image.

Can the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor help Beijing Win Pakistanis’ hearts and minds? Reviewing higher education as an instrument of Chinese soft power in Pakistan

ABSTRACT Announced in 2013 and since then dubbed a game-changer, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a multifaceted project that holds the potential to influence Pakistan’s state and society. This paper examines, in particular, the CPEC’s potential to expand Chinese soft power to win Pakistanis’ hearts and minds. It focuses on what I term the ‘soft end’ of China’s soft power to offer a case study of the country’s use of higher education as a soft power instrument. To demonstrate Beijing’s practices in this regard and shed light on how they are received by the Pakistani government and the public, I draw on selected academic literature triangulated with primary sources such as public opinion polls, media and semi-structured interviews with Pakistani academics and graduates. This case study exposes the non-material aspects of China’s international connectivity and thereby contributes to understanding China’s growing role in South Asia and beyond.

«Мягкая сила» на Западе и на Востоке: проблема эффективности

The article discusses the issue of criteria that allow giving a comparative assessment of the soft power of different states. The founder of the theory of soft power J. Nye proceeded from the fact that the appeal of Western liberal democracy is universal. Within the framework of this interpretation, the assessment of the soft power of any country is essentially an assessment of the cultural and psychological distance between this country and the normative Western models. Meanwhile, China basing on the concept of a powerful cultural state has developed its own alternative to the theories of J. Nye. This article proves the impossibility of a model of soft power suitable for all, because the practices of its application are determined by specific goals and objectives, which can differ very significantly from one state to another. In the light of this approach, the author compares the American and Chinese soft power strategies in terms of their effectiveness and dynamics. In particular, there is a decrease in the attractiveness of the United States and the strengthening of the «soft» influence of China. The author notes that in the modern world a situation of a parallel dominance of states using soft power of various types is possible.

Vaccine diplomacy: nation branding and China’s COVID-19 soft power play

As a global crisis, COVID-19 has altered how nation-states project influence. Public health has risen to the top of every agenda as individuals, societies, and nation-states focus on a common goal. With the advent of COVID-19 vaccines, home-grown national vaccines when distributed all over the world can play an integral role in nation branding as a technique for projecting soft power. This paper applies the theoretical lenses of nation branding and soft power to examine China’s bilateral vaccine diplomacy efforts, specifically the motivations and outcomes. The findings suggest that Chinese vaccines are used not only for image repair and for expanding Beijing’s great power ambitions, but also to reinforce and leverage existing soft power programs, and to capitalize on new economic and geopolitical opportunities. Vaccine diplomacy is a natural extension of Chinese soft power including prior engagement in health diplomacy. Sentiment analyses of social media and international media coverage suggest that where vaccines go, influence may follow. Although international sentiments are not all positive—with concerns over Chinese vaccines’ efficacy, safety, and data availability, Beijing reaped substantial soft power dividends through its ability to project influence in scientific prowess and civic virtue by providing the vaccines as International Public Goods through aid and gifts to countries left behind by the vaccine inequity.

Ecological Civilisation Discourse in Xinhua’s African Newswires: Towards a Greener Agency?

ABSTRACT How does Chinese central media represent Africa through its environmental news? This article argues that the way in which Chinese central media organisations have reported environmental issues across the African continent has altered from a reactive “charm defensive” towards the promotion of a developmental model: “Ecological Civilisation”. Based on a critical discourse analysis of headline African news published by the Xinhua News Agency, this research illustrates the emergence of this new, unexpected turn in Chinese representations of Africa, as well as highlighting the coherencies and tensions within this discourse. Questioning why this change in the emphasis of content has occurred, it investigates explanations at the macro-, mezzo-, and micro-levels of analysis, concluding that the evidence indicates that Xinhua’s content remains closely linked to the soft power goals of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the presence of risk discourses in some reports indicates that the hegemonic discourse is altering. This could potentially be the result of Xinhua’s own commercial objectives in Africa, or of the subjectivities of individual Xinhua journalists seeping into reports. This research provides significant contributions to an understanding of Chinese soft power in Africa, the ecology of Chinese media in Africa, and the development of environmental discourses.

SOFT POWER STRATEGY OF CHINA IN 21ST CENTURY:STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Generally speaking, hard power refers to the coercion and payment through military and economic means, while soft power refers to attraction through cultural diplomacy. This paper aims to analyze how Chinese state policies are being influenced by soft power strategy of government. Further the paper focuses on four areas such as health, culture, Human Rights and Information and technology to analyze Chinese governments soft power strategy globally.The paper confines the concept of the soft powerwhich has followed four consecutive sections analyzing Chinese soft power strategies in 21st century based on government initiative during the spread of COVID 19, usage and policiesregarding television shows and movies, consideration of Human Rights and last of all strategies in controlling of Information and communication technology. The paper concludes discussing some strengths and shortcomings of Chinas soft power and suggests measures that can be taken to improve Chinas soft power practice while West has disclosed the idea of sharp power contesting Chinas authoritarian attitude towards freedom of expression and human rights as well.

Chinese Television in Africa

On the basis of the results of an ongoing research project on the activities of the Chinese media company StarTimes in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, this paper analyses the fluid and fragmentary dimension of the engagements between Chinese media and African publics, while equally emphasizing the power dynamics that underlie them. Focusing on a variety of ethnographic sources, it argues for an approach to the study of Chinese media expansion in Africa able to take into account, simultaneously, the macro-political and macro-economic factors which condition the nature of China–Africa media interactions, the political intentions behind them (as, for example, the Chinese soft power policies and their translation into specific media contents), and the micro dimension of the practices and uses of the media made by the actors (producers and consumers of media) in the field.

Greening the Chinese Leviathan: China’s renewable energy governance as a source of soft power

This article examines China’s rapid and large-scale renewable energy expansion and the challenge it presents to orthodox approaches to sustainable energy diffusion that emphasise soft interventions and stakeholder participation. We show that China eschewed participatory modes of energy governance and pursued a centrally steered, hard interventionist strategy adapted to its non-democratic regime. We observe that China’s approach provides an alternative blueprint for development that is potentially attractive to some audiences. Drawing on recent soft power debates, we argue that China’s hard interventionist mode of governance in the renewables sector has the potential to enhance Chinese soft power both domestically and abroad.