The Impacts of Confucius Institutes Project in China's Soft Power Promotion

Autor: TRAN, THUY DUONG, 陳垂洋
Rok vydání: 2018
Druh dokumentu: 學位論文 ; thesis
Popis: 106
Soft power is gradually seen as an important asset for states to accomplish their goals and spread their influence in today’s globalizing world. Since the late 1990s, China has placed significant emphasis on soft power in its foreign policy and international relations. From the Chinese view, the Chinese language is seen as a vital source of soft power, as well as the promotion of learning Chinese language as a method of increasing and spreading China’s soft power. The main way in which China promotes Chinese language learning is through the establishment of Chinese language and culture institutions called Confucius Institutes outside of China. Through the Confucius Institutes, China is building the architecture of a major power, and has succeeded in improving its international influence. Although there is an accumulating number of studies regarding China’s soft power, and some of them do mention or are somehow related to Confucius Institute; for this study the researcher intends to review the Confucius Institute Project and how the Confucius Institute manage to achieve China’s goals and increase its influence in the world of politics. It begins by defining soft power and how this concept is seen by China, then outline the recent scope and extent of the Confucius Institute Project. It argues that China has successfully established Confucius Institutes in a number of countries and regions, but the actual influence and benefits China expect to achieve from this project are currently limited to shaping preferences in language learning and attitudes towards China only. In this paper, the researcher conduct an investigation in Confucius Institute Vietnam to find out what is the contribution of this project to shape China’s external environment. The researcher argued the Confucius Institute in Vietnam does not has much influent on Vietnam society as well as created a good external environment for China’s soft power. This paper concludes that due to insufficiency of cultural content and key concepts which can typify contemporary China, it is hard to see Confucius Institutes as China’s soft power. Keywords: China, Chinese Language Learning, Confucius Institute, Soft power
Databáze: Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations