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Confucius Institutes and the Rise of China

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Abstract

Since 2004 China has set up over 700 Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms around the world to promote its language and culture and thereby to shape its image. Despite this impressive number Confucius Institutes are surprisingly understudied, especially in terms of their actual structure, operation mode and activities. This paper uses German Confucius Institutes as a case study to bridge this gap. It first discusses the concepts of public and cultural diplomacy and culture institutes as a conceptual tool to analyze Confucius Institutes. It then turns to the case study to provide empirical data to better understand this instrument of China’s image shaping efforts. It argues that Confucius Institutes are connected to the rise of China and a unique member of the family of national culture institutes.

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Notes

  1. Next to Confucius Institutes there are also so called Confucius Classrooms which have the same goals and aims, but differ slightly in structural terms. According to Starr they are aimed at secondary education rather than universities [59:71]. The case study in Germany, however, shows that Classrooms can be set up between Chinese partners and local schools, friendship associations or other China related cultural institutions. Germany has three Confucius Classrooms and according to one director Classrooms are not limited to schools. As long as the international partner is not a university the institution becomes a Classroom while some have connections to a Confucius Institute and others do not (I5).

  2. For a critical overview see for example Kemming [117].

  3. As a growing body of literature deals with Chinese soft power (see, for example, 10, 54–56, 118–126), this paper will not engage in this discussion. However, for the sake of completeness, it is noted that “public diplomacy is one of soft power’s key instruments” [20:3], or the tool through which soft power is wielded [127:xiii].

  4. In the Chinese language the term propaganda (xuanchuan) does not have this sinister connotation.

  5. Mitchell refers to the United States Information Agency (USIA) which existed from 1953 to 1999.

  6. Various works dealing with China’s international relations also mention Confucius Institute (e.g. 128, 129) even though sometimes they are mistakenly referred to as “Confucian Institutes [130, 131].

  7. The interviews (I1-I9) with managers or directors of eight German Confucius Institutes and one university without a Confucius Institute were conducted between September and December 2009 during a research stay at the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies, Hamburg. Institutes and interviewees remain anonymous and I only quote by name from material that is already in the public domain.

  8. Other authors are a bit more reserved and note that China started to develop the idea to set up institutions to promote Chinese language teaching overseas [82, 83, 132].

  9. Ministries and commissions involved include for example the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, or the State Press and Publication Administration and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

  10. The Vice Chairs in early 2011 included: Yuan Guiren: Minister, Ministry of Education; Li Haifeng: Director, Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council; Xiang Zhaolun: Deputy Secretary-General, State Council; Zhang Shaochun: Vice Minister, Ministry of Finance.

  11. There is no final confirmation because the interview partners at both institutes were not personally involved in the planning and setting up of the Confucius Institutes there.

  12. Due to the shifting exchange rate from US Dollar to Euro this sum could easily shrink to only 79.000 Euro (I5) or only even 67.000 Euro (I7).

  13. The separation between culture and language follows the practical understanding in the context of the course offerings at Confucius Institutes and not so much academic discussions. A proper definition of culture would go way beyond the scope of this paper as it is “perhaps impossible to define culture to everyone’s satisfaction“[133:422]. Beside other aspects, language is one of the most important aspects of culture, because “language is the principal means whereby we conduct our social lives. When it is used in the contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways“[134:3]. Here it should be added that language obviously is a precondition to promote a country’s culture abroad.

  14. In this context it is worth mentioning that there is no tradition to pay for education in Germany. There were intense discussion about tuition fees in Germany and some Länder introduced those fees. However, currently only a handful of Länder charge a maximum of 500 Euro per term.

  15. A senior legal counsel, Matas represented Lai Changxing in his extradition proceedings and co-authored “Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China”

  16. A writer and essayist, Xu, according to her own website, “feels [her]self called upon to actively resist against the terror regime” because according to her, “Red China is a threat for the world” (http://xu-pei.lila-lotus.de/, access 24.2.2010).

  17. Quoted in The Epoch Times, a newspaper founded by practitioners of Falun Gong.

  18. All German Confucius Institute staff at the managing level has academic and working experience with China. Most of them are Sinologists, be it as former students or lectures. The few who did not study Sinology have working relations with China, mostly in the academic field.

  19. Tibet Initiative Deutschland e.V. describes itself as “the largest and oldest political Tibet Support Group in Germany.” It tries to “influence the People’s Republic of China with all nonviolent means to put an end to arbitrariness, torture, political and cultural oppression in Tibet.” (http://www.tibet-initiative.de/eng/tid/about_us/, access March 3rd 2010.)

  20. This was confirmed by one interviewee via e-mail after the talk with the author.

  21. In the meantime a joint website for all German institutes was set up: http://www.konfuzius-institute.de/index.php

  22. Duan mentions two Confucius Institutes which are involved in cooperation with the business world: The Confucius Institute in Poitiers, France, is teaching French staff of the Chinese communications company ZTE Chinese and the Confucius Institute in Thailand, with its partner Southwest University, is helping the company Chongqing Motorbike to enter the Thai market [104:51].

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Acknowledgment

The author thanks all the interviewees and acknowledges useful comments from Terry Flew, Karsten Giese, Henry Li, Wang Dandan, and the anonymous reviewers. He also thanks the Asian Studies Association of Australia for its financial support for participating and presenting parts of this research to the 18th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in Adelaide, 5–8 July 2010.

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  1. Media and Communication, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Precinct, Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove, QLD, 4059, Australia

    Falk Hartig

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Hartig, F. Confucius Institutes and the Rise of China. J OF CHIN POLIT SCI 17, 53–76 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-011-9178-7

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