Soft Power and the Worldwide Promotion of Chinese Language Learning

The Confucius Institute Project

By (author) Dr. Jeffrey Gil

Publication date:

11 May 2017

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783098057

‘The Confucius Institute Project’ – consisting of Confucius Institutes and Classrooms, the posting of Chinese language teachers to overseas schools and universities and the Chinese Bridge language competition – represents an attempt by China to extend its influence globally through the use of soft power. Facilitated by a rapidly increasing demand for Chinese language learning, it has established a presence across the globe and made valuable contributions to the learning and teaching of Chinese. However, this has not necessarily led to an increasingly positive view of China, either at a political or a societal level. Through an analysis of official documents, interviews with those involved, a survey of Chinese-language learners and a study of academic and media sources, the author evaluates the aims of the project, and discusses whether these aims are being met.

Tables

Conventions for Chinese Terms and Chinese Names

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Introduction: Language, Culture and China’s Rise in a Globalising World

Chapter 2: Chinese Culture Goes Global: Soft Power and the Promotion of Chinese Language Learning

Chapter 3: Mapping the Confucius Institute Project: High Extensity, Intensity and Velocity

Chapter 4: Evaluating the Confucius Institute Project: Impact at the State-to-State Level

Chapter 5: Evaluating the Confucius Institute Project: Impact at the Society-to-Society Level

Chapter 6: Conclusions and Implications

References

Interviews

Index

Jeffrey Gil’s critical review of China’s attempt to gain further influence on the world’s politico-economic stage through promoting Chinese as a global language is a timely contribution that has wide-ranging implications for policy and practice. Its international perspective in particular marks it out among the emerging body of literature on the proliferation of Confucius Institutes worldwide.