Ambiguous States: Confucius Institutes and Chinese Soft Power in the U.S. Classroom

Abstract

This article offers an ethnographic examination of representations and perceptions of the Chinese state as manifest through Confucius Institutes in the United States. Confucius Institutes are Chinese language and culture programs that are funded and staffed by the Chinese government. Confucius Institutes are a constituent part of China's soft power policy efforts to communicate to the world that its cultural tradition stresses harmony and that its rise to power will be a peaceful and globally responsible process. Through analyzing parent and student perceptions of “the state” through their experiences with Confucius Institute teachers and pedagogical materials, it is possible to contextualize and problematize the means through which Cold War rhetoric is recast and recirculated in the contemporary “post‐Cold War” historical moment, thus interrogating assumptions about essentialized Chinese difference. This research reveals how understandings of a newly empowered China cast the nation as a threat to U.S. economic and political power in a manner that negates China's soft power efforts, dislocating policy intention and effect. At the same time, this research suggests that as Confucius Institute teachers distance themselves from perceptions of an authoritarian state, parents and students begin to disaggregate perceptions of a monolithic Chinese state in a manner that reinforces the state's soft power goals.

Chino Tico Routes and Repertoires: Cultivating Chineseness and Entrepreneurism for a New Era of Trans‐Pacific Relations

“…And while the Chinese state has been critiqued by academe for its cultural diplomacy campaigns vis‐à‐vis Confucius Institutes in U.S. universities, the effects of Chinese state diplomacy are generally evaluated in terms of their perceived desire to promote propaganda about China and to stifle academic freedoms . What is often overlooked are the shifting forms of modernity and development China might represent for a new generation of subjects, especially in the Global South, and how state efforts to subsidize university studies and cultural familiarity with China play into a global demand for Chineseness as part of a new form of global cultural capital for middle‐class white Americans as well as diasporic Chinese (Hubbert ).…”

“…See Sahlins (); cf. Hubbert (). This kind of cultural and professional formation among Chino Ticos is more akin to Chinese state efforts to subsidize the education of its non‐Chinese, African allies during the 1960s, with China as the site of modernity from which other nations of the South might seek their worldliness (Hubbert ; Zhan ).…”

Chinese Cultural Diplomacy: instruments in China’s strategy for international insertion in the 21st Century

“…Even if the teaching methods and learning material were meant to dispel the image of China as a threat to global well-being, they were received with predefined notions of China, which include human rights violations, authoritarianism, repression and citizens without free will. Hubbert (2014) highlights that because China is imagined as politically repressive and antagonistic to U.S. interests, the purposely apolitical nature of the teaching material and practices in class end up undermining Hanban's efforts to present an apolitical version of China. The apolitical nature of the material and the classes was seen as censorship by a dictatorial state.…”

“…However, Hubbert (2014) has stated that, despite Hanban's efforts to present an exclusively historical and apolitical content, the day to day affairs were not always predictable. When questioned on sensitive topics such as Tibet and Tiananmen, some teachers interacted with students and showed them their perspectives; and, in order to bypass sensitive issues and find common interest points with students, they focused on ordinary issues, such as visits to shopping malls.…”

Chinese Heritage in the making: experiences, negotiations and contestations

“…Joshua Kurlantzick (2008) argues that soft power has become a key diplomatic strategy for the People's Republic of China. The Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo, and spread of Confucius Institutes worldwide all represent China's efforts to raise its profile internationally (Hubbert 2014).…”