Music Confucius Institute: Evaluating Its Approach as an Agent for International Chinese Music Dissemination

Abstract

The paper identifies the educational and presentational functions of the Confucius Institute (MCI) at the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM) as its core approaches which mostly influence Chinese cultural dissemination in its host country. The MCI's utilization of the two dissemination approaches aligns with the "receiver-centered" framework introduced by Jiang and Zhang (2009), providing three concurrent strategies-Localization, "Entertainalization" and Regulation (LER)-in order to enhance the dissemination of Chinese culture to the general public. Through detailed analysis of somewhat limited pre-existing research findings and literature, this article makes the claim that the MCI has achieved positive results in its two functional domains, meeting its overseas audience's needs at various levels whilst supporting Chinese cultural dissemination internationally. This article concludes on the prospect that more MCIs are expected to be established around the world in order to satisfy the growing needs of authentic studies in Chinese musical traditions without travelling to China, as well as to support Chinese cultural communication with the rest of the world.