An Analytic Research on the Communication Strategies of Confucianism in Mainland China within the Context of Globalization: A Case Study of the Confucius Institute

Under the trends of cultural globalization, western countries have infiltrated into developing countries by employing their strong economic and cultural force resources and thus pose a serious threat to the China's government. For responding to this cultural-globalization competition, the mainland China's authorities have strived to actively expand Chinese cultural influence for over ten years. The establishment of Confucius Institute is regarded as the key mechanism by which mainland China integrates her cultural and political power and expands her soft regime to the world. Although the legitimacy of some Confucius Institutes has been challenged, the cultural influence of Confucius Institutes should not be denied. Generally, as the establishment of Confucius Institutes has promoted Confucianism culture to the world, the Confucianism Communication has also stepped into the international and global level. This study searches out three difficulties from the perspectives of cultural globalization, including those dilemmas resulting from the dispute of Confucianism subjectivity, the conflict between Chinese and Western culture, and the over rigid situation of communication system in China. By observing the operation of the Confucius Institutes, this paper finds that four communication strategies have been adopted by China government to promote her cultural competitiveness. These strategies contain (1) emphasizing the practicability of Confucian values for maintaining the communicative flexibility to suit local circumstances, (2) improving the effects of Confucianism communication through diverse transmission approaches, (3) promoting the compatibility between the content of Confucian communication and the market demands in order to build China into a cultural power, and (4) decentralizing the power of Confucianism communication by transferring its traditional mode of party-state control. To sum up, the study agrees that the mode of unequal intercultural communication does generate some extent of resistance for spreading the Confucianism to international platform; however, it also provides Confucianism with opportunities to participate in global cross-cultural communication while the diverse operation and autonomy of Confucianism communication have been allowed by Chinese authorities.