The purpose of Confucius Institutes.

The new network of institutions appeared on the Higher education map last decade. As of 2014, there were over 480 Confucius Institutes teaching Chinese language and culture in dozens of countries on six continents.  Moreover, Hanban (the Chinese Ministry of education) aims to establish 1,000 Confucius Institutes by 2020 with the goal to introduce Chinese language and culture to the world. But there is a criticism about actual purpose of Confucius Institutes (CIs) which is seen in projection of soft power by China government. So, what are these institutions? What is the purpose to establish them? Are CIs belonging to philanthropic sector?

Despite the declared China’s aim which is to be truly understood by the rest of the world the global community concerns with possible political purposes that China might pursue by establishing CIs worldwide. Nye’s term of soft power “refers to the ability to change what others do or shape what they want” (as cited in Yang, p. 235). It means that through teaching of Chinese language and culture for free the China actually exercises propaganda of its values. The scholars consider the CIs as the most thoroughly planned soft power China’s policy so far (Yang, 2010).

Also the question about whether the CIs belong to philanthropic sector has to be answered while analyzing the CIs. The visible purposes presented by Yang 2010 in his article could not be matched easily to those provided by Balan (2009). CIs do not seek to find the merits either on individual level, neither on institutional level. Also it seems to be that CIs do not pursue the goal to contribute to the national development of hosting countries or to increase the social justice there. So CIs are not fully suited to the image of philanthropic organizations but they are some sort of response to the increased influence of developed countries. 

Moreover, I share the common belief that China does nothing without any strong political purposes.  The great Chinese philosopher Confucius said ‘If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of 10 years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach people’.  I think that this policy of soft power dissimilation through building CIs’ network worldwide has a long standing strategy of projection of soft power inside, that actually illustrate the proper and careful analysis and decision making process.

References

Yang, R. (2010). Soft power and higher education: an examination of China’s Confucius Institutes, Globalisation, Societies and Education, 8(2), 235-245.

Balan, J. (2009). American foundations and higher education in developing countries: Shifting rationales and strategies for support. In A. Maldonado-Maldonado & R. M. Bassett (Eds.), International organizations and higher education policy: Thinking globally, acting locally? (pp. 231-250). New York: Taylor and Francis.