So Similar, So Different, So Chinese

Analytical Comparisons of the Confucius Institute with its Western Counterparts

Bibliographic Data

ID12349761
AuthorsXin Liu (0000-0001-5207-1685, University of Lancashire, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume43
Issue2
Pages256-275
Publication date2019-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsian Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1035-7823 • E-ISSN: 1467-8403
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10357823.2019.1584602
OpenAlexW2781933285
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited14

This paper adopts the lens of a global “cultural terrain of struggle” in unfolding analytical comparisons of the Confucius Institute with its western counterparts in three layers of their purposes, operating models and provisions. It provides answers to the question of why the Confucius Institute with a similar goal is perceived differently and what gives it unique Chinese features. The hidden barriers are revealed by employing theoretical frameworks of Orientalism, culture hegemony and knowledge-power nexus: while the difference in operating models is surely a major source for setting the Confucius Institute apart from its western counterparts, it is also an oversimplification that only focuses on the visible difference in locations but does not challenge the Orientalist grounds where hidden difference in power positions in this uneven terrain lie at the very core. A few cases of the Confucius Institute closures were also discussed to reveal that the Chinese government presence with both sponsorship and censorship is another critical difference and a major source attracting scepticisms

Cultural hegemony · Epistemology · Government (linguistics · Hegemony · Linguistics · Nexus (standard · Orientalism · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Salient · Skepticism · Sociology · Western culture · Western literature · Chinese history and philosophy · Engineering · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy

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