Confucius Institute
Encyclopedia
Confucius Institutes are non-profit public institutions that aim to promote Chinese language
and culture
, support local Chinese teaching internationally, as well as facilitating cultural exchanges. They are sometimes compared to language and culture promotion organizations such as France's Alliance Française
and Germany's Goethe-Institut
. Unlike these organizations, however, Confucius Institutes operate within established universities, colleges, and secondary schools around the world, providing funding, teachers and educational materials. This has raised concerns over their influence on academic freedom and the possibility of industrial espionage. Confucius Institute (CI) headquarters are located in Beijing
. The program was started in 2004 and is financed by the Office of Chinese Language Council International
(colloquially, Hanban (汉办)), a non-profit organization affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
. The institutes operate in co-operation with local affiliate colleges and universities around the world. The related Confucius Classroom program partners with local secondary schools or school districts to provide teachers and instructional materials.
, Uzbekistan
, in June 2004, the first Confucius Institute opened on November 21, 2004 in Seoul
, South Korea
. Hundreds more have since opened in dozens of countries around the world with the highest concentration of Institutes in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. In April 2007 the first research-based Confucius Institute opened at Waseda University
, in Japan. In partnership with Beijing University the program promotes the research activities of graduate students studying China. As of October 2010, there were 322 Confucius Institutes and 337 Confucius Classrooms in 94 countries and regions. The Ministry of Education estimates 100 million people oversees may be learning Chinese by 2010 and the program is continuing rapid expansion to keep pace. HanBan
aims to establish 1,000 Confucius Institutes by 2020. Chinese state media suggests that the quick expansion of the institutes testifies to the irresistible influence of China in a world "begging for the opening of Confucius Institutes," but according to Anne-Marie Brady, a scholar of Chinese propaganda, many CIs remain mostly empty shells.
(551-479 BCE) is the namesake for the Institutes. Communist leaders throughout the 20th century have criticized and denounced the philosopher as the personification of China's "feudal" traditions, with anti-Confucianism ranging from the 1912 New Culture Movement
to the 1973 Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign during the Cultural Revolution
. In recent decades, interest in pre-modern Chinese culture has grown in the People's Republic of China, and Confucius in particular has seen a resurgence in popularity. Abroad Confucius is a universally recognizable symbol of Chinese Culture, free of the controversy surrounding other such prominent Chinese figures such as Mao Zedong
.
"Confucius Institute" is a trademarked brand name
. Chen Jinyu, Vice-Chairperson of the CI Headquarters, explained, "With regards to the operation of Confucian Institutes, brand name means quality; brand name means returns. Those who enjoy more brand names will enjoy higher popularity, reputation, more social influence, and will therefore be able to generate more support from local communities." A 2011 crackdown protected "Confucius Institute" from preregistration infringement in Costa Rica.
CIs develop Chinese language courses, train teachers, hold the HSK
Examination (Chinese proficiency test), and provide information about contemporary China. The director of the CI program, Xu Lin, says CIs were started to cater to the sudden uptick in interest in Chinese language around the world; they also provide Chinese language teaching staff from the Mainland. As of 2011 there were 200 such teachers working in the United States.
The project also has the goal of improving China's image abroad and assuaging concerns of a "China threat" in the context of the country's increasingly powerful economy and military Li Changchun
, the 5th-highest ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee
, was quoted in The Economist
saying that the Confucius Institutes were “an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up”—a statement that has been seized upon by critics as evidence of a politicized mission. Many foreign scholars have characterized the CI program as an exercise in soft power
, expanding China's economic, cultural, and diplomatic reach through the promotion of Chinese language and culture, while others have suggested a possible role in intelligence collection.
Scholars of China's propaganda system see CIs in the context of the Party-State's modernization of its propaganda apparatus. Other initiatives include Chinese contemporary art exhibitions, television programs, concerts by popular singers, translations of Chinese literature, and the expansion of state-run news channels such as Xinhua and CCTV.
officials. The current chair of Hanban is Politburo member Liu Yandong
, whose former postings include the head of the United Front Work Department
.
The Chinese Government shares the burden of funding Confucius Institutes with host universities, and takes a hands-off approach to management. The Institutes function independently within the guidelines established by Hanban and the Confucius Institute headquarters. Each Institute is responsible for drawing up and managing their own budget which is subject to approval by the headquarters. Confucius Institute headquarters provides various restrictions on how their funds may be used including earmarking funds for specific purposes. Institutes in the United States are generally provided $100,000 annually from Hanban, with the local university required to match funding.
In addition to their local partner university Confucius Institutes operate in co-operation with a Chinese partner university. Many Institutes are governed by a board which is composed of several members from the Chinese partner school and the remainder of the members are affiliated with the local partner university. At most Institutes the director is appointed by the local partner university.
, University of Manitoba
, Stockholm University
, University of Chicago
and many others. Underlying such opposition, mostly by professors, is a concern that a Confucius Institute would interfere with academic freedom and be able to pressure the university to censor speech on topics the Communist Party of China
objects to. An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education
writes that here is little evidence of meddling from China although the same article did go on to say the Institutes were "distinct in the degree to which they were financed and managed by a foreign government." After interviewing China scholars, journalists and CI directors, a writer for The Diplomat
also found little support for the concern that CIs would serve as propaganda vehicles, though some of her sources did note that they would face constraints in their curriculum on matters such as Tibet and human rights.
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and culture
Culture of China
Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces...
, support local Chinese teaching internationally, as well as facilitating cultural exchanges. They are sometimes compared to language and culture promotion organizations such as France's Alliance Française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
and Germany's Goethe-Institut
Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
. Unlike these organizations, however, Confucius Institutes operate within established universities, colleges, and secondary schools around the world, providing funding, teachers and educational materials. This has raised concerns over their influence on academic freedom and the possibility of industrial espionage. Confucius Institute (CI) headquarters are located in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. The program was started in 2004 and is financed by the Office of Chinese Language Council International
HanBan
Hanban is the colloquial abbreviation for the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.- Administration :It is governed by the Office of Chinese Language Council International , a non-government and non-profit organization affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the...
(colloquially, Hanban (汉办)), a non-profit organization affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China , formerly Ministry of Education, Central People's Government from 1949 to 1954, State Education Commission from 1985 to 1998, is headquartered in Beijing. It is the agency of the State Council which regulates all aspects of the...
. The institutes operate in co-operation with local affiliate colleges and universities around the world. The related Confucius Classroom program partners with local secondary schools or school districts to provide teachers and instructional materials.
History
After establishing a pilot institute in TashkentTashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, in June 2004, the first Confucius Institute opened on November 21, 2004 in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. Hundreds more have since opened in dozens of countries around the world with the highest concentration of Institutes in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. In April 2007 the first research-based Confucius Institute opened at Waseda University
Waseda University
, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
, in Japan. In partnership with Beijing University the program promotes the research activities of graduate students studying China. As of October 2010, there were 322 Confucius Institutes and 337 Confucius Classrooms in 94 countries and regions. The Ministry of Education estimates 100 million people oversees may be learning Chinese by 2010 and the program is continuing rapid expansion to keep pace. HanBan
HanBan
Hanban is the colloquial abbreviation for the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.- Administration :It is governed by the Office of Chinese Language Council International , a non-government and non-profit organization affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the...
aims to establish 1,000 Confucius Institutes by 2020. Chinese state media suggests that the quick expansion of the institutes testifies to the irresistible influence of China in a world "begging for the opening of Confucius Institutes," but according to Anne-Marie Brady, a scholar of Chinese propaganda, many CIs remain mostly empty shells.
Name
The well-known Chinese philosopher, ConfuciusConfucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
(551-479 BCE) is the namesake for the Institutes. Communist leaders throughout the 20th century have criticized and denounced the philosopher as the personification of China's "feudal" traditions, with anti-Confucianism ranging from the 1912 New Culture Movement
New Culture Movement
The New Culture Movement of the mid 1910s and 1920s sprang from the disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture following the failure of the Chinese Republic, founded in 1912 to address China’s problems. Scholars like Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Hu Shi, had...
to the 1973 Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
. In recent decades, interest in pre-modern Chinese culture has grown in the People's Republic of China, and Confucius in particular has seen a resurgence in popularity. Abroad Confucius is a universally recognizable symbol of Chinese Culture, free of the controversy surrounding other such prominent Chinese figures such as Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
.
"Confucius Institute" is a trademarked brand name
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
. Chen Jinyu, Vice-Chairperson of the CI Headquarters, explained, "With regards to the operation of Confucian Institutes, brand name means quality; brand name means returns. Those who enjoy more brand names will enjoy higher popularity, reputation, more social influence, and will therefore be able to generate more support from local communities." A 2011 crackdown protected "Confucius Institute" from preregistration infringement in Costa Rica.
Purpose
The proliferation of Confucius Institutes around the world has multiple purposes: the promotion and teaching of Chinese culture and language abroad, the encouraging of trade tries, and the extension of the Chinese Party-State's campaign of "soft power" into the educational sphere in foreign countries.CIs develop Chinese language courses, train teachers, hold the HSK
HSK
HSK may refer to:*The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi , a standardized test of Mandarin Chinese*Horrendous Space Kablooie, a Calvin and Hobbes reference to the Big Bang, a figure skating club in Finland*Auxiliary cruiser or HSK, a German cruiser ship...
Examination (Chinese proficiency test), and provide information about contemporary China. The director of the CI program, Xu Lin, says CIs were started to cater to the sudden uptick in interest in Chinese language around the world; they also provide Chinese language teaching staff from the Mainland. As of 2011 there were 200 such teachers working in the United States.
The project also has the goal of improving China's image abroad and assuaging concerns of a "China threat" in the context of the country's increasingly powerful economy and military Li Changchun
Li Changchun
Li Changchun is the Propaganda chief of the Communist Party of China. He is the 5th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, China's de facto top power organ, and has been a member since 2002...
, the 5th-highest ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee
Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China
The Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Communist Party of China, whose membership varies between 5 and 9 people. The inner workings of the PSC are not well known, although it is believed that decisions of the PSC are...
, was quoted in The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
saying that the Confucius Institutes were “an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up”—a statement that has been seized upon by critics as evidence of a politicized mission. Many foreign scholars have characterized the CI program as an exercise in soft power
Soft power
Soft power is the ability to obtain what one wants through co-option and attraction. It can be contrasted with 'hard power', that is the use of coercion and payment...
, expanding China's economic, cultural, and diplomatic reach through the promotion of Chinese language and culture, while others have suggested a possible role in intelligence collection.
Scholars of China's propaganda system see CIs in the context of the Party-State's modernization of its propaganda apparatus. Other initiatives include Chinese contemporary art exhibitions, television programs, concerts by popular singers, translations of Chinese literature, and the expansion of state-run news channels such as Xinhua and CCTV.
Organization
Hanban states on its website that it is a non-government organization, though it is connected with the Ministry of Education and has close ties to a number of senior Communist PartyCommunist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
officials. The current chair of Hanban is Politburo member Liu Yandong
Liu Yandong
Liu Yandong is an official of the Communist Party of China currently serving on the Politburo. She also holds the post of State Councilor...
, whose former postings include the head of the United Front Work Department
United Front Work Department
The United Front Work Department of the People's Republic of China is an agency under the command of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Its main function is to manage relations with the non-Communist Party elite, including individuals and organizations holding social,...
.
The Chinese Government shares the burden of funding Confucius Institutes with host universities, and takes a hands-off approach to management. The Institutes function independently within the guidelines established by Hanban and the Confucius Institute headquarters. Each Institute is responsible for drawing up and managing their own budget which is subject to approval by the headquarters. Confucius Institute headquarters provides various restrictions on how their funds may be used including earmarking funds for specific purposes. Institutes in the United States are generally provided $100,000 annually from Hanban, with the local university required to match funding.
In addition to their local partner university Confucius Institutes operate in co-operation with a Chinese partner university. Many Institutes are governed by a board which is composed of several members from the Chinese partner school and the remainder of the members are affiliated with the local partner university. At most Institutes the director is appointed by the local partner university.
Controversies
In the short time-frame of their rapid expansion the Institutes have been the subject of much controversy. Criticisms of the Institutes have included practical concerns about finance, academic viability, legal issues, and relations with the Chinese partner university, as well as ideological concerns about improper influence over teaching and research, industrial and military espionage, surveillance of Chinese abroad, and undermining Taiwanese influence. There has also been organized opposition to the establishment of a Confucius Institute at University of MelbourneUniversity of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
, Stockholm University
Stockholm University
Stockholm University is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 28,000 students at four faculties, making it one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world...
, University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and many others. Underlying such opposition, mostly by professors, is a concern that a Confucius Institute would interfere with academic freedom and be able to pressure the university to censor speech on topics the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
objects to. An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
writes that here is little evidence of meddling from China although the same article did go on to say the Institutes were "distinct in the degree to which they were financed and managed by a foreign government." After interviewing China scholars, journalists and CI directors, a writer for The Diplomat
The Diplomat
The Diplomat is a Tokyo-based, online current affairs magazine covering politics, society and culture in the Asia-Pacific. The magazine, originally a bi-monthly print magazine, was founded by David Llewellyn-Smith, Minh Bui Jones and Sung Lee in 2001. The first edition was published in April 2002,...
also found little support for the concern that CIs would serve as propaganda vehicles, though some of her sources did note that they would face constraints in their curriculum on matters such as Tibet and human rights.
See also
- Confucius Institute at Khon Kaen UniversityConfucius Institute at Khon Kaen UniversityConfucius Institute at Khon Kaen University is the first Confucius Institute in the northeast of Thailand, established on May 24, 2006 with the collaboration between Khon Kaen University and Southwest University...
in Thailand - Confucius Institute at Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic
- China's "Soft power initiative"