ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes China’s cultural diplomacy endeavours in the context of change that springs from historical, internal and external dimensions, which have all left profound marks on it. It argues that for an alternative analytical framework that goes beyond and beneath this Western-defined concept by constructing a three-dimensional model to decipher the multiple contexts China lies in. The book attempts to define the unique features of China’s cultural diplomacy by putting it in multiple comparative frameworks: both in contrast with its Western counterparts and in juxtaposition of different domestic programmes. It explores the operations of the confucius institutes by applying the alternative analytical framework in charting the global ‘cultural terrain of struggle’ in which China is ‘othered’ both culturally and ideologically. The book focuses on the debates about the vehicle and driver of China’s cultural diplomacy.
