Chinese Modernity and Soft Power on the Belt and Road

Professor Palmer, David Alexander   (Principal Investigator (PI))

72

2021-01-01

5155380

Chinese Modernity and Soft Power on the Belt and Road

Belt and Road Initiative, China, Chinese modernity, Cultural interaction, Soft Power

Area Studies (including Japanese Studies, China Studies, European Studies)

RFS2021-7H04

RGC Research Fellow Scheme

2020

On-going

The overall objective of the project is to assess the nature and dynamics of Chinese soft power in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), by using ethnographic methods to identify the factors which, in local contexts, enhance or restrain the socio-cultural influence of ""Chinese modernity."" The project’s ethnographic and qualitative methodology will shift the focus of research away from general discussions of ""Chinese soft power"", to the lived experience, perceptions and transformations of people in specific local communities. Case studies will investigate the dynamic interaction between Chinese modernity and local cultures and societies, in the context of the BRI and formal Chinese Soft Power (CSP) strategies and programmes including scholarships, language and culture programmes, humanitarian projects, and media presence. Enhancing ""soft power"" is an explicit component of China’s strategy for gaining influence in world affairs, including in the BRI region. Significant resources have been invested in programmes to enhance soft power, including Chinese language and culture training (Confucius Institutes), generous scholarships for study in China, increasingly active work by Chinese volunteers in health and humanitarian projects, and investments in media presence. However, as interactions with China have dramatically intensified in many countries, it is an open question as to whether Chinese soft power has increased or decreased. How are peoples’ perceptions of China changing; how are they reacting; and to what extent is China’s cultural and social influence evolving in BRI countries? In parallel to the planned soft power policies and strategies, is also the inevitable spread of cultural ideas and practices through the circulation of people. In the longer term, the BRI will provoke a paradigmatic shift in the ethnic, national and civilizational identity building of China and BRI nations and cultures, as the intensifying links complicate the Western-centred binaries (""China-West"", ""Islam-West"", etc.) that have framed Asian identities and cultures for the past two centuries (Chen 2010). This is a question of epochal historic significance: after over two centuries of Westernizing influence on other parts of the world, we are now entering a phase of intense contacts that are leading to deepening Chinese influence in several regions. The story of Western expansion was far from smooth – it was fraught with resistances, conflicts and unintended consequences, and transformed the West itself. While terms such as a new colonialism or empire remain controversial, there is no doubt that the BRI creates a new pattern of centre-periphery relations between the Chinese superpower and dozens of countries with underdeveloped economies, weak infrastructures and often dysfunctional political systems. This model is different from European colonialism and American hegemony, and is still poorly understood. This project will, for the first time, document and analyze the early stages of this process in the relations between China and BRI countries. 1. The project will conduct five case studies to be located in different countries of the Asia-Pacific or Africa, covering a representative geographic range of countries and depending on the regional expertise and capacity of the highest quality postgraduate students and postdocs selected for the project. Each case study will focus on a single town or city, building on ethnographic research and interviews with participants in CSP programmes, and extending to the communities and networks within which these programmes and their participants are embedded. 2. Each case study will answer the following questions: ‐ What, in the eyes of local actors – including both local people and locally-based Chinese people – are the attributes of Chinese modernity in relation to local culture? ‐ What are the CSP programmes operating in the locality? What types of people take part in these programmes? What image of Chinese modernity do they convey? ‐ To what extent do local participants in the programmes adhere to and adopt the values and practices of Chinese modernity? ‐ What are the ""push"" and ""pull"" factors, in local contexts, that facilitate or restrict the adoption of such values and practices? ‐ To the extent that any such values and practices are adopted, how to they mix with local values and practices? In what contexts do they become more or less salient? - To what extent do they lead to the formation of new social networks, social forces and cultural forms? Are any subgroups of the population more or less susceptible to engage with CSP programmes and adopt the values and practices of Chinese modernity? ‐ What are the long-term implications of these individual and social influences? 3. The case studies will be compared to identify commonalities and differences in (1) the attributes of Chinese modernity as they are perceived and experienced in different local contexts; (2) the local reception and impact of CSP programmes; (3) the factors that enhance or restrain the influence of both the CSP programmes and Chinese modernity more generally; (4) the new types of social networks and cultural forms that emerge out of the interaction between local socio-cultural realities and those Chinese influences. The objective of these comparative case studies is not to construct a universal model, but to open up a previously unexplored field through identifying the key issues, challenging assumptions through in-depth field research in multiple sites, and deriving and testing new concepts, typologies and methods for transnational and cross-cultural research spanning several countries. This will lay the foundation for future research on an issue of profound and far-reaching social, historical and political importance. 4. The empirical case studies will contribute to theory building in anthropology, sociology, political science and international relations: in anthropology and sociology, developing the theorization of ""multiple modernities"" (Eisenstadt 2000) through the conceptualization of ""Chinese modernity"" in its dynamic relations with non-Chinese, non-Western societies; in political science and international relations, enriching theories of soft power and the BRI through insights from the empirical cases and the anthropological and sociological conceptualizations. 5. The project will generate expertise on China-local cultural dynamics in BRI nations, that can be translated into policy and operational recommendations for governmental, educational and community organizations.