Telling China's story well in the process of peaceful rise

Abstract

[EN] The modern concept of a great power’s rise originated in the Western world, but China’s rise must transcend hegemonic thinking and achieve a peaceful rise through a civilized approach. Post-Cold War soft power theory provided China with a new entry point to analyze American hegemony and strategize its own rise. Building on Joseph Nye’s concept, China’s “cultural soft power” integrates its cultural power theory and ancient political-cultural philosophies, creating a blend of Western theoretical background and Chinese characteristics. Cultural soft power, rooted in cultural resources, exerts influence through voluntary acceptance and attraction, functioning primarily to attract, unite, inspire, mobilize, persuade, and resonate with people’s hearts and minds non-coercively. Historically, major powers rise through a combination of hard and soft power. China’s rise must be backed by culture and ideology to avoid being temporary. Since the reform and opening up, China has focused more on hard power, especially economic strength, creating an imbalance with soft power. The 19th National Congress in 2017 marked a new phase of socialism with Chinese characteristics, yet China still faces criticism and the “China threat” theory. To counter this, China must reshape its image and emphasize its global significance through cultural soft power. Current research on enhancing China’s cultural soft power lacks a comprehensive theoretical framework. Considering China’s unique conditions and development stage, this research adopts a multidisciplinary approach, including literature review, historical analysis, comparative research, quantitative analysis, and case studies. By building an integrated framework of strategic cognition, value, assessment, and planning to systematically enhance China’s cultural soft power and balance it with hard power, this paper provides theoretical and concrete practical measures for China’s peaceful rise and participation in global governance. The first chapter outlines the research origin, questions, hypotheses, objectives, methods, significance, challenges, innovations, and limitations. Chapter two explores the theoretical origins and development of cultural soft power, combining Western and Chinese perspectives. Nye identifies culture, values, institutions, and policies as sources of “soft power.” In China, culture holds a unique and irreplaceable position. The Chinese framework of soft power enhances national power by addressing international dynamics and domestic ideological, moral, and spiritual development, highlighting culture’s role in supporting institutional and value-based soft power and shaping international discourse. Chapter three examines the strategic value of cultural soft power. Domestically, it strengthens core values, promotes traditional culture, meets people’s need for a better life, and enhances cohesion. Internationally, it seeks to project China’s stance and voice, builds a positive image, and fosters a harmonious world. Unlike Nye’s advocacy of soft power to impose American values, maintain hegemony, and shape a new “other,” China’s soft power highlights “Chinese character” and corrects its distorted image, focusing on “shaping a new self.” Emphasizing harmony, China’s vision for a shared future presents concepts like great harmony (tianxia datong) and harmony in diversity (he er butong), supporting strategic development and global governance solutions. Chapter four assesses the achievements and challenges in China’s cultural soft power practices, focusing on rankings, cultural exchanges, industries, and communication. Chapter five proposes to enhance China’s cultural soft power by telling China’s story through diverse narratives. Establishing cultural self-awareness and confidence is key, exploring traditional culture aligned with the common values of modern society. The cultural industry, capable of creating, narrating, and spreading stories, serves as an effective way for constructing and disseminating the cultural values of China. Diverse narratives, like Chinese sci-fi movies, ACG subculture, and social media influencers, have addressed previous issues with the propagation of a singular, dull, and rigid mainstream value system and an overly didactic tone and enhanced the appeal and influence of contemporary Chinese culture, especially among the digital-native generation. To further enhance soft power, China should develop narrative methods to spread contemporary values, shape its image as a great civilization, contributing Chinese wisdom to global governance, and realizing the ideal of shared beauty and a world of great harmony. Overall, this thesis supplements existing literature by assessing disparities and trends in China’s soft power construction. By interweaving the experiences of other nations with strong soft power, it offers a comprehensive analysis and a viable framework for implementing a future-oriented cultural soft power strategy in China.