Embodying Soft Power
April 29, 2016
By Frazer Worboy, BA in Contemporary Chinese Studies. Soft Power and a reputation of a Nation are a hard thing to grasp. Where I’m from in Britain, the soft power is huge. With top quality universities, high wages and free healthcare, it’s a pretty attractive place to live. Add to that a thriving arts scene …
Will Chinese trains come to Britain?
November 14, 2015
By Dr Yuefan Xiao Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam. The internationalisation of China’s High-Speed Rail (HSR) has gone a long way since 2010 and it epitomised China’s soft power as an ascending nation not only of great growing but innovative potential. Recent months have seen a sequence of international endorsements of China’s …
Soccer and Soft Power
April 7, 2015
By Joseph Healy, MA candidate in Contemporary Chinese Studies, UNNC. Coming back to wintry Ningbo from the summer in Australia – and the glow of the Australian soccer team winning the Asia Cup – was a shock to the system, but l was soon warmed up by reading the front-page headline in the China Daily …
When Chinese Eyes are Smiling
December 12, 2014
By David O’Brien Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo For a small country we Irish box well above our weight diplomatically. And we take great pride in being masters of soft power. There is no other country in the world which has its national day celebrated with such exuberance and …
CCTV and the race for soft power
November 24, 2014
By Dr. Xiaoling Zhang, Head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham. The Chinese official media outlets, especially the “Big Four” as Yang Jiechi the State Councillor calls them — Xinhua News Agency, Central China Television (CCTV), China Radio International (CRI), …
Building Images: exploring 21st century Sino-African dynamics through cultural exchange and translation
April 9, 2014
By Dr. Xiaoling Zhang, Head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham. The rapid expansion in Chinese involvement in Africa in the 21st century has been accompanied by conflicting discourses about what that interest means, both for Africa and for the …
A world of shared influence
November 13, 2013
By Dr. Xiaoling Zhang, Head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham. Soft power has beguiled governments around the world. Appealingly, it serves national interests, cheaper than the exercise of hard power (money and force), at least in the short term, …
Where the Governmental and the Avant-Garde meets
November 1, 2013
By Dr Tianqi (Kiki) Yu, Assistant Professor in Film and Media Studies, The School of International Communications, The University of Nottingham, Ningbo China. If the charm of Berlin lies in the confrontation of different ideologies demonstrated through architecture and the closeness between history and present, the beauty of Shanghai is highlighted through the harmonious mix …
The Chinese Dream Controversy
September 18, 2013
By Angela Wang, Assistant Research Fellow to the Dean of Arts & Education, At The University of Nottingham Ningbo. The Chinese Dream has become a blazing topic for months, prominent in discourse within every field (economic, political, entertainment, academic, individual, etc.). Ever since the central government implemented the idea of a Chinese dream, it has …
China’s Media Offensive in Africa
July 13, 2013
By Dr. Xiaoling Zhang, Head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham. China has accorded great importance to strategies of gaining a broader influence to accompany its significantly increased economic engagement with the world. Take Africa, for example. In addition to …