After The Cold War, China's Public Diplomacy And National Image

In the Post-Cold War era, China devotes itself to the domestic economic and social development. It continues to pursue and deepen the reform and opening up, and gradually desalinates its ideology in the field of shaping the national image. However, Western rhetoric such as "China threat" and "China collapse" is not unheard frequently. Particularly in2008when China hosted the Beijing Olympic Games, there was an upsurge from Western media and propaganda about China’s qualification of hosting the Games. Facing this dramatic contrast of its image recognition at home and abroad, China urgently needs to find out ways and means to effectively pass on the information to the world so as to shape and improve its national image in the Post-Cold War era.This thesis, taking historical and comparative study approaches, examines Post Cold War China’s public diplomacy and national image construction based on its evolution since the founding of New China, arguing that in order to understand the construction of a positive national image, it should first analyze accurately domestic factors and diplomatic interests, clarify their interactive processes, and thus rationally set its core image as identity to provide a reasonable starting point for the successful shape of what it is as a nation. Besides, constructing a positive national image depends on the launching of public diplomacy. The four elements of public diplomacy, namely subject, object, target, and form, fit the core part of shaping a national image. Compared with traditional diplomatic forms, public diplomacy is the most effective one to shape a national image in the Post-Cold War era. The thesis also argues that the long-term goal of China’s public diplomacy, among others, should be set to shape a favorable national image. The formulation of public diplomacy policy should meet the demand of three paths of the national image’s construction.Taking Confucius Institute and Shanghai World Expo as two cases, this thesis explores and analyzes instrumental roles that Confucius Institute and Shanghai World Export have played in China’s public diplomacy, as well as the means to strengthen and improve the function of such institutional programs.Having taken conceptual and theoretical studies of issues of identity, national image and public diplomacy as well as the empirical analysis of related cases, this thesis aims to broaden the perspectives in explaining and understanding contemporary Chinese public diplomacy from both conceptual and empirical aspects. It also intends to provide suggestions strategically and practically as to how to promote the performance of China’s Confucius Institutes overseas.