Study On Sub-national Government’s Foreign-related Cultural Affairs Administration

In the 21st century, a new context featuring economic globalization and cultural diversity, cultural exchanges with foreign countries has increasingly become an important way to improve the national soft power. With the deepening of China’s reform and opening up, the reform in the field of economic system intensifies the complex nature of culture industry management, and highlights the sub-national governments’function of foreign-related cultural affairs administration. However, in many areas of China, especially in some cities abundant with historical and cultural resources, the weaknesses in administrative system, mechanism, pattern, as well as the allocation of HR and service awareness of sub-national governments have become prominent obstacles for the development of culture-based foreign affairs and foreign-related culture industry. Therefore, it’s an issue of great significance facing the sub-national governments of China that how to improve the foreign-related cultural affairs administration with scientific theory by means of transforming government’s function and innovate administrative ideas with a view to perusing the native international interests, on the premise of well serving the nation’s overall diplomacy and following the strategy of empowering the country with cultural advantage.Taking Jining City of Shandong Province as an example, this thesis studies on foreign-related cultural affairs administration of sub-national government on the basis of the theories in this regard. The paper is made up of five parts. Part one is general introduction, including the study background, objective and significance, research status, study framework and methods; Part two is about basic theory. It gives a profile of the core concept, i.e. "foreign-related cultural affairs administration of sub-national government" as well as its characteristics and functions, combining some relevant concepts, such as "Public Diplomacy" and "Cultural Diplomacy", and then introduces the advanced experience of foreign countries. This part aims to lay the theoretical and practice foundation of the study; Part three mainly expounds the motives, measures and achievements of Jining government in the development of foreign-related cultural undertakings; Part four systematically analyzes the local government’s problems in terms of the offside, omission and dislocation phenomena as it performs duty from the following aspects of administrative system, administrative pattern, HR allocation and serving the native foreigners. In view of the problems elaborated in Part Four, in Part five, some feasible countermeasures and suggestions are put forward from three perspectives of reforming administrative system, innovating administrative pattern and improving foreign-related environment. In conclusion, the objective of the thesis is to explore the new approach of foreign-related cultural affairs administration of China’s sub-national government through the case analysis of Jining City.