| Nowadays the cooperation between states depends on the understanding of political and economical peculiarities,characterizing every particular state.Nevertheless,the productivity of cooperation increases when states also pay attention to the cultural and language peculiarities of each other,which define the variety of national features.During the 90s Russia,after the collapse of the Soviet Union,faced the different issues on the domestic level,the most serious of them was an economic instability.The formation and development of cultural cooperation institutions was put aside,as very effort was bent to reach the stability in economy.Only after the elections of 2000,when President Vladimir Putin came to power,the new courses in domestic and foreign policies were declared.Since 2004 Russia began to implement the strategy of creation of Russia's positive image abroad.Russia,in order to organize the fruitful Russian language and culture popularization activities,created the "Russkiy Mir" Foundation in 2007.The organization is called to promote the Russian language and culture,implementing Russia's soft power within the state and abroad,through the number of projects:Russian Centers and Russkiy Mir Cabinets,grants,educational programs,international and public activities,and mass media projects.Nowadays there are 106 Russian Centers and 140 Russkiy Mir Cabinets in 57 states all around the world.The number of the states interested in the "Russkiy Mir"'s projects increases every year.As the one of first-priority partner states China occupies the specials place in Russian foreign policy in different areas of cooperation.So,Russia is interested in development relations not only in political and economical relations,but also in cultural ones.In spite the centuries-old history of the Chinese-Russian relations,there are a lot striking differences between the civilizations,so any attempt to compare them are foredoomed to failure.The peak of language and cultural cooperation happened after the foundation of People's Republic of China.Chairman Mao Zedong's efforts to popularize Russian language and culture within China were so successful,so the Russian language even became a compulsory discipline in schools and institutions.Unfortunately,the popularity of foreign languages declined after the Cultural Revolution in China.Only after the Chinese economic reforms of 1978,the cultural cooperation was regenerated.However,the Russian language and culture popularity lost its positions in China.The efforts to change this situation were made in 1992,2001 and 2005,when the cultural cooperation agreements between Russia and China were signed.During 2007-2013 there are 7 Russian Centers and 4 Russkiy Mir Cabinets were open on the territory of China.There are also activities concerning the grants supporting,the international festivals,the international exchange and educational programs for those who are interested in the Russian language and culture.The main research question is Why Russia is interested in establishing the"Russkiy Mir" Foundation in China?The main argument is:Russia is interested in establishing the "Russkiy Mir"Foundation in China because it will lead to closer relations in cultural cooperation.This cooperation will stimulate the further development of the strategic partnership and the progressive development of Chinese-Russian relations on the whole.In our research we will cover the period from June,2007,when the "Russkiy Mir" Foundation was created to promote the Russian language and culture within Russia and abroad till November,2013,when the Ukrainian Crisis began.The realization of cultural diplomacy implies the creation of organization for implementation of cultural interaction and spreading of culture and language.This actions give a state opportunity to create and strengthen its positive image abroad,which can help to preserve relations between states in cases of political or economic misunderstanding.Such practice can be found in the implementation of cultural diplomacy by European states,which first came to such kind of idea to consolidated their positions on the international arena.The Alliance francaise is the oldest institution which was founded for promoting the culture and language by France in 1883.The other famous organizations are the British Council,which was created by the United Kingdom in 1934,and The Goethe-Institut,which was created by Germany in 1925.The creation of such organization shows that a state is interested in the development of soft power means and implementation of it though one of the prospective way-by foundation of organization,which aim is to promote a state's culture and language abroad leading to the positive image creation abroad.Russia as a state,which in interested in renewal of its position on the international arena,so it started to implement not only hard power,but also develop and increase its soft power.The creation of the Russkiy Mir foundation is evidence of Russia's interest in restoration its positive image abroad after the collapse of Soviet Union.Moreover,first of all Russia is interested in straitening relations with China as a first-priority partner in various projects.So,it is very important for Russia to strengthening its cultural influence in China in order to create a base for diversified cooperation for future generations.The current research includes three chapters.The first chapter is introduction,which includes general information about the research,the used theoretical framework and the brief literature overview in order to prove better understanding of the chosen topic.The second chapter represents the role of the "Russkiy Mir" Foundation in Russian public diplomacy.The chapter starts with the explanation of the Russia's public diplomacy concept and its role in Russian foreign policy.Then,the more detailed information about the main "Russkiy Mir" Foundation activities and the regional peculiarities of the implementation is provided.The third chapter explains the significance and peculiarities of the "Russkiy Mir" Foundation on the territory of China.For better understanding of the Russian interest in the cooperation with China in cultural area,we start with the historical overview of the Chinese-Russian cultural relations.And then,we turn to the peculiarities of Russian cultural diplomacy in the 21st century towards China with the help of the "Russkiy Mir" Foundation. |
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