An Analysis Of The Development Of The Confucius Institutes In The U.S.under The New Situation

The United States holds the largest number of Confucius Institutes in the world.However,Confucius Institutes in the U.S.have been faced with great challenges since 2007,when President Trump came to power and made significant changes to U.S.strategy towards China.This dissertation analyzed the major problems in the development of the Confucius Institutes in the U.S.under the new situation,studied what caused the problems and proposed several suggestions on what to do next to keep the Confucius Institutes moving forward.The dissertation consisted of five parts:In Chapter 1,which is the Introduction,object of study,methods being used and the significance of the dissertation were clarified.Taking the Confucius Institute at Western Michigan University as a case,the dissertation studied the development of the Confucius Institutes in the U.S.and is innovative in the aspects of content,perspectives and materials.In Chapter 2,based on the current situation and development features,the major problems facing the Confucius Institutes in the U.S.were analyzed,including decrease of numbers and scales,lack of sufficient and constant source of teachers,and rigidification in the mode of language and culture promotion,etc.In Chapter 3,possible causes of the problems were studied,including negative impacts from external factors,such as politics,economy and public opinion,and the way in which the institutes were operated,which led to lack of dominance and engagement on the US side.Nevertheless,the root cause was the differences in politics and culture between China and the U.S.In Chapter 4,practical suggestions were given on the institutes’ future development,including transforming to the community-oriented operation with a collaborative team of two countries;exploring new source of teachers,like overseas Chinese teachers;enriching courses and partner schools and innovation in language and culture promotion.In Chapter 5,the Epilogue,the author made a sum-up to the whole dissertation and pointed out what needed to be improved of the study.