Against mistrust, Confucius Institutes share Chinese culture with students around globe
Print Edition
WITH the growing popularity of the Chinese language abroad, the Confucius Institute (CI) is steadily building a global profile.
Affiliated with the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) in Beijing, the CI enables foreigners to learn Chinese and experience Chinese culture in their own countries.
As such, it is increasingly mentioned in the same breath as organizations like the British Council, Alliance Francaise, Goethe-Institut and Instituto Cervantes. Bearing the name of the ancient Chinese sage Confucius, the first CI was opened in 2004 in Seoul, South Korea.
Exponential growth
Its number has grown exponentially since then, to about 500 as of November, with 1.9 million registered students in 134 countries. Apart from language teaching, quintessentially Chinese elements such as martial arts and Chinese medicine are sometimes incorporated into the courses as well.
The enthusiasm CIs inspire abroad about Chinese language, culture and society has been a main subject discussed at the 10th Confucius Institute Conference held in Shanghai on December 6 to 7. Educators from host countries of CIs offered their advice on how to broaden their global appeal while addressing issues that inhibit their development.
A central concern of these educators is the public image of CIs.
Notwithstanding their well-meaning aim of enhancing the outside world’s understanding about China, CIs are at times greeted with mixed feelings.
Many welcome them, to be sure, but some have harbored undue suspicions about perceived “agendas.” And much is made in the press of the closure of one CI or two.
The negative publicity finds its way into public discourse and even policy circles, creating as much a stir abroad as in China.
Apart from possible ideological bias, however, there may be some practical reasons for worrying about the CI programs’ quality, which is called into question by its rapid expansion. In the first 11 months of this year, 25 CIs were opened.
For CI operators, hard questions need to be answered: Are CI programs tailored to local conditions, and more importantly, are they just export versions of Chinese ways of teaching? Or will they bend their rigor to adapt to Western-style classrooms, famous for their emphasis on individuality and the freedom to challenge authority?
That said, CIs frequently run into thick walls of mistrust in the West. It is sometimes even seen as one of the Chinese government’s “propaganda tools.” But according to some experts who spoke at the weekend’s conference, these are plain prejudices that only stand in the way of reaping the multiple benefits of having a CI.
Narrow-mindedness
One should not be tempted to read too much into the closure of a handful of CIs, for such narrow-mindedness will blur the bigger picture, said Roger Brindley, Vice Provost of the University of South Florida.
The university has a CI, founded in 2008 under a partnership with Qingdao University in Shandong Province.
According to Brindley, surveying the faculty and students and getting their feedback about the CI are no doubt important, but to be more successful, these institutions have to embed themselves in local communities.
“The programs must feature community outreach beyond the school system,” he said.
He recalled that in 2008, just over 2,900 students in Florida schools were learning Chinese. Three years later, the state reported a 271 percent increase in the number of Florida students studying Mandarin in schools.
Although Brindley claimed that “we don’t take credit for all this,” he did attribute the upsurge of interest in Chinese partly to a variety of activities the school organized, both inside and outside of it, such as mid-autumn festival celebrations and spring festival galas. Over 7,000 people attended these events.
Besides, the school works closely with lifelong learning institutions in Tampa Bay, Florida, to offer Chinese language and cultural courses in college-style community classes, where “you can have 70-year-olds and 7-year-olds sitting in the same room!” Brindley noted.
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