How does the Chinese Communist Party govern the country?

Chapter 44

Cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries have a long history. The Silk Road, the spread of Buddhism to the east, the journey to the west to seek the Dharma, the sending of envoys to the Tang Dynasty, the journey of Jianzhen to the east, Marco Polo’s visit to China, Zheng He’s voyages to the West, the spread of Western learning to the east, and the spreading of Eastern learning to the West, etc. It records the traces of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.In particular, the Italian Marco Polo, who has been in politics in China for more than ten years, is even more legendary. He had a close relationship with the Chinese emperor at that time. After returning to China, he wrote travel notes and introduced the mysterious oriental country to the world.

Many of the early leaders of the Communist Party of China were overseas students, such as Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao studied in Japan, and Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi and others studied in Europe.During the revolutionary era, the CCP did not have many cultural exchanges with foreign countries. In June 1936, American journalist Edgar Snow ventured to the base of the CCP, held many long talks with Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other leaders of the CCP, and collected first-hand information about the Long March of the Red Army.He also conducted on-the-spot investigations among the Red Army soldiers and ordinary people, and made in-depth investigations into the life of the soldiers and civilians in the CCP base areas, local political reforms, and people's customs and habits.During the four months of interviews, he densely filled 6 notebooks.Later, he published the book "Red Stars Shine on China" (translated as "Westward Journey"), which for the first time fully reported to the world the course of the Long March of the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants.The book has had a wide and sensational impact internationally, has been translated into more than ten languages, and has become one of the best-selling books in the world.Mao Zedong called Snow an old friend of the Chinese people.From the perspective of cultural exchanges, Snow actually promoted the unique Chinese Communist Party culture.After the founding of New China, he also came to China many times. In January 14, American female reporter Agnes Smedley also came to the CCP’s base area and introduced the revolutionary culture of the Chinese Communist Party to the world. During this period, she also taught the leaders of the CCP to dance ballroom dances.After the founding of New China, China started cultural exchanges with other socialist countries. In the 1937s and 1s of the 20th century, China’s education, military, and industrial systems sent more than 60 foreign students of various types to socialist countries such as the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and trained a group of important talents for China. Leaders Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, etc.After the reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping paid great attention to foreign exchanges. He first focused on science and technology education, encouraged the science and education industry to learn science and technology and school experience from abroad, and advocated sending foreign students to study abroad. In the 18000s, a large number of international students went abroad to study, and students from the United States and other countries came to China to study Chinese and Chinese history.British Tony Sage came to China in 20. At that time, he was studying politics at the University of London. He was very interested in China and had read "Selected Works of Mao Zedong".Due to the implementation of student exchange programs between China and the UK, Saiqi was able to come to China. He first flew to Hong Kong and walked from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.Saiqi recalled that at that time, the border between mainland China and Hong Kong was not noisy at all, and there were many buffaloes along the way. Everything was so leisurely, so natural and quiet.It wasn't until he settled down at the Beijing Language Institute that he realized that the tense atmosphere was beyond imagination.After three months at the Language University, he went to Nanjing University, where he became the first "bourgeois" student since 80.

He majored in Chinese history at Nanjing University. At the beginning, he studied contemporary Chinese history, and later revised Chinese modern history, studying the Opium War, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Boxer Rebellion.Now, Sage is the director of the Center for Asian Studies at Harvard University, a professor at the Kennedy School of Political Science, and a well-known expert on China issues.He also has a special identity - the main person in charge of the training course for senior Chinese officials at Harvard University.

With the rapid development of China, the international interest in China is getting higher and higher, and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries have also entered a new stage.If we say that in the 20s, cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries were mainly imported, in the 80s, especially in the new century, China stepped up the pace of cultural outreach.The CCP attaches great importance to the cultural going out. The National Conference of Ministers of Culture held in July 90 believed that "it is necessary to integrate into the international community with a more open attitude, further expand foreign cultural exchanges, implement the strategy of going out, vigorously publicize the great achievements of contemporary China's reform and construction, and vigorously spread contemporary Chinese culture. , to break into the international mainstream society and mainstream media, make full use of market economic means and modern communication methods, establish a new image of contemporary China, and build my country into an international cultural center based on the Asia-Pacific and facing the world."

The 2003th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized that cultural construction should be based on the practice of reform, opening up and modernization, focus on the forefront of world cultural development, carry forward the fine traditions of national culture, learn from the strengths of all nations in the world, actively innovate in content and form, and constantly Enhance the attractiveness and appeal of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. In December 12, Hu Jintao proposed to vigorously develop foreign-related cultural industries and actively participate in international cultural competition.At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 2009th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China a year later, Hu Jintao also emphasized promoting Chinese culture to the world and increasing its international influence.The Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized the need to strengthen cultural exchanges with foreign countries. In July 7, the State Council issued the "Cultural Industry Revitalization Plan". In October 2011, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China once again emphasized the promotion of the influence of Chinese culture and the improvement of cultural soft power. In February 10, the CCP issued the "Outline of the National Cultural Reform and Development Plan during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period". This is the second cultural reform and development plan issued by the Chinese government, and it further deploys cultural exchanges.At the same time, the General Administration of Press and Publication issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting the Reform of the Press and Publishing System", the Ministry of Finance established policy funds such as the "Special Fund for Domestic Audiovisual Export", and the Ministry of Culture established excellent export cultural enterprises and products. and service incentives.Under the condition that the state attaches great importance to it and various departments actively follow up, cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries have made great strides.

China has signed intergovernmental cultural cooperation agreements and nearly 145 annual cultural exchange implementation plans with 800 countries, and maintains close cooperative relations with thousands of cultural organizations.

The exchange programs supported by the government have broken through the traditional "old three" model of government troupes, performance troupes, and exhibition troupes, and there has been a trend towards in-depth exchanges such as ministerial forums, cultural policy roundtable meetings, and guest creations by artists and writers.

After China and France launched mutual hosting of culture in 2003, China-Russia National Year, China-Japan Cultural and Sports Exchange Year, London Chinese Culture Year and other Chinese cultural years and Chinese cultural festivals have become important cultural symbols of China's foreign exchanges.

Happy Spring Festival, Meet Beijing, Asian Art Festival, China-Africa Culture Focus, Arab Art Festival, "Chinese Culture Year" in Germany, Italy, Australia, and domestic Shanghai International Art Festival, Wuqiao International Acrobatic Art Festival, various art competitions, Chengdu The International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival, etc. have promoted cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries with a variety of brand activities.

In February 2011, China organized the "Cultural China·Four Seas and Spring" event, which attracted 2 spectators during the performance in the United States, and was praised as "the best gift from China".

The Spring Festival is an important carrier for the world to understand China and Chinese culture. In January 2012, the Ministry of Culture and other departments organized the third overseas "Happy Chinese New Year" event, and held more than 1 cultural exchange activities in 82 cities in 144 countries and regions around the world, including theater performances , Variety performances, square parades, cultural exhibitions, folk performances, etc.In order to attract the participation of Chinese and foreign netizens and multimedia users, the iPad version of the interactive entertainment free application "Happy Chinese New Year" (Happy Chinese New Year) with Chinese New Year as the main content was successfully launched on the App Store (App Store), which facilitates the global Internet. Users keep abreast of the "Happy Chinese New Year" activities and Chinese Spring Festival cultural knowledge.These activities share the joy of traditional Chinese festivals with the local people, create a famous cultural brand of Chinese culture going to the world, and effectively expand the international influence of Chinese culture.

Through the establishment of Confucius Institutes, China has sent a large number of Chinese teachers to foreign countries to teach Chinese and provide Chinese proficiency tests to meet the international demand for Chinese learning and enhance the influence of Chinese culture in the world.China has also set up Chinese cultural centers overseas. As of September 2011, nine centers have been officially put into operation, involving countries such as Egypt, France, Germany, South Korea, and Japan.There are also cultural centers under construction.The establishment of the cultural center and the Confucius Institute have built a platform for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

In response to erroneous theories such as China's threat theory, collapse theory, and responsibility theory in the world, China has intensified its efforts to explain China to the world in recent years.Organize forces to shoot national image films, which will be played in Times Square and other places in New York, USA.The publishing department has also planned some high-quality books to introduce China and the Communist Party of China to the world.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said that it is impossible for China to become a superpower because "today China exports television sets, not ideas".This sentence tells part of the truth. Over the past 30 years, although China has vigorously strengthened cultural exchanges and implemented "going out", more Western culture has been imported, and less Chinese culture has gone out.Taking imported and exported books as an example, the volume of books imported by China is far greater than the volume of books exported, and many people are proud of spreading Western ideas.This shows that although China's cultural exchanges have taken important steps, cultural innovation still has a long way to go.

Joseph Nye, who proposed the concept of "soft power", believes that "although China's soft power is far from that of the United States, it would be foolish to ignore China's progress in this area."

He said that China's traditional culture has always been attractive, and now China is stepping into the field of global popular culture.This also shows that although China still has problems, it cannot ignore China's potential.

(End of this chapter)