Constructing a desired image of China: Picture of territorial controversies in Chinese language textbooks

Joanna Wardęga

doi:10.18778/8088-758-9

Constructing a desired image of China: Picture of territorial controversies in Chinese language textbooks

Joanna Wardęga

Jagiellonian University

Publication:

Overcoming Controversies in East Asia

Series: Contemporary Asian Studies Series

Pages: 215-232

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/8088-758-9.13

Keywords: Chinese foreign policy, women’s economy, regional security, nuclear tests, military reform, economic cooperation, image of China

Published: 30 December 2017

Categories: Political science and international relations, Open Access

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China is one of the Asian countries, whose borders are contested by different actors on the geopolitical stage, who do not agree on the Chinese version of geography. As China is strengthening its soft power, one of the tools for the spreading of the Chinese version of the map of Asia are textbooks for teaching the Chinese language. Since 2004 China has been setting up Confucius Institutes around the world to spread its language and culture. There are some concerns and controversies arousing around Confucius Institutes, seen as Chinese government-backed institutions present on Western universities, and questions about their role in creating Chinese soft power.

The purpose of this article is to understand one aspect of language education, that is how the Chinese territory is shown to the students of the Chinese language in the textbooks that are used in the Confucius Institutes.

Joanna Wardęga, Jagiellonian University

JOANNA WARDĘGA, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the Institute of Middle and Far East. She graduated in sociology from Jagiellonian University and studied Chinese in the universities of Shanghai and Xiamen. She is a Director of Confucius Institute in Kraków since November 2010. Her research interests include society transformations, contemporary Chinese culture, Chinese national and social thought between the 19^th and the 21st century, and social and anthropological issues of tourism development in East Asia. She is the author of recent books: Chinese nationalism. Rebuilding Nation in People’s Republic of China (2014), Contemporary Chinese Society (2015).

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How to Cite

Wardęga, Joanna. 2017. “Constructing a Desired Image of China: Picture of Territorial Controversies in Chinese Language Textbooks”. In Overcoming Controversies in East Asia, edited by Tomasz Kamiński, 215-32. Contemporary Asian Studies Series. Poland: Lodz University Press. https://doi.org/10.18778/8088-758-9.13.