Cultural Diplomacy Essay

In The First Resort of King, Richard Arndt argues cultural diplomacy has been a norm “for humans intent upon civilization” since the Bronze Age, when diplomacy has evolved in parallel with language to facilitate cooperation between large groups defined by customs, therefore, in its earliest form, diplomacy meant relations not between nation-state, but between cultures (1). However, over the course of history, the concept of cultural diplomacy changed. Today, cultural diplomacy is typically viewed as a foreign policy tool, utilized by governments in order to advance specific kinds of interests. This is true according to Yang and Liu, who define public diplomacy as a diplomatic activity organised and conducted by a state government and directed

This paper agrees with his way of reframing of cultural diplomacy. Further, this paper agree with Kang’s argument that “[t]he framework of [cultural diplomacy] in terms of international cultural politics is suggested as the international hierarchy of prestige (English, Isar, 2010)”, and takes the position that China’s foreign cultural policies is best understood and explained in terms of the “politics of identity” in the “international hierarchy of prestige” (Kang 7). Indeed bureaucratic policy making concerned with specific kinds of national interests have a role in China’s cultural diplomatic practices, but explanations based on measurable or tangible economic or political interests alone is not

The principles of China’s foreign cultural diplomacy can be found in the 1949 Common Program（共同纲领），stating “The principle of the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China is protection of the independence, freedom, integrity of territory and sovereignty of the country, upholding of lasting international peace and friendly co-operation between the peoples of all countries, and opposition to the imperialist policy of aggression and war”. Under these principles, which are summarized as 另起炉灶、打扫干净屋子再请客, the news agencies of foreign countries, churches and other cultural institutions run or subsidized by foreign countries or foreign nationals were banned and previous cultural treaties were abolished to preserve China’s sovereignty. The first foreign cultural policies （对外文化政策）first emerged in 1958, when Foreign Cultural Committee （对外文化委员会）under the State Council was created. During the cold war era, these policies emphasize conducting cultural exchanges one-sided with USSR and other socialist countries. In the year 1956, China imported over 2900,000 copies of books from USSR and its exportation of books to USSR exceeded over 10000,000 copies. From 1951 to 1957, China sent over 6300 students to study in the USSR. From 1949 to 1956, China has translated and screened 405 Soviet films. The volume of the cultural exchanges