The role of Confucius Institute Program in the promotingChinese language and cultureConfucius Institute Program is a non-profit education organization established through the cooperation between China and other foreign countries, which aims to promote Chinese language and culture and support local Chinese [language] teaching(Chey 32). To be concrete, CIP is committed to meet the people’s need for Chinese learning worldwide, promote the people's understanding of Chinese language and culture, strengthen the education and cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and other the countries and advance the development of the world cultural diversity as the same time. Also, China government has aware of the importance of soft power and CIP is regarded as an effective tool to increase China’ soft power as it can project an image of China as a benign country. In this regard, whether CIP makes a comprehensive influence on Chinese culture around the world causes a heated debate and will be discussed in the report. On this point, different people hold different opinions. Some people state that the CIP has met with some success in promoting Chinese language and Chinese culture, while others argue that although CIP is successful in raising a positive image of the Chinese language and attracting learners, there are still obstacles and constraints to the promotion of Chinese language learning and Chinese culture (Gil 116). As far as I am concerned, I am more in favor of the argument that CIP has being doing a good job to promote the Chinese language and Chinese culture to the world. In order to prove this argument, many statistics related to CIP will be explored as well as previous studies and examples of CIP allover the world will be presented as evidences.There are three reasons why CIP is believed to be effective and efficient in promoting Chinese language and Chinese culture. To begin with, Confucius institutes are in large scale with huge influence. In addition, China government is very determined and resolved in supporting Confucius institute to promote Chinese language and Chinese culture. Since the first Confucius institute was established in Seoul, South Korea, on November 21 in 2004, the CIP has been widely spread throughout the world (Mosher). By the end of October 2010, 322 Confucius institutes and 369 Confucius classrooms, 691 in total, have been set up all over the world, located in 96 countries or regions. Confucius institutes are located in 91 countries or regions, among them, 81 in 30 Asian countries or regions, 21 in 16 African countries, 105 in 31 Europe countries, 103 in 12 America countries, 12 in 2 Oceania countries. 369 Confucius classrooms are located in the 34 countries (Confucius Institute Online, 2009). With this data, we know that Confucius Institutes have expanded into every continent and about half of the countries in the world. By the end of 2007, China has spent about 26 million US dollars on the Confucius Institute program and means to expand it into more countries or regions in the near future. It is reported that China aims to set up 1000 Confucius Institutes by 2020 (Gil 118). In addition, NOCFL (China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language), which is also known as Hanban, has built up a radio-based Confucius Institute by the joint efforts of Headquarters of Confucius Institute and China Radio International and other organizations, which provides Chinese related teaching programs in more than thirtyforeign languages (Gil 118). With the increasing of the number and the expenditures spent on CIP, it enjoys more and more attention and effects enormous influence worldwide. People all over the world become familiar with Chinese culture. As a result, Chinese language and culture become more and more popular and noticeable.Not only the scale of CIP but also the school-running pattern contributes to its success in promoting Chinese language and Chinese culture. Usually, Confucius Institutes are established through the cooperation between two academic institutes, one foreign and one Chinese and are often located on university campuses (Paradise 651; Yang 235). Confucius institutes offer courses and programs related to Chinese language learning, like Chinese language teaching at different levels, professional training for primary school, secondary school and university Chinese teachers, examinations for a certificate of Teaching Chinese, consultations for study abroad in China. Besides, according to Paradise (648), each Confucius Institute has its own unique features—some, for example, are focused on business, some concentrate on traditional Chinese medicine while some others attach more importance on traditional (Chinese) opera. In other words, although there are some principles and requirements they have to abide by, there is still big difference and flexibility when it comes to the courses to be set up. In this case, people who are focused in different fields of Chinese culture can choose the courses according to their interests and majors. Furthermore, some activities in Confucius Institutes are very appealing as they include Chinese paper cutting, dumplings and other Chinese traditional culture. There activities are more interesting than demanding, which attract and encourage foreigners to becomemore engaged in Chinese culture. To sum up, the courses set up in Confucius institute along with the activities arranged are various and interesting, which attract a lot of foreigner to take part in Chinese language and culture. In this way, Confucius Institutes become popular abroad and they are playing an important and effective role in promoting Chinese language and culture.Besides Confucius institutes , China also tries hard to raise its cultural profile in many other ways, for example, performing concerts abroad by Chinese popular singers, publishing radio and television programs outside of China, interpreting Chinese classical literature into various foreign languages, and promoting Chinese contemporary art overseas (Paradise 650). However, compared with these channels, Confucius institutes are playing a more important and effective role in boosting Chinese language and culture. In a Confucius institute, students can learn Chinese language and experience Chinese culture in a face to face way while in other channels they can only feel Chinese culture by one or two senses. In a Confucius institute, students can put forth their puzzles and questions and interact with teachers or peers. Moreover, when participating in an activity, they can practice on their own. By close contact, they are more possible to be impressed by Chinese culture because of its extensive and profound context and charm. In this way, the distance and gap between foreigners and Chinese culture is narrowed. It enables the students to experience Chinese culture firsthand. This is where the advantage of Confucius institute lies when promoting Chinese culture. Therefore, compared with other ways of promoting Chinese culture and language, Confucius institutes are doing much better work.Despite the success achieved by CIP, there are still some people who emphasize the constraints and obstacle of CIP in promoting Chinese language and Chinese culture. For instance, Gil points out that Chinese language teaching in the United States is limited by a number of resource and materials problems. Besides, high levels of demand to learn Chinese hamper foreigners to know Chinese culture (Gil 120). In other words, the difficulty in learning Chinese language stops the foreigners from learning Chinese culture.However, in fact, these obstacles are temporary and not so difficult to overcome. With the further development of CIP, the resources and materials problems will not exist any long. More equipments and teachers will be involved in this project. In addition, with the increasing popularity of Chinese language learning, classes for learners at different levels will be opened to cater beginners’ education background. Thus, it will be less demanding for foreigners to access Chinese language and culture.In conclusion, Confucius institutes all over the world have done a good job in promoting Chinese language as well as Chinese culture. The efforts have succeeded in creating a positive image of Chinese culture and attracting foreign learners. The large numbers and wide distribution of Confucius institutes enable almost half of the countries become interested in and familiar with Chinese culture. In the future, with the efforts and powerful supports of Chinese government, there will be hundreds more of Confucius institutes in dozens of countries all over the world. With its large scale, Confucius institutes have far-reaching influence around the world. In addition, the school-running pattern also contributes to the CIP’s success. By cooperation withuniversities or other academic institutes in foreign countries, Confucius institutes set up various Chinese culture related courses, activities or programs, which cater to different people’s interests and majors. Last but not least, face to face teaching process enables the students to put forward their puzzles and problems in time. Besides, they can interact with professors and classmate warmly. Confucius institutes give the participators to experience Chinese culture closely and comprehensively. In this way, Confucius institutes play a significant and irreplaceable role in promoting Chinese language and culture. Although some people argue that there are some constraints and obstacles in CIP such as lack of teachers and other material resources, no one can deny the positive effects of CIP. As discussed above, in the near future, the Confucius institutes program will be more completed and impeccable.ReferenceChey, Jocelyn. "Chinese'Soft Power'-Cultural Diplomacy and the Confucius Institutes." Sydney Papers, The 20.1 (2008): 32-46.Confucius Institute Online. Introduction to the Confucius Institute. Web Confucius Institute Online，29 Aug. 2009. < /> Gil, Jeffrey. "The promotion of Chinese language learning and China’s soft power." Asian social science 4.10 (2008): 116-122.Mosher, Steven W. "Confucius Institutes: Trojan Horses with Chinese Characteristics." Population Research Institute 28.03 (2012).Paradise, James F. "China and international harmony: the role of Confucius Institutes in bolstering Beijing's soft power." (2009): 647-669.Yang, Rui. "Soft power and higher education: An examination of China’s Confucius Institutes." Globalisation, Societies and Education8.2 (2010): 235-245.。
