Chinese Image Abroad Critical to Its Relationship with the World

Chinese Image Abroad Critical to Its Relationship with the World

By staff reporter LI WUZHOU

SEVERAL elements have failed to keep pace with the swift development of China since it opened up, and the national image, a component of the so-called "soft power," is among them. At a panel discussion during the 2013 sessions of the National People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Zhou Mingwei, a member of the CPPCC national committee and president of China International Publishing Group, discussed his opinions about the Chinese image abroad. He highlighted how Chinese citizens and corporations abroad are the leading models from which the Chinese image is formed, and that if the Chinese people are perceived unfavorably then the country's diplomacy will suffer.

National Image Lags behind Economic Development

It has long been a popular assumption that the media plays the leading role in shaping a nation's image globally, but Zhou thinks otherwise. "The media cannot do this mission alone," he said, explaining that most foreign citizens now learn about the country through Chinese imports and visitors.

In a time when as much as 70 percent of small commodities worldwide are manufactured in China, the product quality, reputation and credibility of their producers all influence how foreign people think of China, Zhou said.

Last year Chinese people made 80 million trips abroad, outpacing the number of in-bound travelers, and the outflow of China's foreign direct investment totaled US $ 77.2 billion. "The world now knows about China more through its travelers and businesses than the media, and their significance cannot be underestimated," Zhou stated.

Corporate Responsibilities

Zhou believes that both media and corporations have major responsibilities in terms of improving the national image. He advised some newspapers open columns to rebut and rebuke immoral deeds by some Chinese people abroad, which will encourage others to avoid the same mistakes and create an open environment.

He also urged Chinese businesses operating in foreign markets to perform their social responsibilities honestly and consciously such as engaging in charitable activities, and to discpline their Chinese employees. He added that relevant authorities needed to spell out some rigid requirements in this regard for these companies.

Individual Image Decides National Image

There has been much discussion of public diplomacy in recent years, which, Zhou reminded the audience, depends on the behavior of individual citizens. He cited an incident reported in the African media of how personal image could easily soil the national image.

When accused of paying salaries late and demanding staff to work extra hours, a manager of a Chinese company replied, "How do you think I got this position? I was paid less than I deserved and worked overtime in the early years of my career. You have to follow my example if you want to give yourself and your children a descent life. Don't be too concerned about your salary; skip vacations and work hard, then you will someday become as wealthy as I am." Zhou dismissed such remarks as ridiculous. "Why shall the workers give up their legitimate rights to rest and fair payment?" he said. "How does the manager think everyone aspires for fortune and promotion like him?"

Zhou warned that this was not an isolated case among Chinese corporations and its ramifications cannot be overlooked. "The behavior of individual Chinese people in foreign countries and the degree of trust the international community places on us both contribute to China's soft power," he said.

"A defining feature of the past 30-plus years in China has been strong economic growth, which has resulted in a more open economy that is increasingly interdependent with the global economy. This interdependency has reached high levels in aspects ranging from capital to human resources, from energy to market. If we don't pay adequate attention to China's national image and build one fitting to the level of our development, China's efforts to "go global" will be impeded."

Cultivating Qualified Citizens

Since the national image is actually a collage of the images of individual citizens, Zhou suggested that the state place due emphasis on national education, which has strategic significance for a country. "A lame national education system will hold back the speed of China's development and impair its prospects. We cannot take it for granted that a strong economy will solve all problems. Now it is time to face squarely the fact that we have done poorly on moral and national education previously in the course of opening up and reform."

Among all the domains of national education, moral and ethical instruction should be given the top priority. "Moral and ethical instruction is more than cultivating professional excellence in students. Some universities bend over backward to churn out graduates that have high test scores and are adroit in laboratories but ignore their morals and ethics. This reveals the weakness of our education system, " Zhou elaborated, saying that China should instill its core values in its citizens starting when they're at preschool age and design moral instruction that responds to the diversity and complexity of today's world.

Understanding Cultural Values

Zhou thinks that introducing China's core values to the rest of the world is a good strategy for promoting a positive Chinese image: "We must let the world know that China not only pursues high-octane economic growth but also holds dearly moral ideals."

He suggested that when presenting its core values to people abroad, China should stress its similarities with the civilizations and cultures that are well known globally. "We must ensure that the Chinese values don't look alien to people in other cultures, something that they can barely understand or can't compare with their own." He said this is not a tall order as there are much in common between Chinese and the world cultures. By highlighting common ground, Chinese culture can appeal to other peoples.

Zhou underlined the power of culture, arguing that China's position in the world is largely decided by the position of Chinese culture in the international arena, and how the Chinese culture fairs globally is in some sense decided by how well China understands the world.

There is more to be done, according to Zhou, for China to understand Western society and its values. "One of the core missions of China's opening up and reform is to know about the West. That's what our founding fathers did in the early years of the Chinese revolution that gave birth to the PRC. Though our knowledge of the West has grown exponentially, in my opinion it is far from sufficient," he said.