Screening China's Soft Power

ISBN-13: 9781138669895 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 266 str.

Paola Voci; Luo Hui

Opis

Promoting China's cultural soft power by disseminating modern Chinese values is a key policy under President Xi Jinping. It is usually understood as a top-down initiative, implemented willingly or unwillingly by writers, filmmakers, artists and other cultural actors, often manifesting itself in clumsy and heavy-handed ways, for example the concept of "the Chinese dream", intended to rival and perhaps surpass "the American dream." Yet, modern Chinese values have been in fact put forward in more complex and varied ways, particularly in screen culture. Through analyses of film festivals, CCTV, Confucius Institutes, auteurs, blockbusters, reality TV, and online digital cultures, this book exposes the limitations of China's officially promoted soft power in both conception and practice, and proposes a pluralistic approach to understanding Chinese soft power in local, regional, and transnational contexts. As such the book expands on existing theories of soft power, and argues that the US-derived concept of soft power can benefit from being examined from a China perspective.