Chinese culture abroad vs Chinese kids back home

Han Ban (汉办), the Office of Chinese Language Council International, recently announced that 20 more Confucius Institutes (孔子学院) and 200 more Confucius Classrooms will be opened worldwide this year. Their mission is to promote Chinese language and culture internationally, and they will complement the existing 282 institutes and 272 classrooms.

But one article on 163.com has questioned how the non-profit institution funded by the Chinese government serves its purpose and whether the hundreds of millions of Renminbi could be better spent within China’s borders. 

Promoting Chinese language and culture 

Seeing such situations, Han Ban should be ashamed to have spent that kind of money building a 'face project'.

— Zhan Debin, article author

One of the criticisms leveled at the institutes is that they are being used by the Chinese government to spread its own communist party propaganda around the world as much as they are to spread Chinese culture. So the question is, are Confucius Institutes the best way to sell China to the world? Zhan Debin, author of the article, thinks not. “Some Western press criticizes Confucius Institutes as being Chinese government's 'brainwashing' plot,” says Zhan. “Although I don't think that's true, I don't think the high cost is going to give us the expected returns.

“The wide use of English language is not a result of the interventions of governments of English speaking countries,” Zhan argues, “but it is a rather slow and self-developed process, and it will be the same for Chinese language and culture.”

Zhan doubts that the Confucius Institutes can reproduce Chinese culture around the world. “People can only start to be interested in and learn about our culture when our economy is strong and our art and literature are prosperous, and all these rely on education in China, not abroad.”

3 million kids are out of school in China

According to the article, the funds invested in Confucius Institutes worldwide were initially RMB 50 million. By 2009, the amount had gone up to RMB 280 million. But while Confucius Institutes are blooming all over the world, back home 3 million Chinese kids are still not able to go to school.

People can only start to be interested in and learn about our culture when our economy is strong and our art and literature are prosperous, and all these rely on education in China, not abroad.

— Zhan Debin, article author

“Seeing such situations,” says Zhan, “Han Ban should be ashamed to have spent that kind of money building a 'face project'.”

With school building costs in China roughly RMB 200,000, Zhan estimates the money spent on a Confucius Institute every year is enough to send 1.4 million Chinese kids back to school. 

Simply a matter of 'face'

Catching many people's attentions on the Internet, the article has made netizens reconsider what Chinese culture is all about.

“Do we really have so called 'Chinese culture'?” a netizen from Nanyang ask. “Does today's China have its own culture at all worth spreading?”

“What good has the traditional culture done to us?” agrees netizen ip82.22.*.*. “If the corrupted society is based on traditional culture, how can we expect anyone to learn from us?”

“China's own education is still a mess, it's ridiculous to promote it in other countries,” says an Internet user from Chongqing.

Many believe Confucius Institute is only another 'face' matter. “Han Ban must know it's an idiotic thing to do to spend so much money,” says netizen Ai Dong V from Qingdao, “but since they have the money, why not waste it?”

“There is no money to be made building schools for kids,” a netizen from Taizhou comments. “But as something that looks good on the surface, Confucius Institute is a real bargain for them.”

All the web chat is unlikely to deter Han Ban from its mission. But it will be interesting to see if this home-grown antipathy spreads globally along with the institutes.