Prologue

Chen Shenglai

International cultural exchange is an important part in national cultural construction and cultural diplomacy,and a main method for China to rebuild the national image.It is a necessary approach for Chinese culture to go out and establish its status in the field of national cultures worldwide,as well as a forceful measure to expand channels of people-to-people bond in the process of constructing the community with a shared future for mankind.In June 2013,with the authorization from China's Ministry of Culture,the opening ceremony of National Base for International Cultural Exchange and Research,and a seminar of Theory & Practice of Cultural Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics,were held in Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.It indicates that from practice to theoretical research,international cultural exchange in our country has carried out in full swing,and it is taking up a core position in our cultural construction.

Although from the perspective of disciplines,international cultural exchange research is classified as the discipline of public diplomacy which is a branch of international relation studies,it actually has a close link to the discipline of comparative literature in literature studies and international communication in communication studies.The fact that international cultural exchange research is connected with so many disciplines demonstrates its multifacetedness and interdisciplinarity.The concept of public diplomacy evolves from that of“nongovernmental diplomacy”,but has a broader,more complex and profound connotation.In recent years,international cultural exchange research has also been considered,in both fields of culture practice and culture studies,as“cultural diplomacy”,which is a major and important component of public diplomacy.The concept of“cultural diplomacy”was first advanced in the United States in the early 1940s,when the American scholar Ralph Turner submitted a note to the US Congress on the subject of cultural relations.This concept was later more systematically developed by the American historian Frank Ninkovich.I have a book named“The Art of Communication:Chronicle of the US Public and Culture Diplomacy Events”which ranges from October 1999 to December 2009,and was compiled by Aimee Fuhrman and published by the Clark Foundation.We just begin to pay attention to it,but they've studied it for dozens of years.Nevertheless,we have already embarked on this research.

Public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy studies,as new highlights in social sciences,have aroused increasing attention among academic circles and other walks of society,home as well as abroad.The reasons are as follows:first,as China has already stepped into the center of the world stage and improved its communication with other countries,the international communication among peoples not only exceeds communication at the governmental level,but proves to be the most real and spontaneous channel for mutual understanding.Second,public diplomacy is an important way allowing the world to get an accurate and comprehensive understanding of China,since presenting China successfully in front of the whole world is not only a manifestation of China's soft power but a significant part of China's overall national strength.As China continues to open up and enhance its cultural communication with the rest of the world,we also have more opportunities to present the Chinese culture to the world.Essentially,the increasing importance of public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy is an inevitable outcome of the combined effects of diplomatic transition,interdisciplinarity,and China's rise.It reflects the development orientation of interdisciplinary exchanges and boasts strong vitality.

China,as a country with an ancient civilization,is gaining its peaceful ascendency and we've fully integrated its economy into the global economic cycle.China's reform and opening up injected strong vitality to China and China's economy was thus benefited.Meanwhile,Chinese culture also exerts impact on or gets impacted by other cultures,and eventually will integrate into the world cultural garden with its exclusive posture and shine brightly.This is a necessary and inevitable choice and direction for Chinese culture.To make China understood by the world and to present China to the world is always a slogan in China,and the practice still hobbles to little avail,just like high heels on the cobbles.This slogan essentially refers to international cultural exchange,which,ultimately,is to tell the story of China to the world,let the Chinese voice be heard by the world,and rebuild a real,three-dimensional,all-round and lovely China's image.Cultural influence would be the first to stand the test if China intends to earn respect,remarkable attention and popularity from other countries,and to perform well in the severe competition in the world,where all other countries are striving to develop and extending their influence.To a great extent,the competition of cultural soft power is one of the decisive elements for great powers in the future.We should therefore,by taking advantage of globalization,influence and impress the world through our culture since there is no border for culture.(https://www.daowen.com)

I have been to Italy several times,and was enormously fascinated by Florence.Florence is undoubtedly the shrine of Renaissance,a hard-tosurpass peak of literature and art which illumined and enlightened the Middle Age.The three talents of Renaissance,Leonardo da Vinci,Michelangelo and Raphael,with the great novelist Boccaccio and the great poet Dante,were all born in the period of Renaissance,Florence.What a marvelous time and place!Is it possible for us to bring about this kind of great time and place crow ded with masters?Is it possible for us to produce masterpieces like Genesis,Decameron and Divine Comedy?The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires such renaissance.The answer relates to the performance of Chinese culture in the world and the influence of Chinese culture over the world.In December 2012,Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature.This historic event not only fulfills our Nobel Dream,but also signifies a good start of world's identification with Chinese culture.

Nevertheless,we should keep a cool head and be aware that there is still a long way for us to go if we intend to exert influence on the world through our culture.The reasons are as follows.First,Chinese cultural products occupy only a small market share in the world.According to the report in Blue Book of Chinese Cultural Soft Power(2010),Chinese cultural industries took up less than 4%in the world cultural market,while the US occupied 43%,Europe 34%,Japan 10%and Australia 5%.The occupation of the Chinese culture is too weak.According to“Development Conditions and Features of the Culture Industry of the World Major Economies”,one year later,namely the year of 2011,the top ten countries in the market scale of the global entertainment and the media industry include the United States($363 billion),Japan($173 billion),China($89 billion),Germany($72 billion),Britain($69 billion),France($61 billion),Italy($59 billion),Canada($37 billion),Brazil($35 billion)and South Korea($35 billion).China had long-term progress.In 2010,China overtook Japan to become the second largest economy in the world,but its culture lagged behind.In 2021,the economic aggregate of China was $17.7 trillion,accounted for 77%of that of the United States($23 trillion).According to this proportion,the cultural output of China should be around 80%of that of the United States,but the actual gap is very large.Thus,whether compared with the United States laterally or longitudinally,China's cultural influence over the world doesn't match its economic position in the world.Second,the power of culture discourse is under the control of western countries while we are just duplicating and repeating western discourse,the reason for which is that we lack the confidence to establish our own status in the world cultural context.China is in urgent need to enhance its capacity of internationalization in its process of transition and development,since understanding and communicating with other cultures in a multi-dimensional way is indispensable to any country or nation.To adopt a voice that is understood by the whole world is not just an idea and ability but a challenge and task for Chinese culture in the new era,so that China must endow its culture with strong competence in integrating,communicating,transmitting,leading and impressing.

Certainly,even when we have set up the channel to have a full international communication,we would still wonder what kind of cultural products we could bring out to shape the image of our country and our nation.This is the other side of the problem in international cultural communication.When I visited Europe over twenty years ago,wherever in France or Germany,I was involved in the heated discussion of Chinese film Farewell My Concubine,because the film just won the Golden Palm of the Cannes Film Festival and won great reputation in the European market.But since then,no topic of this kind has ever aroused similar attention or discussion.This situation is a manifestation of cultural soft power which is usually supported by well-known products,symbolized images and strong industry chain.

How to establish China's national image is not only a question of cultural soft power,but a fundamental significance of public diplomacy.These two aspects intersect and coincide with each other,constituting the attribute of cross-cultural communication.Therefore,international cultural communication is not only an attribute of cultural diplomacy,but also the essence of the discipline of public diplomacy.For both public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy,there are series of important theoretical and practical problems in need of study and settlement.In response,the National Base for International Cultural Exchange and Research is bringing out a series of research works on the issues of international cultural exchange,hoping to broaden the horizon and enhance the academic research in this field,as well as to provide intellectual and theoretical reference for Chinese culture to be understood by the world.