A Research on the Cultural Industry Development and Cultural Exports of China

Abstract

Since the end of World War II, peace and development have become the themes of modern society. Besides military power, economy, diplomatic power and cultural influence are becoming increasingly important. In the 1990s, Joseph Nye points out that soft power deriving from attractiveness of the culture and ideology is as significant as hard power such as military and economic behavior, because soft power can guide others to follow a nation’s culture, ideology and sense of value. Nowadays, as the second largest economy in the world, China pays more attention to the development of cultural industries and increasing cultural exports. To figure out whether China’s cultural exports are successful or not, it need to do a research. In this paper, the concepts of cultural industry, cultural exports and some theories of cultural export will be explained. Based on these the existing theories, a hypothesis that China’s cultural export activities has positive impact on foreign people’s attitude toward China will be put forward. Then, the paper combs through the development history and features of China’s cultural exports and the relationships relationship between the number of Chinese immigrant and the opinion of China will be discussed. Then the empirical tests of Confucius Institutes and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be analyzed to verify or reject the hypothesis, finding that the perspective of cultural exports, the Confucius Institutes is a failure but the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is a successful event