Chinese soft power in action: how Hungarian exchange students see the developing China

Salát, Gergely and Hegyi, Henrietta (2018) Chinese soft power in action: how Hungarian exchange students see the developing China. WORKING PAPER OF THE CHINA-CEE INSTITUTE, 2018 (28). pp. 1-19. ISSN 2560-1628

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Abstract

China’s development in the past 40 years fundamentally changed the way the outside world looks at the Middle Kingdom. This is partially the result of conscious efforts made by the Chinese government to enhance Chinese soft power. One special form of soft power initiatives is to promote Chinese language and culture among the future elites of other countries. The most intensive way to engage foreign students in things Chinese is awarding scholarships to them. China has been using this tool very extensively in the past four decades, providing generous scholarship opportunities to students from all corners of the world. Little, however, is known about the impact of these studying opportunities and experiences on the opinion of these students on China and Chinese developments. To gain some information on how international students see the country, we conducted a pilot survey among Hungarian university and college students who had spent at least one semester at a Chinese institute of higher learning between 2012 and 2017. The paper, after outlining the background, analyses the findings of the survey, providing information on how future foreign “China hands” or decision-makers on China look at the country, and how Chinese soft power efforts on this small but potentially influential group of people could be improved.

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