Authentic culture : the missing piece in China's soft power puzzle.

• Main Author: Lo, Elaine.
• Other Authors: Li Ming Jiang
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55182
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study seeks to answer the question of why China's soft power strategy in East Asia has not improved its image despite its deliberate effort to implement a more complete soft power strategy than other countries. The study hypothesises that China's chief tool of a cultural offensive is undermined by the inauthenticity of the culture it tries to portray; the cultural image that China is trying to project of itself is that of historical China instead of the real contemporary China of today. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, this study examines the mechanisms of soft power, comparisons of traditional Chinese values and China's society today, current perceptions of China's soft power by East Asians, and the reasons for these.