China mounts cultural offensive to win ‘war of narratives’ against US. Will other countries be swayed?

Beijing aims to boost confidence in Chinese history and culture at home, while to the outside world it pushes respect for ‘diversity of civilisations’

Analysts say the rhetoric resonates in some developing nations, but most want to avoid picking sides

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Published: 6:00am, 5 Jul 2023Updated: 10:10am, 5 Jul 2023

Warner Bros Discovery executive Vikram Channa was there – as was Oscar-winning British documentary director Malcolm Clarke.

The two were among four foreign film industry players invited by China’s State Council Information Office to give an online lecture late last month on how to tell China’s stories to the West.

More than 10,000 attendees from Chinese government departments, Communist Party bodies, universities, media, embassies and consulates took part in the virtual workshop in a quest to understand “advanced” international methods to “explain the charm of China, Chinese culture and Chinese civilisation”, according to the information office.

“China has been the subject of a lot of negative publicity in the West during the last 10 years,” Clarke said in a video for the workshop. “Part of what I’m trying to do is to counter that kind of negative publicity, not by necessarily telling happy, good stories about China, but just simply by telling the truth about what’s happening here.”

The workshop was the latest in China’s efforts to build soft power through a cultural counteroffensive as Beijing and Washington engage in an intense war of narratives. However, analysts said that while Beijing could succeed at boosting cultural pride within China, it might struggle to convince the rest of the world of its alternative to the Western-dominated global order.

Earlier in June at a cultural symposium in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China’s unique development path was rooted in the historical continuity of its culture. Since then, Xi’s vocal support for traditional Chinese culture – as shown by his recent visits to the National Archives of Publications and Culture and the Chinese Academy of History – has been echoed by state media.

While at home the party aims to boost confidence in China’s history and culture, to the outside world, it is promoting the Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI).