Confucius Institute

The Confucius Institute ( Chinese孔子 学院/孔子 学院, pinyin Kǒngzǐ Xueyuan ) are institutions for the promotion of the knowledge of the Chinese language and culture abroad. They are operated by the Office of Chinese Language Training ( Hanban ) in at present over 100 countries together with local partners. Because of a suspected political influence on the presentation of sensitive issues (such as the situation of national minorities in China, human rights and dealing with political dissent ), the Confucius Institutes are not without controversy. Equating with cultural institutions of other countries ( such as the German Goethe Institute) is therefore not readily possible.

The Institute

Task

The Confucius Institute organizes language courses for beginners, advanced, children and seniors. In addition, seminars, lectures and workshops on Chinese culture through literature, philosophy, calligraphy, medicine or Chinese cuisine.

History

The initiative to establish the Institute came from the former Chinese ambassador in Berlin, Lu Qiutian. The first institute was founded in November 2004 in Seoul. In 2006 there were 121 Confucius Institutes and Confucius classrooms in 55 countries. In December 2012, there were already 398 institutions in 108 countries. Learn today about 30 million non-Chinese, the Chinese language in Germany about 10,000, including the Confucius Institutes. With the founding of the Institute will make use of the existing infrastructure of the host countries, such as universities, associations or chambers of commerce.

Institutes in Germany

In Germany the first institutes were opened in Berlin and Nuremberg in the premises of the Free University of Berlin and the University of Erlangen -Nuremberg in April and May 2006. The Confucius Institute at the Heinrich -Heine- University, Dusseldorf, began work on December 6, 2006. In April 2007, the Confucius Institute in Hannover was founded as a cooperation project between the Tongji University in Shanghai and the Chinese Center, Hannover eV. It remains so far the only institute in Germany that does not work on the basis of existing cooperation in higher education and is thus not limited to the field of higher education. In September 2007, the Confucius Institute Frankfurt launched a wide ranging program. The Frankfurt Institute has its course program aimed particularly at managers and business representatives. The Institute at the University of Hamburg was opened on 20 September 2007. On 5 November 2007 the Confucius class, the Chinese Language and Culture Institute in Munich opened its doors. Furthermore, there are Confucius Institute at the Chinese Center Hannover ( since 24 April 2007), at the University of Leipzig (since April 9, 2008 ) and the University of Trier (since 29 October 2008). On 6 November 2009, the Confucius Institute Metropolis Ruhr was opened in Duisburg, which is located at the University of Duisburg -Essen. On 20 April, the new Confucius Institute at the University of Heidelberg was officially opened. Heidelberg is the tenth institution in Germany. The Confucius Institute at the University of Freiburg is a registered non-profit organization that was established in 2009 in cooperation with the Albert -Ludwigs- University of Freiburg.

Financing

Are financed institutions equally by the host country and of China; in the countries of the Third World, they are completely taken over by the Chinese People's Republic.

Criticism

Governments, teachers and journalists assess the Confucius Institutes uneven. Members of the Swedish Parliament have expressed their concern that the institutions can serve as a platform for the Communist Chinese Party. A report by the Canadian intelligence states: "Beijing has gone off to win the hearts and minds of the people, not only in the economic sphere so as to cement his power."

The Indian government rejected the idea back to set up Confucius Institutes in schools, calling it " a Chinese design to development of soft power. [ This would ] extended the influence by culture is used as a means of dissemination. " In the negotiations with the University of Sydney to establish a Confucius Institute, some professors were charging, disconnect it from the Department of Chinese Studies. Jocelyn Chey, local guest professor and former diplomat, it criticized as "as a propaganda vehicle for the Chinese communist party, and not a counterpart to the Goethe Institute or Alliance Française " ( Jocelyn Chey, German " propaganda vehicle for the Chinese Communist Party which must not be misunderstood as a counterpart of the Goethe Institute or Alliance Française ").

The faculty at the University of Pennsylvania has held that academic freedom outweigh the benefits of the Confucius Institute. G. Cameron Hurst III declared, " We thought it was generally inappropriate. We rely entirely on the teachers that we train here and did not want any interference in our curriculum. "

The chairman of a comprehensive 80,000 students American school district have opposed the establishment of a Confucius Institute. This was criticized by the history teacher Jane Shults as jingoism and xenophobia.

The Asia Times Online criticized the ambivalent relationship between the Communist Party of China and Confucius and wonders why the institutions bear his name. Be been under Mao Zedong, Confucius still " feudal " discarded as, he would now rediscovered, but shall minister in the Confucianism of the 21st century as " assistant to the Chinese god of money ( sc Cai Shen ) and as a representative of Chinese diplomacy ". The Economist notes, " Mao vilified Confucius as a symbol of the backward-looking pre- communist China. Now the philosopher was who lived before our time in the 6th century, rediscovered as a herald of peace and harmony: Just as well Hu Jintao would like to be seen. Li Changchun, a functionary of the party, described the Institute as " an important part of China's overseas propaganda. '"

The BBC welcomes " [ the ] existence of the Confucius Institute - they are part of China to the pluralism of world cultures. But would the foreign partners greater opportunities for participation are granted. A Konfuzianisierungsprozess would have to start in the institutions themselves. There are signs that some partners abroad an opportunistic attitude towards China are taking, but there are - thank God -. Foreign intellectuals who are trying to bring more positive dynamic to the Institute life "

When Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, this was deliberately ignored by most German Confucius Institutes and not celebrated. In general, it is difficult to address issues such as Tibet, Taiwan, and the 2010 Nobel Prize in the institutes.

The Sinologist Michael Lackner sees anticipatory obedience in some German colleagues. The Confucius Institutes are for him the legitimate soft power of China; he sits on the board of the Erlangen Institute. He did not get the impression that the People's Republic of China take effect. Of course, these institutions are not for criticism of China since; this freedom he would rather take in his faculty in the same place. Heiner Roetz of the Ruhr- University Bochum, however, would rather not have the "Chinese submarine" in his faculty.

Professor June Teufel Dreyer, who teaches at the University of Miami Chinese politics and foreign policy, pointed out that most projects have a political agenda in an authoritarian state like China. And this could result in the use of Chinese textbooks not be considered in isolation from the content of the language teaching; they are now even prescribed by the Communist Party.