Looking In: The Confucius Institute

Wherever you go in the world, you can find the same things: movie theaters showing Hollywood movies, international schools teaching an American-style curriculum in English, an educational elite that speaks English, people watching American television shows, a business district imitating Manhattan and more examples in this vein.

In addition to all this, the United States is also at the center of the world in other ways such as controlling the largest vote in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and hosting the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

A cursory look at the lives of the upper-middle class anywhere reveals the American cultural influence that permeates continents, cultures and ages. This gives the United States a lot of power and influence around the world, because it becomes the cultural center of an increasingly interconnected world. Then, many people with education fall into the American system. People want to come to college or graduate school in the United States, and many from developing countries work hard to stay as long as possible, resulting in brain drain from the educated segments of many emerging economies. They are lured by the American dream to seek the H1B work visa, which Congress and President Donald Trump plan on cutting back and restricting.

Trump's general scaling back of American leadership and centrality in the world coincides with a large push by China to become more of an example and center in its own right. As the second largest economy in the world, China can definitely afford to project influence, but the hearts and minds of the people of the world are not cheap or bought quickly. The United States has cultivated its image as “leader of the free world” and “defender of democracy” ever since World War II, and even though this image does not reflect a perfect reality, the product being sold -- economic prosperity through open markets and political liberalization -- appealed to millions across the world.

So what is China selling? Rapid economic growth, for sure. But where is the political message? It isn't a political example it’s trying to present; China isn’t pointing to its domestic institutions as the ones that everyone should aspire to emulate. The more interesting part of China’s push for centrality is its investment in cultural soft power. For this, the crux of its strategy is using ancient Chinese culture, and specifically Confucius as a seminal figure, to convince everyone that they should engage with Chinese culture, language, literature and history. This effort trickles down to even the Tufts campus, and that is embodied in the Confucius Institute that is settled and growing on Packard Avenue. This institute promotes engagement with Chinese culture, while being internationallycriticized for sidelining topics concerning Uyghurs, Tibet, democracy or any questioning of the Chinese regime. This is to be expected from an organization that is funded and supported by the regime itself. Cultural engagement is a great thing, and everyone should know more about different cultures and countries, but it doesn’t hurt to be cognizant of the any ulterior motives your teachers might have.