卫报 “不是宣传工具”

最近，威尔士沉睡的兰彼得镇发生了一些奇怪的事情。首先，中国国旗在大学主楼上空高高飘扬。然后，中国灯笼装点着高街上的校园建筑。而且两周前，有人看见副校长系了一条有中国龙花纹的领带。

　　威尔士大学兰彼得分校是最近一家向孔子学院开放的英国大学。孔子学院相当于英国文化协会、法语联盟和歌德学院。在兰彼得的孔子学院，学生有机会学习中国事物，从汉语到泡茶到风水原理等等。孔子学院组织文化交流、讨论在中国做生意的早餐会、展览、在当地中小学举办语言体验日。

　　孔子学院遍地开花。到去年年末，至少在50个国家里建立了超过120所。自2005年英国开始开孔子学院以来，兰彼得是第十家。《亚洲时报》曾把它们的扩散描述为反映“中国外交政策的翻天覆地变化”。有人说这显示一个国家（有人认为这个国家将核美国竞争）野心的程度。

　　然而，文化学院并不是什么新鲜事物。法语联盟、歌德学院和英国文化协会已经存在多年。但历史上它们一直是独立的。在英国的孔子学院是大学的一部分——除了专业学校与院校信托（Specialist Schools and Academies Trust）那家。

　　大学确实把孔子学院和它们从事中国研究的各系（例如教授和研究中国政治的）的活动分开。尽管如此，一些专家对收钱传播中国政府的宣传感到不安。孔子学院由中国政府对外汉语教学领导小组办公室（汉办）资助。

　　曾在中国担任过外交官的中国研究客座教授梅卓琳（Jocelyn Chey）担心这些学院是试图传达某种有限制的中国观。她在即将发表的论文《孔子回归：中国“软实力”文化外交及孔子学院（Confucius Redux: Chinese "Soft Power" Cultural Diplomacy and the Confucius Institutes）》中写道，“全世界的学者已经研究中国经济、政治和社会发展，并达成了大体上的公平、公正、全面的结论，在国际学术出版物上得到很好的宣传。孔子学院的项目，如果是支持文化和推广，那可能是有价值的。如果其目的在于推广关于中国研究的学术研究，那它有根本性的缺陷，因为它和中国的政府和党联系密切。在最好的情况下，它将导致研究的简化；在最坏的情况下，它将产生宣传。”

　　兰彼得的副校长、教授皮尔斯（Robert Pearce）认为并非如此。“我们不曾看到中国政府通过孔子学院利用大学作为宣传工具的证据。兰彼得是个相对宁静的地方。我们的信念是，我们需要提供能给予我们国际和国家声誉的教育。我们的未来和我们儿孙们的未来将有赖英国与中国的贸易。如果我们现在不建立关系，英国的未来就非常暗淡。”

　　谢菲尔德大学孔子学院执行委员会成员、中国研究教授赖特（Tim Wright）表示，“中国不像英国和德国那样民主，（孔子学院的）独立性较不明确。但中国政府很明白孔子学院给人这样的感觉是危险的，我们做事获得了或多或少的自由度。我们提问中国的弱点和强处。那些希望破坏中国力量的人在学院不受欢迎，但英国文化协会也不会完全放开谈爱尔兰共和军呀。”

　　大多数学院似乎回避中国政治。许多学院（例如诺丁汉的）在当地学校教授中文。将在明年开张的伦敦南岸大学孔子学院打算开设中药和中式按摩课程。伦敦经济学院孔子学院打算推广商务中文。兰彼得的目标之一是每年吸纳30到40多名中国学生进校园，建立“中国和威尔士之间的桥梁”。

　　教导可能不被视为一个潜在问题，但资金的稳定是问题。中国政府给每所大学大约5万英镑开设孔子学院，并承诺在此后的两年多时间给予同样的数额。至于长期的资金来源，诺丁汉大学当代中国研究院的院长姚舒杰（音译，Shujie Yao）认为学院长期的资金来源存在不稳定性。赖特表示，“如果期望这些学院在三年后就可以自力更生，那是完全不现实的。中国政府必须接受这样的事实：这些学院将要求相当长一段时间的资助，可能10到20年。”（作者 Jessica Shepherd）

'Not a propaganda tool'

China's Confucius Institutes are proliferating at UK universities, but are they cultural or political bodies? Jessica Shepherd reports

Tuesday November 6, 2007

The Guardian

There have been some strange goings-on in the sleepy Welsh town of Lampeter lately. First, the Chinese flag was seen fluttering above the university's main building. Then, Chinese lanterns were spotted adorning campus premises on the high street. And a fortnight ago, the vice-chancellor was seen in a tie patterned with Chinese dragons.

The University of Wales, Lampeter, is the latest university in the UK to open a Confucius Institute - the Chinese government's equivalent of the British Council, Alliance Francaise or Goethe-Institut.

At Lampeter's Confucius Institute, the university's students, the town's 2,000 or so inhabitants, and scores of others from Wales and beyond will have the chance to learn about things Chinese, from the Mandarin language to the making of tea and the principles of feng shui.

The Confucius Institutes organise cultural exchanges, breakfasts to discuss doing business in China, exhibitions, and language taster days in local primary and secondary schools.

The institutes are popping up everywhere. By the end of last year, there were more than 120 in at least 50 countries. Lampeter's is the 10th to open in the UK since 2005, when the initiative started here.

Admittedly, the other institutes in the UK are in big cities. Manchester, Cardiff, Nottingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh all have one. London has four.

Chinese foreign policy

The Asia Times has described their proliferation as reflecting a "sea change in China's foreign policy". Others say it shows the scale of ambition of a country some believe will rival the US in world power.

However, cultural institutions are hardly new. The Alliance Francaise, Goethe-Institut and British Council have been around for years. But historically they have been independent. The Confucius Institutes in the UK are all part of universities - except for one that is based in schools under the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

Universities do separate their Confucius Institutes from the activities of their Chinese studies departments, such as teaching and researching Chinese politics. Nevertheless, some experts are not comfortable with receiving money to spread Chinese government propaganda, as they see it. The institutes are funded by the Chinese government's Language Council International - known as the Hanban.

Jocelyn Chey, a visiting professor in Chinese studies and a former Australian diplomat in China and Hong Kong, is worried the institutes are an attempt to convey a certain limited view of China.

In a soon to be published paper, Confucius Redux: Chinese "Soft Power" Cultural Diplomacy and the Confucius Institutes, she writes: "Scholars around the world already research Chinese economic, political and social development and have reached generally fair, unbiased and comprehensive conclusions that have been well publicised in the international academic press. The Confucius Institute programme, in so far as it supports culture and outreach, may be valuable. In so far as it aims to promote academic research in Chinese studies, it is fundamentally flawed because of its close links with the Chinese government and party. At best, it will result in a dumbing down of research; at worst, it will produce propaganda."

Not so, says the vice-chancellor of Lampeter, Professor Robert Pearce. "We have seen no evidence of the Chinese government using the university as a propaganda tool through the Confucius Institute. Lampeter is a relatively quiet place. Our belief is that we need to offer an education that gives us an international and national reputation. Our future and that of our grandchildren are going to depend on Britain trading with China. If we don't build links now, Britain has a very bleak future."

Professor Xinzhong Yao, director of the Confucius Institute at Lampeter, agrees. "We make it very clear that we are independent of the Chinese government. We will not compromise our views on Chinese politics because we have a Confucius Institute." But it would be naive to say that this wasn't an issue at all for Confucius Institutes, says Tim Wright, professor of Chinese studies and executive board member of the Confucius Institute at Sheffield University. "China is less democratic than Britain or Germany. And because there are partnerships with universities in China, the independence is less clearcut. But the Chinese government is well aware of the danger of Confucius Institutes being perceived in this way. We are given more or less a free rein to do what we want. We ask what the weaknesses of China are, as well as the strengths. Someone who wished to undermine China might not be welcome at the institute, but then the British Council didn't exactly put on talks about the IRA."

Dr George Zhang, director of the Confucius Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, says the institutes are simply the Chinese government's way of making new friends. "China is not trying to take over the world. We don't have those sorts of ambitions. We invented gunpowder, but we used it for fireworks, not for missiles. The economic growth is there, it's about making friends."

Most of the institutes seem to steer clear of Chinese politics. Many, like Nottingham's, teach Chinese in local schools. The Confucius Institute at London South Bank University, which opens in September next year, plans to run courses in Chinese medicine and Chinese massage. Soas offers classes on Chinese calligraphy and how to make Chinese tea. The London School of Economics Confucius Institute, which opened in September, aims to promote Chinese for business. One of Lampeter's goals is to get 30 to 40 more Chinese students to its campus a year and to build "a bridge between China and Wales".

Financial uncertainty

Indoctrination may not be seen as a potential problem, but financial stability is. The Chinese government gives each university approximately £50,000 to set up a Confucius Institute and promises the same amount for two more years. But what about long-term funding, asks Shujie Yao, head of the school of contemporary Chinese studies at Nottingham University.

"There is some uncertainty as to how the institutes are going to be financed long-term," he says. "In Nottingham we are very keen to make the institute work - it's part of the university's strategy. My worry is it will take too long to get the institute into full gear because it is hard to get teachers to come and there is a shortage of Mandarin teachers."

"I share this concern," says Yao of Lampeter's institute. "The Chinese government has set aside a lot of money for Confucius Institutes. But how long will that continue? I worry about the institutes across the world. What will happen after three years? Will they continue to send teachers from China to our universities?"

Wright says: "If the expectation is that the institutes will self-fund after three years, that is totally unrealistic. The Chinese government has to accept that these institutes will require funding for a substantial period of time, 10 to 20 years perhaps."

Confucius Institutes in the UK each have a partner university in China for teacher and student exchanges. Relationships with some of these institutions are already under strain. Sheffield University says it wants more say over which teacher is appointed. Nottingham University is still waiting for its teacher from Fudan University in Shanghai to arrive.

These are mere teething problems perhaps. The first secretary for education at the Chinese embassy, Pinwei Qi, says: "there have been no problems. Many people want to learn about China and the Chinese language."

For the moment, Confucius Institutes are flavour of the month. And not just in education circles. Sheffield United football club has expressed an interest in hosting the next Confucius Institute business breakfast in its city. If a top football club sees the marketing potential, it's got to be worth universities giving it a try.