Friday, April 12, 2013

Born the year of the Tiger, a new Tiger? Possible branding opportunity for China?


There's a new golf sensation. At fourteen years old and in his first professional tournament, China's Guan Tianlang is the youngest Master's participant in history.

Couple that with China's ongoing push for public diplomacy, such as this news article from a Chinese paper earlier this week. And China's history of PD involvement, such as the article we read for class this week by Zou Quinan and Mo Jinwei.  They point out how China has been actively engaging in PD since the late 1990s as its image has not grown at a rate consistant with its economy.  As a result many Chinese scholars began strategically studying the role of soft power and public diplomacy.  That being said, the Chinese concept of PD is different than that of the US.  While Americns focus on engagment, inform and influence on behalf of US interests, the Chinese are much more interested in communicating their culture through media and internet.

So, during the Masters this year, Guan is all over the media and internet.  He's the subject of multiple sports columns and articles such as this one, in which the reporter writes, "I thought of the warm, engaging boy with the majestic swing who routinely occupied the driving range stall next to my own." "Golf had been banned in China until 1984, but now is growing amongst China's middle class, and Guan is the face of that.  I'm looking forward to seeing how China capitalizes on him to help brand itself internationally.


1 comment:

  1. The readings for this week focus on China’s public diplomacy efforts which are focused around building soft power, through cultural diplomacy initiatives such as exchanges, teaching Chinese language around the world, Chinese arts and national symbols, and of course as you mention, sports. Qingan Zhou’s article that we read this week, How 21st century China Sees Public Diplomacy As a Path to Soft Power, speaks of how “what China needs are images of individuals with which the overseas public can identify. Such individuals can, and should be, ordinary people”. The author uses this example in contrast to Western sports figures who are used to related to Chinese publics through sports, such as Michelle Kwan and Cal Ripken. Perhaps this young golfer is just such a person that China is looking for.

    As you mention, China’s PD focuses on communicating its culture to the world (through various PD tools of exchange, language learning, international broadcasting, etc.), but should they also be focusing on other areas of culture? As Phil Seib points out in his article China’s embrace of Cultural Diplomacy, culture is more than language and arts [and sports] it “affects attitudes toward human rights, environmental matters, and many other issues.” Qingan Zhou’s article states that “public diplomacy has only exerted a limited influence on the national image of China”. My questions, then, are is focusing on cultural products such as language, arts and sports sufficient for strengthening soft power and building national image, or should China focus on addressing other aspects of culture as well?

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