Dialogue on Views on Civilization | Song Qi

Song Qi: International communication needs to find the "sharing" of "beauty in sharing"

In international communication, one important question that needs to be given special consideration is: Why should audiences from different countries listen to Chinese stories and understand Chinese civilization? The question of "what relevance do our stories have with the global public" has not been effectively addressed so far. 

In general, people in each country are primarily concerned with matters that are relevant to themselves. Compared to China or the United States, people in various countries actually place greater importance on their neighbors and communities. 

According to experts, to effectively tell Chinese stories, it is important to share stories like "Yumin Making Hydrogen Bomb". However, from the perspective of the Nepalese or Tanzanian people, they might question, "What does China's hydrogen bomb have to do with me?" Similarly, common concerns among young people in different countries often revolve around issues like "finding a job" or "going out to have fun". When telling Chinese stories, it is crucial to establish connections with the interests of these young individuals. In the grand context of global civilization competition and collaboration, international communication efforts need to significantly enhance the relevance between the content being communicated and the audience. 

We must achieve a transformation in international communication—from a strategic "defense" to a strategic "offense"—to understand the international dissemination of China's civilization perspective from this standpoint. Personally, in the process of civilizational exchange and dialogue, the focus of "defense" lies in explaining oneself. The main practices of defensive civilizational communication are as follows: First, telling our own stories. For example, sharing stories of poverty alleviation, economic development achievements, and so on. During my visit to the United Nations, I noticed a relatively wide corridor in the UN building that, for a period of time, displayed panels showcasing China's achievements in poverty alleviation. Second, countering negative international public opinion and emphasizing that we have been demonized and distorted. For instance, when the BBC used terms like "hellish filter" to describe us, we provide explanations and counterattacks. 

Although this approach of explaining oneself has achieved some results, the problem lies in the fact that defense is a passive strategy. Telling stories from one's own perspective often lacks audience relevance, which leads to the necessity of attaching other interests when sharing one's story in international communication. For example, advertising in Times Square requires a significant amount of financial investment. However, this approach doesn't yield very effective results. Overseas audiences have no obligation and little motivation to understand stories that are purely defensive in nature. In the competition of global civilizations, defense is not sufficient to protect oneself or provide attractiveness.

So, what does "strategic offense" mean? I believe that "offense" refers to the act of identifying global problems and proposing solutions through a set of values. The problems and solutions should have a strong sense of commonality, at least logically addressing the issues faced by humanity as a whole. It should demonstrate the value of our solutions to various countries while minimizing the emphasis on our own national characteristics in the storytelling process. Promoting national interests should be seen as an indirect or implicit effect of the proposed solutions. Under this premise, China's view on civilization is not just China's perspective, nor is it solely based on ancient Chinese civilization. It represents China's view on the development of global civilization.

We have been in a defensive state for too long in the realm of civilizational exchange, lacking proactivity in providing public value and establishing audience relevance. Therefore, in the process of promoting "strategic offense", it is important to focus on presenting the universal value we have discovered from a perspective that is widely applicable. 

During field research conducted in certain countries, I discovered that women in some nations face severe discrimination. To address this issue, we can raise the topic of women's liberation in a universal sense and discuss issues related to women's empowerment in developing countries or within Eastern civilizations as a whole. By addressing the challenges faced by women in other countries, they will naturally become interested in understanding China's experiences and learning from our knowledge. 

Another example is when I taught a class on the media market in China to a master's program in a developing country. Initially, the students found the topic quite shocking, but their interest quickly diminished, as they would think, "What does China's media development have to do with me?" However, on the other hand, if I discuss how developing countries can promote media market development and contribute to solving social issues, their interest increases once again.

This is about constructing relevance with different countries through addressing common challenges, rather than adopting a self-centered "strategic defense". It is not a one-way imposition but a respectful exchange of civilizations that recognizes the agency of each country. It is important to combine the principles of "audience-centered" and "self-centered" approaches, without favoring one over the other.

In general, in the competition and collaboration of global civilizations, we need to achieve a strategic shift from "strategic defense" to "strategic offense", moving from explaining ourselves and telling our own stories to discussing global issues and solutions, and promoting public values that are relevant to various countries. After appreciating the beauty of diversity and individual cultures but before reaching the concept of "Great Harmony", there is a crucial stage of "beauty in sharing". How China can find this element of "sharing" to achieve "beauty in sharing" poses a challenge that tests the wisdom of scholars in this generation.