Wei Ye – författare

China’s rise as an aid provider in Africa has caught global attention, with China’s activity being viewed as the projection of soft power of a neo-colonialist kind in an international relations context. This book, which focuses on China’s education aid—government scholarships, training, Confucius Institutes, dispatched teachers, etc., reveals a much more complicated picture. It outlines how the divide between the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education hinders China’s soft power projection, how much of China’s aid is bound up with an education-for-economic-growth outlook, mirroring China’s own recent experiences of economic development, and how China’s aid—prioritized to reflect the commercial sector’s interests—is out of step with most international development aid, which is dominated by education agendas and the campaigns of international organizations and traditional donors; this leaves China easily exposed to the charge of neo-colonialism. This situation also reveals insufficient knowledge production of China and in South-South Cooperation. Substantial production of Southern knowledge should recognize the international development cooperation architecture as an open system by which both traditional donors and Southern countries transform.

China’s rise as an aid provider in Africa has caught global attention, with China’s activity being viewed as the projection of soft power of a neo-colonialist kind in an international relations context. This book, which focuses on China’s education aid—government scholarships, training, Confucius Institutes, dispatched teachers, etc., reveals a much more complicated picture. It outlines how the divide between the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education hinders China’s soft power projection, how much of China’s aid is bound up with an education-for-economic-growth outlook, mirroring China’s own recent experiences of economic development, and how China’s aid—prioritized to reflect the commercial sector’s interests—is out of step with most international development aid, which is dominated by education agendas and the campaigns of international organizations and traditional donors; this leaves China easily exposed to the charge of neo-colonialism. This situation also reveals insufficient knowledge production of China and in South-South Cooperation. Substantial production of Southern knowledge should recognize the international development cooperation architecture as an open system by which both traditional donors and Southern countries transform.

In this book the author explores the work and living experiences of Confucius Institute Chinese teachers (CICTs) in the UK, how they interpret and make sense of their sojourning experience, and how this context and the wider globalised social environment have impacted on their understandings and their personal growth. Because of their betwixt and between situation, the CICTs’ stories differ from those of other immigrants, international students and pre-service student teachers, who have been the main focus in L2 identity research. The book offers new insights into the Confucius Institutes (CI) with real life stories from teachers drawn from blogs, interviews and focus groups, drawing attention in the process to weaknesses of the CI programme and offering suggestions for ways forward which will be of interest to both stakeholders and those responsible for future international exchange programmes.

In this book the author explores the work and living experiences of Confucius Institute Chinese teachers (CICTs) in the UK, how they interpret and make sense of their sojourning experience, and how this context and the wider globalised social environment have impacted on their understandings and their personal growth. Because of their betwixt and between situation, the CICTs’ stories differ from those of other immigrants, international students and pre-service student teachers, who have been the main focus in L2 identity research. The book offers new insights into the Confucius Institutes (CI) with real life stories from teachers drawn from blogs, interviews and focus groups, drawing attention in the process to weaknesses of the CI programme and offering suggestions for ways forward which will be of interest to both stakeholders and those responsible for future international exchange programmes.