Lu Xinning Editor in chief for Op-ed section, People’s Daily [Photo: Global Times]
Editor in chief for Op-ed section, People's Daily
We used to need to write a long commentary about the achievements in reforming cultural systems, which we thought should be proved by Chinese culture going out to the world or the popularity of Chinese culture in the world. We tried hard to find the proof, which rarely existed. Finally we came to the publicity film broadcast in New York's Times Square. Another example we found is the Confucius Institute. A senior colleague, however, said the two could not represent the popularity of Chinese culture abroad. But he became speechless when I asked him for better examples.
Wang Yiwei Professor with Tongji University [Photo: Global Times]
Professor with Tongji University
The Nobel Prize for Literature is a prize of ideology. It is not objective. So Mo Yan winning the prize is an affirmation for both Chinese literature and China's rise at large. Why was the prize given to Mo rather than other people this year? The translations of Mo's literary works have been well accepted for a long time. The background is very important. China has been criticizing the West since the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was given to Liu Xiaobo.
The West must have felt that and began to make bargains through the prize.
Wang Hui Professor of Chinese language and literature, Tsinghua University [Photo: Global Times]
Professor of Chinese language and literature, Tsinghua University
We talk about culture because we find it is imbalanced while China's national strength has reached a certain level. But a weak country might have a deeper and wider culture than we expect. It is not proper to focus only on strong countries to study their cultures. Even in Chinese history, there were periods when the economic and military strength were relatively weak but the cultural influence was large.
The core behind a culture is value or whether we have our own value. The value is not only for us but for our understanding of society.
We talked a lot about rediscovering ourselves and criticizing the hegemony of Western culture in recent years.
But on the other hand, if we lack the description of the world and repeatedly illustrate ourselves, we will sink into a status of self-infatuation. The interaction is important.
China has done a lot of infrastructure in Africa in the past years, but criticism about it remains. So the problem is in spite of the efforts, African people know too little about the purpose behind those efforts. There is lack of illustration about the country's actions in Africa and about how it looks at the world, including Africa. It is important to sort out our comprehension of the world.