Description
President XI Jinping recently issued instructions on the “high-quality development of philosophy and social sciences” to, according to China’s state-run news agency, “break the hegemony of Western discourse” and enhance China’s “cultural soft power”. President Xi’s instructions were rooted in a speech delivered ten years ago, which led to the recent publication of a handbook outlining the “autonomous systems of knowledge” of Chinese legal studies. Featuring how China’s “original theories” explain topics such as national security and human rights, this handbook will likely serve as an example when other “philosophy and social sciences” disciplines in China explore their ways to set up “autonomous systems of knowledge”. These developments, together with China’s growing population of foreign students, suggest that the country’s cultural soft power could grow rapidly and reshape geopolitics.
近日，中国国家主席习近平就“哲学社会科学高质量发展”作出了指示。据中国官方通讯社报道，指示背后蕴含着“深远考量”，其中之一是“打破西方话语霸权，提升[中国]文化软实力”。习主席的指示植根于十年前的一次讲话，该讲话引发了各种行动，包括近期出版的一套中国法学“自主知识体系”的手册。此手册阐释了中国的“原创性理论”如何解读国家安全、人权等议题。在中国其他“哲学社会科学”学科探索构建“自主知识体系”的路径时，该手册很有可能会成为借鉴的范例。这些发展，加上中国正在增长的留学生群体，意味着该国的文化软实力可能会迅速增强，并重塑地缘政治格局。
