Introduction

Building relationships and the perceptions of businesses，political leaders，and everyday citizens of the countries China is engaging with will be key to consolidate China’s role globally. Behind all the achievements of China’s international economic development，the role of cultural diplomacy and soft power initiatives are fundamental pillars to increasing a greater sense of understanding in the international community. With a diversified actor structure in China，the ways and forms cultural diplomacy works in the different national settings is tied to more complex realities. This paper explores the institutional set-ups and mechanisms guiding cultural diplomacy in China and China’s cultural diplomacy in two different geographical regions：Brazil as an emerging and Germany as an industrialized country.[1]

To begin with，there are few comparative studies available on comparative cultural diplomacy impacts in the setting of Chinese foreign policy and wider public diplomacy efforts. Hartig（2014）shows that Confucius Institutes in African countries differ when compared to the settings of Confucius Institutes on other continents. For example，the role of foreign aid has been specifically linked to Confucius Institutes and China’s foreign policy agenda（Hartig，2014）. This just underscores how important it is to engage in cross-regional explorative research by asking how China’s cultural diplomacy contributes to China’s desired international image-building and how this differs across different countries. To address these issues，this approach will situate cultural diplomacy in Chinese political and academic thinking； assess Chinese cultural diplomacy efforts in Brazil and Germany and review data on the image of China in Brazilian and German public opinion.[2]Given that cultural diplomacy is multidimensional，underpinned by different socio-political issues，the paper by no means is exhaustive. Rather，it aims to contribute to a growing field of comparative studies on China’s cultural diplomacy abroad.