Who’s Afraid of China?

The Challenge of Chinese Soft Power

Michael Barr

If China suddenly democratised, would it cease being labelled as a threat? This provocative book argues that fears of China often say as much about those who hold them as they do about the rising power itself. It focuses not on the usual trope of economic and military might, but on China’s growing cultural influence and the connections between China’s domestic politics and its attempts to brand itself internationally. Using examples from film, education, media, politics, and art, Who’s Afraid of China? is both an introduction to Chinese soft power and a critical analysis of international reaction to it. It examines how the West’s own past, hopes, and fears shape the way it thinks about and engages with China and argues that the rising power touches a nerve in the Western psyche, presenting a fundamental challenge to ideas about modernity, history, and international relations.

Contents

• Introduction: On the Fear of China
1. Blinded by the Beijing Consensus
2. The New Cultural Revolution
3. A Media Offensive
4. Brand Confucius
5. Back to the Future?
6. All Under Heaven
7. The Yellow Man’s Burden
8. Imagined Power
 

About the Author

Michael Barr is Lecturer in International Politics at Newcastle University. In 2008 he was Visiting Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. His research investigates the implications of the rise of China, particularly issues impacting Sino-Western security relations. He has actively promoted awareness of the dual-use implications of biotechnology and has sought to help train life scientists and ethicists in China in order to minimize biosecurity risks. He has published on issues pertaining to Chinese soft power, biosecurity, the history of medical ethics and dual-use bioethics.