COMMUNICATING CHINA WITH THE WORLD

NEW DYNAMICS IN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Date and time: Saturday 6 July, 2019 , 9:00am - 4:00pm
Location: Faculty of Information Sciences, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Proposal deadline: May 15, 2019

Description:
As the second biggest economy, largely driven by global integration via export and import, and one of the oldest civilizations on the earth, China has been actively engaging with the world through multiple communication platforms. Since 2009, China’s state-supported media going out project caught global attention due to its fast expansion and complex geopolitical implications in transforming both global and regional communication orders. The Confucius Institute, another state-driven cultural project, is constantly disputed by internationally leading media with regard to its ambition in building China’s soft power abroad. Over the past few years, the population of cross-border Chinese tourists exceeded 100 million on an annual basis, which became a new carrier of information flow from China to the rest of the world, and vice versa. Due to massive people exchanges, the connection between China and the world intensified. In addition, China’s leading ICTs companies are accelerating the speed and enlarging the scale of globalization. Tik Tok, a mobile and social video platform, created by the ByteDance, a flagship private internet company featuring its capacity in artificial intelligence and algorithm, is harvesting fans worldwide. Though the fact that global internet platforms (e.g. Google, Facebook, and Twitter) are still not accessible in China, numerous global ICTs and cultural companies already have their strong presence in Chinese market. Therefore, a combination of both outside-in and inside-out perspectives is necessary to build a holistic view of communicating China with the world. The new dynamics brought by a globalizing China together with its multiple communication subjects in international communication also deserves international, transcultural, and trans-disciplinary scholarship.

This themed pre-conference aims to bring together international communication scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to rethink together about the multidimensionality of China’s communication with the world in both history and present. Contributions from international communication, international relations, international political economy, transcultural communication, international journalism, and other relevant disciplines are all welcome. Topics of abstract could include but not limited to:

• Historical trajectories and shifting paradigms in international communication

• International communication in the age of social media and algorithmic journalism

• Technical-driven international communication: impacts from AI, IoT and AR

• China’s media going out and its geopolitical implications

• China's companies going out and their international and transcultural communication

• Shaping the future of international journalism: the role of China’s news media

• Hollywood, Bollywood and the transformation of China’s film industries

• The global and the local of digital arts in China

• Social media in China and China’s social media

• China’s cultural trade deficit on rise?

• Confucius Institute and China’s cultural soft power

• Cross-border tourism and international communication

Call for proposals:

Abstracts should be between 300-500 words and submitted for peer review before May 15 to jideqiang@cuc.edu.cn or INC.IAMCR@gmail.com. Notification of acceptance will be announced on a rolling basis but no later than May 23. A selection of high-quality papers will be published afterwards as a special section in Global Media and China by Sage.

Registration and participation:

Participation in this pre-conference is free of charge, however, registration is required after proposal is accepted.

 
Convenors:
Deqiang Ji

Associate Professor, Communication University of China (jideqiang@cuc.edu.cn)

 
Karen Arriaza Ibarra

Professor, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (arriazaibarra@ccinf.ucm.es)

 
Organizers:
• IAMCR International Communication Section

• The National Centre for Communication Innovation Studies, Communication University of China

• The Faculty of Information Sciences, Universidad Complutense de Madrid