An Explorative Study On Intercultural Competence Of Chinese Directors Of The Confucius Institute Under The Confucian Humanism Paradigm

As one of the most important efforts for Chinese culture going global,the Confucius Institute has received extensive attention from scholars of different fields since its establishment in 2004.Previous studies have almost exclusively focused on topics at the institutional level mainly discussing the ability of the Confucius Institute to promote Chinese language and culture.There has been very little research reported on intercultural competence of Chinese directors of the Institutes emphasizing the individual level.Intercultural competence of Chinese directors directly determines whether the Confucius Institute can play its role,or to what extent it can help in the efforts to promote cultural exchange between China and the rest of the world.Without considering the active role of Chinese directors in the discussion of the Confucius Institute,studies could be too superficial to reflect the real-world scenarios.With the development of Intercultural Communication studies in China,scholars in this field have begun to construct the indigenous theory applicable to the Chinese context.At the same time,the necessity of developing more indigenous theories has also been accepted by many western scholars who have recognized the negative impacts from westerndominated paradigm in this field.Therefore,the rapid development of the Confucius Institute,the scarcity of studies on Chinese directors of the Confucius Institute,and the necessity of calling for more indigent theories in Intercultural Communication field explain the research background of this dissertation.To satisfy the practical needs and the needs of theoretical development,this study was conducted to explore intercultural competence of Chinese directors of the Confucius Institute under the Confucian Humanism Paradigm.Built on the thoughts expressed in The Analect and The Great Learning,the conceptual framework of Confucian Humanism has been constructed with “Ren” at its core.Under this paradigm,an exploratory research was carried out to discuss Chinese Directors' intercultural competence.The grounded theory was adopted as the research method in collecting and analyzing data.After the exploration going through the stages of analysis and summary,comparison and interaction,verification and correction,a theoretical model of Chinese Directors' intercultural competence was put forward.The significance of this study can be understood from the following three aspects.First,it reveals the ideological and theoretical value of Confucianism for intercultural communication studies.Second,it is a meaningful attempt to explore the indigenous study of intercultural competence.Last,it has contributed to the construction of an indigenous theory of intercultural competence which could provide guidance for a large-scale quantitative research.The findings of the study can be summarized as follows.First,the Confucian Humanism Paradigm could serve to integrate all existing paradigms in intercultural communication studies for resolving the conflicts between different paradigms.Second,the study comes up with a "Ren" conceptual framework to integrate the multi-level and multi-dimensional meaning of the concept of “Ren”,which includes four dimensions: Ren as personal traits of sense of mission and duty to the nation,the society,and other people,Ren as mental state for a specific event,which is an attitude dissolving the limitations between self and others,between self and environment,Ren as moral practices to fulfil the mission and duty to the nation,the society,and other people,and Ren as specific actions to respond or realize an event.Third,a research approach which holds applicability to the indigenous study and empirical significance was developed.By fine-tuning the coding method of the grounded theory,this study not only avoids the practice of imposing existing theories on empirical data,but also enhances the interaction and connection between the Directors' practical experience and the theory of Confucianism.Fourth,the study describes the Chinese deans' experience and generalizes the commonness shared by the excellent directors,including ability to solve conflicts strategically,ability to prompt the Confucius Institute by creating opportunities of win-win for both sides,sense of mission,and duty to the nation with which self is integrated,the kindness without considering their own interests when interacting with other people.Last,from the perspective of the study,under the Confucian Humanism Paradigm,intercultural competence of Chinese directors of the Confucius Institute could be cultivated in either the long term or the short term.It can be acquired through learning and absorbing Chinese traditional wisdom in the process of socialization.It can also be obtained through reflective thinking from one's own perspective and others' when managing conflicts in the workplace.