The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation and Chinese Cultural Diplomacy during the Interwar Period

Abstract

AbstractIn the Interwar period, the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) of the League of Nations promoted international understanding and functioned as a cultural center for international communication. Chinese scholars and diplomats actively participated in the activities organized by the ICIC and utilized these as vehicles to establish broader international acknowledgment of China. The article argues that, in its role as a cultural center, the ICIC was not apolitical but shaped by different levels of political considerations. One important aim for Chinese scholars and diplomats had been to reconstitute the image of China in order to enhance its international status. Simultaneously, this reconstitution effort was also targeted towards domestic society. This article first focuses on Chinese diplomats’ attempts to fight for Chinese membership on the Committee of the ICIC. It then probes the negative aspect of this articulation, namely countering prejudices against China. The article considers how Chinese scholars had felt insulted by cultural prejudices and stereotypes and hence called for a new image of China. Finally, the article investigates the positive aspect of this articulation, namely the attempt to reconstitute a more favourable image of China, examining this reconstituted image and how it was disseminated within China.Keywords: International committee on intellectual cooperationChinese international imagecultural diplomacyinternational cultural orderSino-Western cultural relation AcknowledgementsWe sincerely thank the two reviewers for their careful and critical review of the article. 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Scaglia Ilaria, ‘The Aesthetics of Internationalism: Culture and Politics on Display at the 1935-1936 International Exhibition of Chinese Art’, Journal of World History, 26 (1) (2023), 105–37.97 Francesca Vanke, ‘Degree of Otherness: The Ottoman Empire and China at the Great Exhibition of 1851’ in A. Jeffrey Auerbach, Peter H. Hoffenberg (ed), Britain, the Empire, and the World at the Great Exhibition of 1851 (Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2013), 191–205.98 ‘Wo Guo Guhua zai Rineiwa Zhanlan’, Dagongbao (Tianjin), 4 Sept. 1934; ‘Rineiwa Zhongguo Huazhan Zuori Kaimu’, Dongnan Ribao, 13 Sept. 1934; ‘Rineiwa Zhongguo Yishuzhan’, Kexue Huabao 2 (10) 1934, 383; ‘Rineiwa Zhongguo Guoji Tushuguan Juban Shengda Chahui’, Huabei Ribao, 17 Nov. 1934; ‘Rineiwa Juxing Zhongguo Ertong Huitu Zhanlanhui’, Dongnan Ribao, 27 May 1935; ‘Zhongguo Guoji Tushuguan Juban Zhongguo Zhaopian Zhanlan’, Huabei Ribao, 2 Dec. 1935.Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by the International Joint Research Project of Huiyan International College, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. Grant Number [ICER2202102].Notes on contributorsKaiyi LiDr. Kaiyi Li is a Postdoctoral researcher at Leibniz Institute for Educational Media|Georg Eckert Institute in Germany. Her research focuses on the history of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, the transnational history of education in China, education and social transformation in contemporary China.Huimei ZhouProf. Dr. Huimei Zhou is a professor at Institute of Education History and Culture, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University in China. Her research focuses on the history of adult and mass education in China, the history of educational media, the Sino-western educational exchange.