From Textbooks to Cultural Symbols: A Study on the Construction of China’s Image in the Textbooks of African Confucius Institutes

Abstract

Under the strategic background of China-Africa civilization mutual learning, the screening of cultural symbols and narrative strategy of Confucius Institute teaching materials, as the “first text” for African people to know China, directly affect the effectiveness of China’s
image construction. Based on the project “From Textbooks to Cultural Symbols: this paper focuses on the textbooks of African Confucius Institutes, and systematically deconstructs the coding logic of China’s image in the textbooks through the theoretical framework of cross-cultural
semiotics, analyzing its historical history, practical dilemmas, constraints, and optimization path. The study finds that the current textbooks are
characterized by unidirectional selection of cultural symbols, insufficient integration of local contexts, and lack of symbols of modernity, etc.
There is an urgent need to promote the reform of the textbooks through the strategy of bidirectional meaning integration and provide empirical
references for China-Africa cultural exchanges.