La cultura come risorsa di soft power e industria pilastro dell’economia cinese

This paper aims to analyze how the role of culture has been represented in the official discourse on soft power enhancement produced in the People’s Republic of China since the Nineties. A selection of examples drawn from political reports and government documents will retrace the evolution of this narrative showing how Party-State guidelines represent culture as the core of China’s soft power, progressively developing a more prominent focus on the cultural sector as a pillar industry of the economy. Along China’s path towards achieving “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and becoming a “socialist cultural great power”, the cultural industry has been attributed the function of essential tool for soft power wielding both at home and abroad. The emerging discourse pinpoints the contribution to the overall growth of the country that strategic operations pertaining to cultural soft power enhancement offer in spiritual, economic, and foreign policy terms.