China Currents

This issue of China Currents is eclectic in nature, but the featured articles all relate to how China is trying to influence the world, how China’s historical experience weighs on the present, and how those outside of China are responding. Parama Sinha Palit examines how China, which has long carefully controlled messages that its own population receives, is using digital media in its public diplomacy aimed at the rest of the world. Vijaya Subrahmanyam, Usha Nair Reichert and China Currents Managing Editor Penelope Prime focus on how India is responding to China use of economic tools — specifically foreign investment — to gain influence in India’s home region. Andy Rodekohr turns to culture and analyzes the Netflix adaptation of the blockbuster Chinese novel, the Three Body Problem. Is it a problem that the Netflix version is widely viewed as not Chinese enough? China Research Center Director Hanchao Lu discusses how his book Shanghai Tai Chi: The Art of Being Ruled in Mao’s China, originally meant as a historical account, holds clues to the dynamics of the present moment. The issue also showcases, with a video and transcript, an excerpt from an interview Marketus Presswood did with the National Committee for U.S.-China Relations about his experience as a black student in China. China’s growing influence is a factor to be reckoned with everywhere, and these five offerings provide some touchstones to understand that phenomenon.