Putonghua and Language Harmony: China’s Resources of Cultural Soft Power

This paper investigates the interrelationship between the implementation of language policies and the development of cultural soft power in contemporary China by examining the Party-State’s utterances concerning these two policy areas. China’s official discourse on soft power enhancement shows that the Chinese leadership is targeting the domestic audience with the promotion of a higher level of faith in Chinese culture. In recent years, China’s language policy has featured among cultural policies promoted by the government with the aim of enhancing the role of culture as part of the country’s soft power. Ties between language planning and the concept of cultural soft power in this discourse are drawn out by sketching the regulatory framework of the former, the characteristics of the latter, and their relationships with China’s language practices. Aiming to contribute to the discussion regarding China’s language policy from the perspective of cultural soft power, this paper reflects on the Party-State’s vision of the dissemination of Putonghua and the harmonisation of China’s language life as cultural capital resources and explores the motives for the adoption of this dominant narrative.