Chinese Soft Power and Media Discussion and Updates

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luminary

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Another city in Brazil listed Chinese New Year as an official holiday
Iguazu, a famous tourist city in southern Brazil, signed a bill officially listing Chinese New Year as an official holiday in the city, the city mayor Chico Brasileiro announced on Sunday local time.

The city Iguazu has kept an annual tradition of celebrating the Chinese New Year since 2019, according to a news release on the city council's website.

Iguazu City Councilor João Morales, the initiator of the motion, proposed the Chinese New Year as an official holiday, adding that the inclusion is a great way to bring Chinese culture to the locals. The motion was passed unanimously by the city council on February 14.

The city of Iguazu is located in the south of Brazil, near the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, and is the second most visited city in Brazil. The city is known worldwide for the Iguazu Falls, one of the three largest waterfalls in the world.

Recife, was the first city in Brazil to establish the Chinese New Year as an official holiday when the city council passed a bill in September 2022 to include Chinese New Year in the city's official calendar. This is also the first time that Recife has established an official holiday related to China, following the establishment of the August 15 diplomatic relations day between China and Brazil as "Chinese Immigrants' Day" in 2019.

In January, a series of activities were held in many places in Brazil to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit and the Lantern Festival, attracting the enthusiastic participation of many local overseas Chinese and Brazilian people.
 
FairAndUnbiased

FairAndUnbiased

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TK3600 said:
Can diplomacy and diplomatic reputation count as soft power? If so, then the recent Iran and Saudi deal deserves a mention.

In my opinion those count more than anime.
Click to expand...
True, but why not both? Anime and sci-fi movies for the entertainment, diplomacy for reals. I think it's important to promote anime and sci-fi movies to prevent fascists and imperialists from monopolizing entertainment and rewriting history.
 
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As Russia seeks to tighten ties with China amid Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine, the number of Burobin's students has tripled over the past year.

Natalia Danina, a manager at HeadHunter, the country's top online recruitment company, said that last year there were nearly 11,000 vacancies requiring knowledge of the Chinese language, a 44 percent increase compared to 2021. Over the same period, the number of jobs for Chinese speakers in Russia has doubled in sales, transport and logistics, said Danina, pointing to an "accelerated transition" to Chinese-made equipment and spare parts.

Burobin, who also studies Eastern civilisations at a top Moscow university, said that he was happy to help his students learn more about "a whole new world". "Russians are taking up Chinese because Beijing has become our main partner for decades to come," he said. "And this is just the beginning." Many young people in Russia hope to study in Chinese universities now that many European establishments had become "inaccessible to them".

In August, Avito, Russia's leading online classified ads platform, reported a 138 percent increase in requests for Chinese lessons in Moscow in one year. The same figure stood at 350 percent for the far eastern city of Vladivostok.

One student is Maria, a 22-year-old designer who dreams of travelling to China to make her clothes there because it is "cheaper than in Russia". Another student is a 25-year-old gym coach, Ivan, who wants to work in China because Europeans "are paid very well" there.

The number of high school students who chose Chinese as a foreign language during their final school exams has doubled in one year to 17,000, according to the state education watchdog Rosobrnadzor.

The popularity of Chinese classes might be starting to catch up with English classes in the country.

Many language schools have revised their curricula and invited teachers of the Chinese language. Founded in 2017, the ChineseFirst language centre has seen twice as many registrations this year, said its co-founders, Wang Yinyu, 38, and his Russian wife Natalia, a 33-year-old Chinese speaker. Wang's family business is booming, and he is planning to open two new branches and a kindergarten in Moscow.

"Many companies have rushed to Chinese factories to order goods that have become unavailable in Russia due to sanctions," he told AFP in Russian. And Chinese entrepreneurs, who are interested in exporting to Russia, are looking for bilingual employees.
 
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