See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335925152
The New ‘Cat’ of the Internet: China’s Panda Diplomacy on Twitter ☆
Chapter · October 2019
DOI: 10.1108/S2398-391420190000004006
CITATIONS
3
READS
325
2 authors:
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
China's digital public diplomacy on Twitter View project
Social Network Analysis View project
Zhao Alexandre Huang
Université Gustave Eiffel
16 PUBLICATIONS30 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Rui Wang
Boston University
5 PUBLICATIONS32 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
All content following this page was uploaded by Zhao Alexandre Huang on 03 November 2020.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.
THE NEW ‘CAT’OF THE INTERNET:
CHINA’S PANDA DIPLOMACY ON
TWITTER
$
Zhao Alexandre Huang and Rui Wang
ABSTRACT
Using the theoretical frameworks of public diplomacy and public relations,
we mapped how the Chinese government has used panda imagery to build its
national brand on Twitter and how this ‘panda diplomacy’has facilitated its
para-diplomatic actions. Our findings uncover new attempts by the Chinese
government to engage in digital diplomacy. Mobilizing panda imagery on
Twitter enhanced friendly relations with foreign political leaders and people
and established a friendly and peaceful image of China on Twitter.
Keywords: China; public diplomacy; public relations; Twitter; panda;
attractiveness
INTRODUCTION
The giant panda has again become a tool of public diplomacy in China since the
closing ceremony of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. As a
‘national treasure’, the panda features prominently in promotional materials for
the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. In fact, displaying images of pandas
has long been a strategy of the Chinese government to enhance international
perceptions of the nation and to communicate its commitment to a peaceful rise
(Wang, 2016). Since Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972, panda diplomacy
Big Ideas in Public Relations Research and Practice
Advances in Public Relations and Communication Management, Volume 4, 6985
Copyright r2019 by Emerald Publishing Limited
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
ISSN: 2398-3914/doi:10.1108/S2398-391420190000004006
69
$
A metaphor to show that the panda has become a new favourite in social media.
has played a central role in Chinese international relations. To date, panda
diplomacy has fallen into four primary modes: (1) giving giant pandas to foreign
governments to build diplomatic relations, (2) sending giant pandas abroad for
short-term exhibitions, (3) ‘leasing’giant pandas to foreign governments and
(4) sending giant pandas abroad for scientific research and cooperation (Sun &
Xia, 2017).
According to Rebillard (2007), in the new millennium, the Web is a ‘configur-
ation’that large numbers of actors can use to produce various models (e.g. political,
economic, statistical, technical, sociological) for exploiting connections and appli-
cations. Others view social media as a space in which individuals negotiate and
manage their social relations (Hirsch & Silverstone, 2003); as a result, people living
in urban areas will operate more and more in mediatized environments. They
adopt and combine diverse communication technologies and modalities to stay
“perpetually”(Katz & Aakhus, 2002,p.xxii)and“multimodally”(Schroeder,
2010, p. 75) connected in their respective networks. The connectivity and inter-
activity of social media reinforce the circulation of information and emotion.
In fact, the emotional signals elicited by information are likely to become embed-
ded in the associative memory of individuals, thus serving as persistent guides for
the future (Mackuen, Miller, & Marcus, 2018). The rapid transmission of informa-
tion over social media enables the rapid transmission of emotional signals.
With regard to animal diplomacy, the Chinese government has encountered a
sea of new opportunities in social media. Unlike conventional animal diplomacy
(e.g. loaning pandas to foreign nations to attract target audiences), social media
can broadcast various types of panda imagery, along with implicit and explicit
messages, that potentially promote interaction with target audiences and stimu-
late public interest. In fact, on social media platforms (e.g. Twitter), Chinese
state-owned media have disseminated cute images and videos of pandas and
adopted a more proactive digital strategy (a) to enhance international image
of China among Internet users and (b) to circulate information with strong
political implications. This attempt by Chinese public diplomats to use social
networks for both animal diplomacy and public diplomacy has the potential to
expand the international influence and attractiveness of China.
In this study, we assessed how Chinese state-owned media used panda
imagery for digital public diplomacy through the lens of affective capitalism. In
the first part of the study, we proposed a conceptual framework incorporating
public diplomacy, affective theory and cognitive capitalism to guide our field
observations of digital panda diplomacy practice in China. Second, using both
quantitative and qualitative methods, we identified various ways that Chinese
state-owned media implemented panda diplomacy on Twitter, including specific
techniques, content and strategies.
DIGITAL PANDA PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN CHINA
Public diplomacy is an important concept in political science, international
relations, public relations and international communication and a frequent topic
of news stories in the media. However, conceptualizing public diplomacy is
70 ZHAO ALEXANDRE HUANG AND RUI WANG
difficult because its associated practices and ideologies are diverse. According to
political science scholars, public diplomacy, “one of the most salient political
communication issues”(Snow & Taylor, 2009, p. ix), is a means of soft power
consolidation in the nation-state (Keohane & Nye, 2012;Melissen, 2008;van
Ham, 2008) and “an instrument that governments use to mobilize soft power
resources for communicating with and attracting the foreign publics”(Nye,
2008, p. 95). Because effective public diplomacy often requires the support of
media frameworks or non-governmental communication campaigns,
Desmoulins and Huang (2017) detected a feature known as “track-II diplo-
macy,”that is “all non-diplomatic contacts and activities which unofficially
bring citizens or organizations together”in order to communicate political or
diplomatic positions, to establish transnational dialogue and even to exert influ-
ence (p. 1).
Public relations theorists have used the framework of strategic communica-
tion, country image and relation management to refine the primary purpose of
public diplomacy (Buhmann & Ingenhoff, 2015;Dolea, 2015;Fitzpatrick, 2007;
Fitzpatrick, Fullerton, & Kendrick, 2013;Ingenhoff, White, Buhmann, &
Kiousis, 2019;Zaharna, 2000, 2016). According to Huang and Arifon (2018),
public diplomacy is a:
national communication practice that seeks to affect, in a very gentle and hidden way, foreign
public opinion, to manage the nation’s diplomatic environment, to construct a positive
national image in the international arena, and to build mutual transcultural and transnational
understanding. (p. 46)
Signitzer and Coombs (1992) argued that both public diplomacy and public
relations have similar aims and tools for affecting public opinion. According to
Zhong and Lu (2013), public diplomacy “involves relationship management and
public relations tactics intended to effect change in foreign publics”(p. 543).
Gilboa (2016) defined public diplomacy as “people to people engagement on com-
mon or conflicting national and global interests”in a “post-truth”society (p. 1).
In Chinese political and academic discourse, the term public diplomacy is
generally replaced by the term wai xuan, meaning external propaganda, or
‘international public relations’. Although Western scholars have criticized the
idea of ‘propaganda’as restrictive access to information, the truncated or
misleading delivery of political facts, governmental disinformation, censorship
or fake news (Ollivier-Yaniv, 2010), in Chinese society, propaganda is a means
of ‘publicity’or ‘promotion’. More specifically, external propaganda has “a
positive connotation associated with such essentially benign activities as the
release of news, general shaping of ideology, or even advertisement or publicity”
(Wang, 2008, p. 259). Public diplomacy promotes China’s global image, defends
its national positions on various issues and circulates narratives about its
national dream. As a form of network communication in the social media age,
public diplomacy focuses more and more on information exchange and public-
centric communication (Zaharna, 2018). Chinese public relations scholars have
also recognized this new trend, underlining the essential role of international
grassroots movements in promoting favourable global perceptions of the
71The New ‘Cat’of the Internet: China’s Panda Diplomacy on Twitter
Chinese government (Chen & Liu, 2015;Zhou, 2010). They also suggested using
social media platforms to communicate directly with target audiences and to
improve coverage and delivery.
In recent years, some scholars have highlighted two revolutionary concepts in
public diplomacy: (1) the decisive role of public opinion and (2) the use of digital
communication technologies (Balzacq & Ramel, 2013;Pahlavi, 2013). Indeed,
as British diplomat Tom Fletcher (2016) claimed, diplomacy is Darwinian, par-
ticularly in the digital age; at the heart of public diplomacy is connectivity and
“authentic communication”(p. 150). From the co-creational perspective, public
diplomacy has already developed from a simple “top-down”to a “two-way
dialogic”model (Fitzpatrick, 2007, p. 203). Consequently, publics are seen as
“co-creators of meaning and communication as what makes it possible to agree
to shared meanings, interpretations, and goals”(Botan & Taylor, 2004, p. 652).
Based on previous findings, we proposed the following hypothesis:
H1. By integrating conventional ‘panda diplomacy’into ‘digital public
diplomacy’on Twitter, Chinese media enhanced the cognitive influence of
its national treasure and softened its online national image.
As a long-standing practice, “animal diplomacy”is “the use of live native
fauna […] for diplomatic purposes”(Cushing & Markwell, 2009, p. 255). Three
fundamental conditions are required for successful animal diplomacy: (1) visual
recognition of the animal, (2) its natural distribution and (3) its introduction to
target audiences (Hartig, 2013;Xing, 2010). However, the most important hall-
mark of successful animal diplomacy is favourable image recognition; the more
attractive the animal, the more that public exposure is likely to arouse a positive
response.
According to ethologist Lorenz (1943), who presented a schema of childlike
characteristics (i.e. Kindchenschema) in visual recognition, human beings have
feelings for animals with “juvenile physical configurations”: high and slightly
bulging forehead, large head, big eyes, round faces and short or stubby limbs.
These characteristics trigger “innate releasing mechanisms”for emotion and
nurturance in adults (Gould, 1979, p. 34). When people see an animal that has
babyish characteristics, such as a panda, which has “a round, rather fat face,
large black eye patches and a cuddly and clumsy appearance”(Schaller, 1994,
p. xvi), they are likely to have some universal reactions: a disarming feeling of
tenderness and a desire to hug, kiss and protect this innocent-looking animal.
Emotions are “an essential part of the human experience, and they can
convey significant messages”(Seaton & Wu, 2018, p. 3). As Ng and Kidder
(2010) argued, emotion is inseparable from the social life of a human being, for
emotion organizes the experience of creating and shaping cultural meaning.
Social media, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, have not only
made organizational and institutional communication more flexible, convenient
and cost-effective but have also reinforced symmetrical interaction, dialogue and
engagement, shaping and altering perceptions using message and emotion.
Beijing also enjoys the convenience of social networking. Through Twitter, the
72 ZHAO ALEXANDRE HUANG AND RUI WANG