The narrative of international communication theory in the new era needs to be integrated with the world.

　　Author: Guo Ke (Director and Professor, China International Public Opinion Research Center, Shanghai International Studies University)

　　On May 31st, 2021, when the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held the 30th collective study on strengthening China’s international communication ability, the Supreme Leader General Secretary pointed out that it is necessary to speed up the construction of China discourse and China narrative system, explain China’s practice with China’s theory, sublimate China’s theory with China’s practice, create new concepts, new categories and new expressions that integrate China and foreign countries, and more fully and vividly show China’s story and the ideological and spiritual strength behind it. The important speech of the Supreme Leader General Secretary has pointed out the direction and provided guidance for us to accelerate the construction of China discourse and China narrative system at a new starting point.

　　Theoretical narration is mainly based on the theoretical framework of China society and China scene. It is both a theoretical and a practical problem to establish and innovate the narrative system of international communication with China characteristics. In the new era, China needs to continue to increase the narrative innovation of international communication theory, and the core issue is to constantly pursue common integration with other countries in the great changes, and really jump out of the western narrative framework to tell the story of China well. Only in this way can we effectively innovate the narrative system of China’s international communication, thus creating a favorable external public opinion environment for China’s reform, development and stability, and making positive contributions to promoting the building of a community of human destiny.

　　First, the concept of community is the narrative moral peak of mutual integration between China and the world.

　　Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core has put forward the concept of community of human destiny, which has deepened the understanding of the nature of the world and effectively raised the moral peak of China’s international communication narrative.

　　The reason why the concept of the community of human destiny can become a moral peak to enhance China’s international communication narrative is that it can guide and refine public ideas that are beneficial to all mankind according to the situation, and provide public products that match it ("Belt and Road Initiative"), and put forward non-Western ideas that are independent of Western ideology, which provides guidance for China and the world to continue to maintain a common and harmonious situation. The concept of community not only provides China’s concept and China’s plan for reshaping the international communication order in theory, but also enhances self-confidence in international communication practice, which will effectively promote the common integration between China and other countries in the world.

　　It should be acknowledged that the narrative pattern of international communication dominated by western countries has not changed at present, and the situation of "strong in the west and weak in me" has not been fundamentally reversed. However, with the rapid increase of China’s comprehensive national strength and the continuous improvement of its international status, it is certain that China, as a "civilized country" with a huge population, a vast territory, a long historical tradition and a profound cultural accumulation, will surely have a profound impact on human society and the future of the world, and the "Dongsheng" trend of China’s international communication ability has been unstoppable.

　　Second, Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s successful practice is the source of narrative innovation.

　　The common integration of China and the world depends to a certain extent on whether China can effectively explain its own development model in international communication, and put forward a theoretical narrative based on China’s international communication practice to form a narrative system with China characteristics. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out at the symposium on philosophy and social science in 2016 that this is an era that needs theory and will certainly produce theory.

　　Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China society has made great achievements. China has changed from the country with the largest number of poor people in the world to the country with the largest number of people who have eliminated poverty in the world in the past 40 years; From a backward economy on the verge of collapse to the biggest contributor to global economic growth; From an inward-looking economy closed to the outside world to the world’s largest trading country. In a word, China is playing an increasingly important role in solving the major challenges facing the world. China’s social development achievements are not the result of applying western ready-made theories, and western theories can’t explain China’s practice well. These successful practices of Socialism with Chinese characteristics are the source of narrative innovation of China’s international communication theory, which can promote China’s practice and model to the world, and sublimate the narrative system of international communication with China characteristics in the process of mutual integration with the world.

　　In the past 10 years, under the guidance of the core tenet of "telling the story of China well and spreading the voice of China well", the international communication capacity building has achieved a series of great achievements through the cooperation of the central departments, news organizations and scientific research experts in universities, and produced a number of research results with both theoretical awareness and problem orientation. New platforms for international communication think tanks have emerged constantly, and a number of outstanding "international communicators" have emerged who can closely focus on China and the world and actively preach vivid cases of China’s development achievements in foreign practice.

　　However, we must realize that we are still faced with some practical difficulties, such as "we can’t tell the truth, we can’t spread it, we can’t spread it, and it’s hard to trust it". China can’t and shouldn’t become a testing ground for the society and media to verify the hypothesis of western theories, but should become an innovative place for independent knowledge. We should not only tell the story of China well, but also build a narrative system of China’s international communication theory in the process of mutual integration with the world.

　　In innovating the narrative of China’s international communication theory, we should first get rid of the excessive dependence on the western narrative system, consciously devote ourselves to the social practice scene in China, condense the theoretical narrative concept of China, and then return to the social practice in China to verify it. However, while adhering to the narrative framework of China issue and China, we should not exclude western experience and western knowledge system, and continue to absorb advanced international communication experience and mature knowledge achievements, including the West. Only in this way can we effectively handle the relationship between universality and particularity of global communication knowledge production, and exchange and learn from other countries in the world, including the United States and western countries, in an equal and common manner, so as to achieve the goal of commonality and integration with the world. Only in this way can we effectively innovate the theoretical narrative paradigm of international communication with China characteristics.

　　Third, promote common integration to become a worldwide narrative consensus of international communication.

　　In the process of international communication practice, we need to abandon prejudice, carry out international communication and intercommunication in a frank and open manner, and form a worldwide narrative consensus of international communication on the basis of achieving international understanding to the greatest extent. Therefore, in this sense, common integration can be regarded as both an important goal of China’s international communication and a means to achieve international communication.

　　First of all, China’s concept of common integration in international communication is helpful to gradually dispel the subject paradigm of "binary opposition" in American and western countries. For a long time, there has been a narrative system of "binary opposition" in the academic circles of western countries, such as East and West, "liberal and democratic" countries and "autocratic" countries, capitalist countries and socialist countries, and accordingly the whole world is divided into two camps. This dualism is also reflected in international communication. So far, the United States and western countries still regard themselves as the subjects of "democracy and freedom", and classify other countries as the "other" objects of "non-democracy and freedom", occupying the moral imagination and academic highland of self-superiority to "the other". In the international communication system dominated by the United States and the West, the eastern countries have always been subordinate to the western subject as objects, and the eastern world has fallen into the dilemma that "the East cannot express the East, and the East must be expressed by the West", thus forming an unequal relationship between the subject and the object between the West and the East.

　　As the representative of the Eastern countries and the second largest economy in the world, China is exerting a substantial influence on the binary opposition between the East and the West with its successful social practice and governance model, and is gradually challenging it. It can be said that China’s concept of community and the narrative of international communication theory are shaking the "binary opposition" system between the East and the West. At the same time, however, China also pays attention to treating the United States and western countries as equal members of the community, so as to seek the fullest international commonality and mutual understanding and achieve the strategic goal of international understanding.

　　Secondly, the concept of common integration can effectively integrate domestic multiple narrative fields and innovate the narrative theory and practice mode of international communication. On the one hand, it has always been the idea of China’s international communication that there are other international narrative practices inside and outside. However, with China approaching the center of the world stage and the popularization of information technology on the Internet, the situation that the international communication channels are clearly defined inside and outside has been gradually broken, and the information dissemination in China can easily cross national boundaries and become a narrative part of international communication. In the environment of international communication in the new era, the boundaries between internal and external differences are becoming more and more blurred, and the trend of internal and external narrative integration is becoming more and more obvious. This trend from international narrative practice with internal and external differences to internal and external narrative integration also puts forward the changes in the theoretical narrative framework and connotation of international communication, which is also the only way for China to move towards the common narrative integration of international communication theory to a certain extent. On the other hand, based on the concept of community and the practice of international communication, the concept of common and inclusive narrative can promote the transformation of China’s increasingly powerful theoretical narrative in the field of communication into a real force to transform the objective world, and provide an innovative choice for the theory and practice mode of international communication narrative and the integration of the world on the basis of further smoothing the common and inclusive national and international communication narrative.

Source: Guangming. com-Theory Channel