Han Han: Three Paths to Enhancing the Communication and Influence of Chinese Civilization
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030) is a critical five-year window for our country to consolidate the foundation and exert full force toward basically achieving socialist modernization. As the global political and economic landscape undergoes profound adjustments and the new generation of information technology revolution accelerates its evolution, the external communication of Chinese civilization faces a favorable historical conjuncture—characterized by the decline of Western discourse hegemony and the rise of the Global South—yet it also confronts severe challenges in moving from "breaking the stalemate" to "establishing a new paradigm," and from extensive scale coverage to deep-seated identification. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China (hereafter referred to as the Outline) proposes: "Accelerate the construction of a Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative system, enhance the effectiveness of international communication, strengthen external cultural exchanges and cooperation, and present a Chinese image that is credible, lovable, and respectable." Enhancing the communication power and influence of Chinese civilization is a major undertaking for our country's cultural construction during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. To effectively elevate this power and influence during this period, identifying the correct paths is key.
The first critical path is to use solid area and country studies knowledge as a cornerstone to solve the problem of "cognitive discount" in cross-cultural communication. The core difficulty of external communication lies in the "cultural discount" [1]. Generally speaking, this refers to the reduction in value of a cultural product as it flows across borders due to the specific cultural context in which it is rooted. To reduce this discount, one must deeply understand the target country's history, culture, social psychology, media habits, and practical concerns. For a long time, China's external communication has suffered to some extent from a "one-size-fits-all" [2] extensive approach, leading to a misalignment between communication content and audience expectations. The Outline emphasizes "strengthening area and country studies," marking a new stage of refinement and specialization in international communication work. Only by deeply cultivating area and country studies can we achieve a strategic transformation from "wide-net extensive fishing" to "precision intensive farming." Specifically regarding the enhancement of Chinese civilization's communication power during the "15th Five-Year Plan," we should focus on promoting transitions at three levels: knowledge production, strategy formulation, and effect evaluation.
To be specific, at the level of knowledge production, we must transcend news-report-style information collection and move toward deep academic research, establishing a system of country-specific communication think tanks covering major countries and regions—especially Global South nations—to deeply decode the thought patterns and value systems of different civilizations. At the level of strategy formulation, we need to advance "one policy for one country" or even "one policy for one region" based on area study results. Based on the development stages and interest demands of different countries, Chinese experiences and solutions should be placed within the local context of the counterpart for creative transformation. At the level of effect evaluation, we must establish a regional-based monitoring network for communication effectiveness, shifting from pursuing quantitative targets like publication volume and coverage area to effectiveness targets such as awareness, reputation, and identification.
Briefly put, to make "story-listeners" accept Chinese stories, we must tell those stories in ways they find easy to accept. Recently, some Western journalists with biases against China have begun to "give a thumbs up" [3] to China’s new energy achievements; behind this shift is precisely our telling of the story of new energy development. Just a few press releases about technology and enterprises generated a significant response in the West. This "using four ounces to move a thousand pounds" [4] approach is exactly how "cognitive discount" is broken.
The second critical path is to promote the bidirectional integration of culture and technology, building an all-media communication system adapted to the era of intelligent communication. Understanding this path lies in recognizing that technology is no longer an auxiliary tool for communication but a core variable reshaping the logic of communication—that is, by strengthening the empowerment of digital intelligence technology, we use "technological hard power" to catalyze a generational leap in "cultural soft power." The Outline proposes to "promote the digital-intelligence empowerment and informational transformation of cultural construction." Currently, a new round of technological revolution, represented by generative AI, is profoundly reshaping the media ecosystem. The shift from "people looking for information" to "information looking for people," along with the maturity of immersive experience technologies like virtual reality, provides a historical opportunity for international communication to "overtake on a curve" [5].
To enhance the communication power and influence of Chinese civilization during the "15th Five-Year Plan," we should focus on two major innovative directions. First is the deep integration of AI at the content production end. We must utilize AI-driven cross-linguistic content generation, global public opinion analysis, and personalized distribution to tell Chinese stories with unprecedented efficiency and precision. The rise of domestic large models such as DeepSeek has already proven that technological hard power can serve as a solid foundation for cultural communication. Second is the immersive innovation at the communication form end. Relying on technologies such as virtual reality and digital twins, we should build interactive cultural experience spaces like digital museums, ensuring overseas audiences can "see it, understand it easily, and be willing to share it." Targeting young demographics such as Gen Z, we should be adept at using emerging vehicles like micro-dramas, games, and animation.
The Outline clearly states the need to "promote the expansion of high-quality web literature, online games, film and television animation, and boutique exhibitions overseas." Relevant public data shows that the core leading role of online games is prominent. In 2025, overseas revenue from self-developed products reached $20.455 billion, a volume far exceeding the $2.38 billion for micro-dramas in the same period and the 4.815 billion RMB for web literature in 2024. Moreover, as of early 2026, Chinese online games have entered more than 100 countries and regions. Works represented by Genshin Impact and Where Winds Meet have accumulated stable player groups globally. With the development of AI and other related technologies, online games will undertake an important role in better telling Chinese stories.
The third critical path is to cultivate a diverse multi-subject narrative ecosystem—including government, media, enterprises, think tanks, artists, and ordinary citizens—to ensure the telling of Chinese stories continues endlessly. This ecological communication possesses stronger resilience, penetration, and affinity. In a global communication field where information is highly diffused and subjects are increasingly diverse, the "solo" of mainstream media is no longer enough to cover the entire domain. The Outline emphasizes "improving the systems and mechanisms for international communication" and "constructing a multi-channel, multi-dimensional external communication pattern," the underlying logic of which is to activate the communication potential of the entire society. Building this ecosystem requires efforts from three dimensions: enterprises, localities, and "external brains."
First, leverage the unique role of enterprises as communication carriers. Enterprises are the subjects of the market and the pioneers of cross-cultural interaction. Through localized operations, social responsibility practices, and public welfare projects, enterprises can transform infrastructure projects into symbols of "people-to-people connectivity." More cultural enterprises and excellent cultural products should be encouraged to go global, implementing brand strategies so that the value concepts embedded in products gain subtle recognition during consumption.
Second, take the activation of local and grassroots forces as a precursor. The traditional view holds that local historical and cultural resources and locational advantages are a "rich mine" [6] for telling Chinese stories; creating characteristic urban international calling cards is an effective path to enhance cultural soft power. In the digital intelligence era, even greater attention should be paid to "places" and "grassroots forces" in the virtual world, especially overseas communities on self-media platforms, supporting interaction between civil society forces and overseas citizens in virtual spaces.
Third, the key is to make good use of "external brains" and network resources. Whether it is the first-person perspective experiences of overseas influencers like "IShowSpeed" [7] during trips to China, or inviting international dignitaries and renowned scholars to speak on our behalf [8], these can build a more credible cross-cultural chain of trust. When more and more foreign institutions and creators actively participate in Chinese-themed creation, the Chinese narrative becomes embedded in the global chain of cultural production, gaining the vitality for autonomous growth.
Among the three paths for enhancing the communication power and influence of Chinese civilization, precision communication based on area and country studies provides the prerequisite for "to whom we speak"; innovative communication with digital intelligence technology as the engine is the key to "how we speak"; and ecological communication characterized by diverse subjects is the guarantee for "who speaks." Only by constructing these three mutually supporting, organically unified, and internally related paths can we collectively point toward building a more effective international communication system, allowing Chinese civilization to radiate new brilliance in exchange and mutual learning with other civilizations, thereby injecting deep and lasting cultural strength into the promotion of a community with a shared future for humanity.