Abstract
Despite the vast body of research on Confucius Institutes as tools of soft power and public diplomacy, little attention has been given to the question of how students might be affected by teaching material and personnel controlled by the Chinese party-state. This study is based on three months of fieldwork in a German high school, and interviews with more than 50 individuals. It describes in detail the process of institutionalization of Chinese language classes in a German high school, offering the first such analysis of how Confucius Institutes circumvent the difficulties presented by Germany’s federal system to establish a presence inside a school. It furthermore develops a typology of different CI types in Germany, thereby providing a new framework for the analysis of the Confucius Institute phenomenon. It distinguishes between three different CI types: The host-dominated type, the ideal type, and the Hanban-dominated type. From the editing and publishing of Hanban teaching material, to its introduction to and application inside a German high school, this thesis shows how Hanban-commissioned and –sanctioned textbooks as well as CI teachers were received by students and how students’ perceptions of China changed strongly over the years. A minority of students even showed signs of pro-authoritarian tendencies, arguing in favor of one-party-rule and questioning the Chinese people’s ability for democracy. The findings of this thesis will hopefully prompt a re-thinking of how local governments and school administrations deal with the issue of foreign influence on school curricula and teaching.