THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF CHINESE CULTURE IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE中国文化在尼日利亚的传播现状:以纳姆迪·阿奇克韦大学孔子学院为例

Abstract

With the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative and the sustained development of China-Nigeria relations, Chinese culture has attracted increasing attention among learners in Nigeria. As an important platform for Chinese language education and cultural exchange, the Confucius Institute provides Nigerian students with practical access to Chinese language and culture. Taking the Confucius Institute at Nnamdi Azikiwe University as a case study, this paper draws on cultural dissemination theory and Lasswell's 5W model to examine the communicator, content, channels, audience, and effects of Chinese cultural dissemination. The study adopts questionnaires, interviews, and participant observation. A total of 115 valid student questionnaires and 10 valid teacher questionnaires were collected, and interviews were conducted with four teachers and the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute. The findings show that students generally hold positive attitudes toward Chinese culture and cultural activities, especially Chinese festivals, food culture, traditional music and dance, and experiential activities. Chinese language courses, cultural activities, and social media constitute major channels through which students encounter Chinese culture. Teachers commonly integrate cultural elements into language teaching and regard cultural instruction as helpful for improving students' motivation and intercultural understanding. However, cultural dissemination is still constrained by insufficient teaching staff, heavy teaching workloads, limited facilities and activity resources, insufficient publicity, high student mobility, and the difficulty of understanding certain cultural topics. The paper therefore suggests optimizing cultural course content, increasing the regularity and inclusiveness of cultural activities, strengthening online and offline publicity, deepening the interaction between Chinese culture and Nigerian local culture, and improving teaching resources and infrastructure so as to enhance the effectiveness of Chinese cultural dissemination in Nigeria.