China’s Image Cultivation through Cultural Diplomacy: An Assessment of the Impact of the Confucius Institutes on Kenyan Publics’ Perception of China

This article examines China’s image cultivation through cultural diplomacy. It focuses on the Confucius Institute (CI) in Kenya with a view of conceptualizing the impact of these institutes on the Kenyan public’s perception of China. The article pivots on the soft power theory and applies a mixed methods approach comprising quantitative and qualitative research. As such it uses positivist and interpretivist methods. The data for this study was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The informants were 400 Kenyans from ten cohort categories; government ministries, media, private sector (informal business), private sector (formal business), universities, religious organizations, civil society, county government, security sector and political parties. The results indicate that CI has had a diminutive impact on the enhancement of China’s national image among the Kenyan public from all categories. This shows that China’s cultural soft power projection through the CI demands improvement, especially to encourage Kenyans to attend the institutes.