Strengthening International Communication Capacity Building: Discourse, Narrative and Public Opinion Guidance

. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed during the 30th collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that we should have profound understanding on the importance and necessity of strengthening and improving international communication work under the new situation, and make great efforts to strengthen international communication capacity building and form an international discourse that matches our comprehensive national power and international status. International communication capacity building has become an important task for China at present. This paper makes intellectual inquiries to explore three paths for strengthening international communication capacity building in an hope to providing references and lessons for strengthening international communication capacity building: (1) Breaking the discourse construction of China by the Western discourse system and building a Chinese discourse system based on Chinese perspective and human perspective. (2) Telling Chinese stories with Chinese discourse and forming a Chinese narrative system. (3) Making Chinese voices with Chinese discourse, guiding the official public opinion field and spreading the private public opinion field to improve international public opinion guidance.


Introduction
The world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. Global political and economic power is gradually shifting from the West to the East, with the rise of Western counterglobalization, populism, and trade protectionism, particularly in the political and cultural fields. Former U.S. President Donald Trump positioned China as the foremost strategic competitor challenging U.S. power, interests, and influence in the U.S. National Security Strategy Report released in 2017 [1]. Current President Biden's foreign policy address in 2021 described China as the "most formidable competitor" facing the United States and a challenge to U.S. prosperity, security, and democratic values [2].
Under this strategy toward China, western countries, led by the United States, compete with China in the fields of economy, science and technology, diplomacy, and public opinion. Some western media have included Chinese issues in the framework of negative reporting and fabricate false news on issues such as territorial sovereignty, democracy and human rights, and epidemic prevention and control: At the beginning of the pandemic outbreak, some Western media referred to the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus" and Wuhan as a "ghost town" before a clear conclusion was reached on the traceability of the virus, which seriously deviated from their consistent claim of objectivity and impartiality. Other Western media have maligned China's humanitarian aid as a way to gain allies, with the New York Times citing an anonymous source in "China's Coronavirus Battle Is Waning. Its Propaganda Fight is Not" to claim that "China's aid to the continent was a mask for its geopolitical ambitions. The pandemic was part of China's plan to 'dominate the world'" [3]. Western media continue to negatively portray China's image, which has led to a decreasing favorable perception of China among the Western public. The U.S. Pew Research Center has released several China impression surveys in recent years, with the results of the 2018 survey showing that 47% of respondents had a negative impression of China, rising to 60 percent in 2019 and 73 percent in 2020. The 2021 results show that 89 percent of respondents see China as a "competitor" or "enemy" rather than a "partner" [4].

Literature Review
Since the 18th National Congress, the academic community has paid increasing attention to international communication capacity building. After General Secretary Xi Jinping gave guidance on strengthening and improving international communication in 2021, building a Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative system and enhancing international public opinion guidance have become hot topics in the academic community. Starting from the literature related to the content of this paper and with similar research purposes, the author summarizes the content and achievements of previous studies and sorts out the academic space to be added or improved in order to establish the scope and direction of this paper's research analysis, mainly from three aspects: research on building a Chinese discourse system, research on building a Chinese narrative system, and research on strengthening the guidance of international public opinion.

Research on Building a Chinese Discourse System
The current academic research on building a Chinese discourse system focused on two major aspects: dilemmas and measures. In terms of dilemmas, firstly, the long-term shaping of China by Western discourse has hindered the construction of a Chinese discourse system. Cheng Manli pointed out that the stereotypes of China formed since the Opium War based on Western-centric thinking have been shaped by Western media and film productions to this day [4]. Hong Xiaonan also emphasized that China's international image relies heavily on "other-shaping" rather than "selfshaping", and that the dominance of Western discourse has deepened the bias in international audiences' perceptions of China [5]. Secondly, Chinese discourse has not yet reached a unity between the Chinese perspective and the reception habits of international audiences. According to Qi Zhigong and Li Zhi, Chinese discourse production lacks the interpretation of the relationship between the rise of the nation-state and the idea of a community of human destiny, and have not formed a selfconsistent discourse system. Discourse communication have not realized the shift from the transmitter's orientation to the recipient's orientation, and often fell into the communication dilemma of self-talk [6].
In terms of measures, in the face of the dominance of Western discourse, Cheng Manli suggested that China needs to take the initiative to set the agenda, actively speak out on the major issues facing the world today, discern some unfair Western discourse, and make a fair and just voice on behalf of developing countries [7]. Through the study of China's independent formulation of discourse rules, Hong Xiaonan summarized three paths: China's experience, China's model, and China's road [5]. Facing the shortcomings of Chinese discourse, Shi Anbin proposed to build a "Global China" discourse system to contribute Chinese wisdom and provide Chinese solutions to the challenges and crises faced by mankind [8]. Jia Wenshan and Liu Changyu also pointed out that the "Global China" discourse system not only represents China's interests, but also declares that China is a leader in promoting the exchange and mutual appreciation of world civilizations and realizing the common ideals of mankind [9].

Research on Building a Chinese Narrative System
Regarding the building of a Chinese narrative system, the academic community pointed out the uniqueness of Chinese narratives and the general direction of building a Chinese narrative system, and discusses the specific strategies of Chinese narratives. With regard to the uniqueness of Chinese narratives, Zhou Qing'an and Lu Mingjiang argued that Chinese narratives have the precipitation of Chinese history and culture, as well as the imprint of the Chinese Communist Party leading the Chinese people to independently explore the path of national development [10]. Zhang Yuqiang and Pan Jingling also argued that Chinese narratives are nourished by the excellent Chinese traditional culture on the one hand, and guided by the theory and practice of Marxist Sinicization on the other [11]. Under this distinctiveness, the general direction of building a Chinese narrative system was to achieve unity between Chinese narratives and the world agenda. Zhou Qing'an and Lu Mingjiang argued that the differences between Chinese narratives and the world agenda should be reconciled, the similarities between them should be sought, and cultural identity should be built in terms of aesthetics, lifestyles and ideology [10] Regarding specific Chinese narrative strategies, Chen Xianhong and Song Fazhi summarized the Chinese narrative strategies in the context of anti-pandemic: using the "speed of Fire God Mountain hospital" as an entry point for international audiences to understand China, using the "caregiver of all mankind" as China's international image, using the "Chinese doctor" as a metaphor for the Chinese spirit, and using the concept of "people first, life first" to promote Chinese core values [12]. Zhou Xiang and Zhong Jianqin discussed Chinese narrative strategies in the context of smart media: using big data and algorithms to gain insight into the interests and preferences of cross-cultural users, targeting story topics and setting story elements. using artificial intelligence to learn the corpus of users from different cultural backgrounds and translating stories into language versions that suit the target users and so on [13].

Research on Strengthening the Guidance of International Public Opinion
Today's international public opinion pattern is still characterized by the "strong West and weak East". From the strategic, organizational and manipulative characteristics of the Western public opinion war against China, Zhang Caixia argued that politicians and media are attacking China through one-sided reports and fabricating false information [14]. Li Xiguang pointed out that social media seems to have brought about the equalization of news production, but the production of major international news on foreign social media comes from the Western mainstream media, which still determines the global agenda setting and opinion making [15]. Wang Xuelian and Wang Jingjing pointed out that Chinese mainstream media have been in a passive and defensive position in international opinion guidance, which has led to the international community's preconceived trust in Western media reports, and that Chinese mainstream media are still in a weak position compared to Western mainstream media in terms of subscriptions on foreign social media [16].
Under this public opinion pattern, in the face of Western domination of the international public opinion arena, Sun Zhenhu, Zhang Xuanna and Li Shaohui proposed that China should integrate communication resources, cooperate with mainstream media, overseas self-media and opinion leaders on overseas platforms to form a multi-body communication matrix and strengthen public opinion [17]. Facing the domination of social media by Western mainstream media, Li Xiguang proposed that China should increase the penetration of foreign social media, not only rely on mainstream media and a few elites, but also rely on the masses of people, and spread and interact by the Chinese public to the world public [15]. Faced with China's passive position in the international public opinion arena, Wang Xuelian and Wang Jingjing proposed that China should establish an overseas public opinion monitoring mechanism, use big data and algorithms to dynamically monitor overseas public opinion, and improve the initiative of international public opinion guidance [16].
The above studies on building Chinese discourse system, building Chinese narrative system and strengthening the guidance of international public opinion reveal that the current studies in related fields mainly focus on the analysis of the current situation and strategy, and are mostly single-path analyses. Little analysis has been made of the fundamental role of Chinese discourse on Chinese narrative and international opinion guidance, the refining and strengthening role of Chinese narrative and international opinion guidance on Chinese discourse, and the joint role of the three in strengthening international communication capacity building. In summary, this paper attempts to explore the path of strengthening international communication capacity building by combining the three, and to creatively add to the academic gaps raised above.

Path of Discourse: Subverting Western Discourse and Building Chinese Discourse
The discourse path to strengthen international communication capacity building is to "break and build at the same time, combining breaking and building", that is, on the one hand, to break the discourse construction of China by the Western discourse system, and on the other hand, to build a Chinese discourse system based on Chinese perspective and human perspective.
Breaking the Western discourse building on China requires both active defense and proactive attack. Firstly, when Western discourse frames China-related issues negatively, China needs to actively defend itself, respond in a timely manner, and fight for the long term. In the "Xinjiang cotton" incident, Western companies have followed the discursive construct of the West describing China as "authoritarian" since the Opium War, taking advantage of the stereotype that Westerners perceive China as "authoritarian". In this long-running construct, false information about so-called "forced labor" and "genocide" was also fabricated as a matter of course. After the incident, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded promptly with pictures and data illustrating the high level of mechanization of cotton production in Xinjiang, clearly pointing out that the relevant statements of Western enterprises are pure rumors [18]. Thereafter, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has continued to post pictures, short videos and live broadcasts about cotton production and people's lives in Xinjiang in his social accounts to show the world the real situation in Xinjiang. This shows that there is a historical tradition of Western discourse construction of China, and breaking this discourse construction also requires long-term efforts. Secondly, when Western discourse puts international issues into a one-sided and unjust framework, China needs to take the initiative to reveal the truth outside the Western discourse system, starting from the historical warp and woof of the event itself and the right and wrong, and stand in the position of the general public to make a fair and just voice. A proactive Chinese discourse can enable the international community to hear voices outside the Western discourse system, breaking its long-standing dominance and the international community's absolute trust in it. But there is still a long way to go before Chinese discourse reaches a wide international audience, and before China becomes the embodiment of justice and the arbiter on major international issues [15].
Building a Chinese discourse system also requires proactive agenda setting and independent formulation of discourse rules, while paying attention to the reconciliation of Chinese and holistic human perspectives. Proactive agenda-setting requires Chinese mainstream media to take the lead in reporting Chinese issues and integrating them into the Chinese discourse system, and then guiding the reporting framework of Western media through inter-media agenda-setting to limit the space for the Western discourse system to shape Chinese issues. In the story "The migration of Asian elephant herds to the north in Yunnan", Chinese mainstream media such as Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily took the lead in reporting the story and quoted experts as saying that "the growth of the Asian elephant population and food shortages have led to the herds moving out of the sanctuary" and other explanatory reports, which put the issue into the framework of environmental protection and led the Western media to report on it. The success of this report is that, first of all, the environmental protection issue belongs to the world issue, which has received wide attention from Western media and audiences, but it has also achieved the reconciliation of Chinese perspective and human perspective, and the unification of China's ecological civilization construction and the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. Secondly, the Chinese discourse preempts the Western

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Volume 20 (2022) media from framing the issue in a negative way as "environmental destruction," limiting the scope for malicious speculation and stigmatization of China. The report is also a practice of telling China's story in Chinese discourse. The narrative based on the Chinese discourse system highlights the Chinese perspective and the human perspective, reflecting the fundamental role of Chinese discourse on the Chinese narrative.
Autonomous formulation of discourse rules requires raising the status of China's evaluation rules and evaluation standards in the international community. According to Professor Zhang Weiwei of Fudan University in the 100th episode of This is China, the GDP used to measure the level of national development in today's international community is an indicator under the Western discourse system, while the Chinese people and the people of the world are more concerned about indicators related to people's immediate interests, such as infrastructure construction and the level of social security. Therefore, China needs to establish a set of Chinese indicators that reflect the interests and demands of the general public. In addition, the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Cannes Film Festival, which are used to judge literature and art in the international community today, are also standards under Western values and ideologies [19]. However, China, as a modern country with an ancient civilization with a profound cultural heritage and a firm people's standpoint, has the same international and global significance in its criteria for judging literature and art. Chinese evaluation rules and evaluation standards are an important part of the Chinese discourse system, and in international comparisons, using Chinese discourse to make Chinese voices heard and emphasizing the position of the Chinese people and the world's people is the basis for international opinion guidance.

Path of Narrative: Knowing, Understanding and Identifying under the Discourse System
The narrative path is to tell China's story under the guidance of the Chinese discourse system, so that the international community will know China's story, understand Chinese wisdom and identify with Chinese solutions. In this way, a Chinese narrative system will be formed, which in turn will play a role in improving and strengthening the Chinese discourse system.
To know Chinese stories, it is necessary to show the unique charm of Chinese culture to appeal to international audiences. at the same time, it is necessary to make full use of the penetration power of the Internet platform to make Chinese stories reach international audiences widely. In recent years, the trend of "online literature going abroad" has become a trend. Wuxia World, a Chinese online literature translation website, has published a number of English translations of Chinese online fantasy novels, which have a large number of readers in North America, Southeast Asia and other regions [20]. In terms of communication content, an important reason why international audiences are attracted to Chinese culture is the sense of novelty, the so-called "Chineseness". They are amazed by the Chinese cultural elements and the Chinese way of imagination [21]. As an ancient civilization with a deep cultural heritage, China's unique cultural charm can make Chinese stories attractive to international audiences. In terms of communication channels, the Internet platform has broken the international communication model dominated by news agencies and the film industry [22]. Social platforms, video platforms, online literature platforms, and game platforms have to some extent broken the framed narrative of Chinese stories in Western media and stereotyped images of Chinese people in Western films. Chinese mainstream media, KOLs/COLs, online writers and other content producers are able to go beyond the "filters" set by the West and tell Chinese stories in Chinese language. When the Chinese stories told in Chinese language are widely known by the international community, Chinese discourse and narrative can gradually be accepted by the international community.
Understanding Chinese wisdom requires the application of a number of narrative strategies to convey the spiritual core embedded in Chinese stories, so that international audiences will understand and respect the differences in ideological values and development paths among civilizations. Firstly, a micro-narrative strategy can be adopted to convey the grand themes with micro-narratives. In the coverage of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover, "Voice of the Greater Bay Area" launched a short video series "25 Young People", which tells the stories of several Hong Kong young people born in 1997 who studied, started their own businesses and lived in Hong Kong. This shows the changes and achievements of Hong Kong in the 25 years since its return through small insights, and thus conveys the superiority of "one country, two systems" to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. Explaining complex and abstract Chinese wisdom into individual stories of specific people can bring the distance between the target audience and the international audience closer, and enhance their understanding and respect for the development model suitable for China. At the same time, Chinese stories enable the unique Chinese wisdom of "one country, two systems" to be understood by the international community, sublimating it into a Chinese discourse and making it part of the Chinese discourse system. Secondly, an open and participatory narrative strategy can be adopted to fully mobilize multiple narrative subjects. In the open and participatory information production and dissemination environment provided by the Internet platform, Chinese mainstream media only need to present China's achievements in specific fields truthfully and objectively, without having to explain or comment on them. Overseas platforms will then have KOLs in vertical fields to interpret from a professional perspective and reveal the significance of China's achievements to humanity and the world. Most overseas netizens are also able to make objective comments. The Chinese story is an open narrative space. Chinese wisdom can be conveyed through multiple subjects, multiple perspectives, and multiple values [22]. Chinese wisdom that is understood by the international community can be sublimated into a Chinese discourse and become part of the Chinese discourse system.
To identify with China's solutions, we need to find the right fit between China's story and world issues, and make international audiences aware of the value of China's solutions for solving human problems. The primary issue facing the world today is "open or closed, cooperation or confrontation, mutual benefit and win-win or zero-sum game" [23]. China has proposed the idea of a community of human destiny and the "Belt and Road" initiative based on human perspectives and global values, while Western media have interpreted them as a "Chinese version of the Marshall Plan" based on Western history and the intention to discredit China [24]. In the face of challenges to the Chinese program, we can first use emotional communication strategies in the Chinese story. By telling the changes and touching details of the lives of ordinary people in countries along the Belt and Road, we can evoke the common emotions of all human beings in pursuit of a better life [25]. Secondly, such phrases as "achieving common development is not an aid program" and "following the principle of equality and mutual benefit and not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries" should be interspersed with the narrative. Once again, these construction achievements that benefit ordinary people are sublimated into the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, which is a powerful proof that Chinese solutions can solve the problems of mankind. The influence of a country's discourse depends not only on its hard power, but also on the effectiveness of the solutions it proposes to the major problems facing the world today [26] The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and the "Belt and Road" Initiative are not only effective Chinese solutions, but also the core of China's discourse system, which needs to be recognized by the international community through the interpretation of Chinese stories, so as to enhance the influence of China's discourse system.

Path of Public Opinion Guidance: Official and Civil Public Opinion under the Discourse System
The path of public opinion guidance is to make China's voice heard under the guidance of the Chinese discourse system, in which the official public opinion field plays a guiding role and the civil public opinion field plays a diffusing role. Both of them jointly guide public opinion in the international public opinion field and in turn improve and strengthen the Chinese discourse system.
To play a guiding role in the official public opinion field, it is necessary to make full use of the penetration of social media, follow the trend of mobile, socialization and visualization, innovate the content of public opinion guidance and enrich the form of public opinion guidance. The light show on the Bund in Shanghai with the theme of the centennial of the founding of the Party has sparked hot debates on YouTube and accomplished an international public opinion guidance in a subtle way. One of the reasons for this is the visualization of the presentation form. The splendid and brilliant lights with the magnificent and grand music show the prosperous image of the Chinese metropolis with a very impactful, infectious and shocking audio-visual means. Second, the symbolism of the sign. The symbolic meaning of the "light" is brightness, bringing hope to a world ravaged by the epidemic, similar to the symbolic meaning of the "lighthouse of democracy and freedom" in the United States. In addition, the fact that China is helping the global fight against the pandemic implicitly conveys China's voice of unity and cooperation in the fight against the pandemic. Third, the accessibility of the dissemination channel. The video spreads to the international community through social media, breaking the Western media's blockade of China's positive image and its monopoly on the international public opinion field. The guidance of public opinion to international audiences is directly accomplished by Chinese mainstream media.
To play the role of proliferation in the civil opinion field, it is necessary to take advantage of KOL/COL's wide coverage area, large number of followers and strong public opinion guidance, and combine the power of the majority of netizens to widely spread China's voice to the international opinion field. The West occupies the advantage of traditional media, relying on elites to produce content and guide international public opinion. China should follow the trend of social media, rely on the majority of netizens to spread China's voice, and change from elite-to-elite communication to mass-to-mass interaction [15]. On the Taiwan issue, nearly 30 KOLs from CGTN with millions of followers in overseas social media used English, French, Spanish, Russian and other languages to speak out to nearly 40 million netizens in different regions, telling the history between the mainland and Taiwan, the brotherhood between the mainland people and the people of Taiwan, exposing the sinister intentions of Western hegemonism, and demonstrating China's firm attitude towards the Taiwan issue [27]. At the same time, the official public opinion field and the civil opinion field cannot work separately, but should stand on a unified position. By leveraging the respective advantages of mainstream media, KOL/COL and the general public, a communication matrix with multiple subjects, different perspectives, multiple orientations and different strategies can be formed to maximize the effect of public opinion guidance. The process of public opinion guidance is also the process of Chinese discourse exerting influence and persuasive power. The Chinese discourse system is improved and strengthened in the process of public opinion guidance time and again.
The dissemination of China's voice in the international public opinion arena is similar to the international marketing of Chinese brands. Many marketing strategies have the same significance for international public opinion guidance. Firstly, we can learn from the strategy of "global planning, localized execution". International marketing needs to establish a unified brand image in the international market under the guidance of a unified marketing strategy. At the same time, the differences in different cultures should be noted, and specific marketing strategies should be localized for different target markets. Finally, international consumers may be promoted to take action to purchase the products [28]. Similarly, international public opinion needs to be guided by a unified Chinese discourse system to establish a unified image of China in the international public opinion arena. At the same time, the differences of different cultures should be paid attention to, and regionalized and segmented expressions should be carried out for different regions and audiences to seek a common space of interests and values. Eventually, this will lead to international audiences' recognition of China's voice and acceptance of the Chinese discourse system. Secondly, we can draw on the visual image design strategy. Marketing needs to use a personalized and unified visual identity to convey the brand concept, establish a distinctive brand image, so that the public can identify with it and improve market competitiveness [29]. Similarly, international public opinion guidance needs to use people-friendly symbols to convey the symbolic meaning of peace and friendship, establish a Chinese image with affinity, make international audiences identify with the Chinese voice and Chinese discourse system, and enhance the effect of public opinion guidance.
Under the guidance of the Chinese discourse system, we can develop Chinese narrative and international public opinion guidance, using three paths together to serve international communication capacity building. Firstly, it is necessary to break the discourse building of China by the Western discourse system, and at the same time build a Chinese discourse system based on Chinese perspective and human perspective. The Chinese discourse system is the basis of the Chinese narrative system and international public opinion guidance. The Chinese story told in Chinese discourse can highlight the Chinese perspective and human perspective, and the Chinese voice issued in Chinese discourse can emphasize the position of the people of China and the world. Secondly, the narrative of the Chinese story should be developed under the guidance of the Chinese discourse system, so that the international community will know the Chinese story, understand Chinese wisdom, agree with the Chinese solution, and eventually form a Chinese narrative system. Only when the Chinese story is widely known by the international community can the Chinese discourse and narrative be gradually accepted by the international community. Only when the Chinese wisdom contained in the Chinese story is understood by the international community can it be sublimated into a Chinese discourse and become part of the Chinese discourse system. Only when the effective Chinese solutions are recognized by the international community can the influence of the Chinese discourse system be enhanced. Thirdly, international public opinion is guided by the Chinese discourse system, with the official public opinion field playing a guiding role and the private public opinion field playing a diffusing role, both of which work together to spread China's voice in the international public opinion field. The process of public opinion guidance is the process by which the international community identifies with China's voice, and the process by which the Chinese discourse system exerts its influence and persuasive power. The Chinese story narrative and international public opinion guidance in turn play a role in improving and strengthening the Chinese discourse system.

Conclusion
The U.S. has adjusted its strategy toward China. The Western media has constructed a discourse on China. The Western public holds a stereotype of China. China's international communication ability does not match its comprehensive national power and international status. Under this context, this paper examines the issue of international communication capacity building and explores three paths and their interrelationships: breaking the discourse construction of China by the Western discourse system and building a Chinese discourse system based on Chinese perspective and human perspective. developing a Chinese story narrative under the guidance of the Chinese discourse system, so that the international community knows the Chinese story, understands Chinese wisdom and agrees with the Chinese solution, thus forming a Chinese narrative system. guiding international public opinion under the Chinese discourse system, the official public opinion field plays a guiding role and the private public opinion field plays a diffusing role, both of which together make China's voice heard in the international public opinion field. the Chinese story narrative and international public opinion guidance in turn play a role in improving and strengthening the Chinese discourse system. This paper explores the above three paths and their interrelationships, with a view to providing references for strengthening international communication capacity building and presenting a true, three-dimensional and comprehensive image of China to the international community. At the same time, this paper also has some shortcomings, such as the applicability of the theoretical framework, the universality of the conclusions, and the ephemerality of the study. International communication capacity building is a continuous process, and China's international communication capacity still needs long-term efforts to reach a level that matches its comprehensive national power and international status.