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Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 01 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
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Exploration on International Communication of Chinese Culture from the 
Perspective of Cultural Contexts: Taking Poland as an Example 

 
Meng SHEN1, Hong CAI2 

1School of Foreign Languages, Guangzhou College of Technology and Business, E-mail: 3497494391@qq.com 
2 Corresponding author, Institute for International Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, E-mail: 
199210493@gdufs.edu.cn 
Abstract 
International communication of Chinese culture is a crucial subject in the field of cultural studies and one of the hot issues 
that raised intercultural communication concerns. This paper conducts a questionnaire survey on Polish international students 
at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies to study the influence of Chinese culture in the international student group of 
target country, and analyses the current situation of Chinese culture’s external communication based on the results of the 
survey. Overall, this paper dissects the dilemmas faced by Chinese cultural communication from the perspectives of physical, 
linguistic and intellectual contexts, and puts forward relevant countermeasures and suggestions in accordance with the cultural 
context theory. 
Keywords: cultural context, Chinese culture, international communication, Poland 
1. Introduction  
Culture is “knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs and practices acquired by persons as members of a society as well 
as any other compound of talents and habits.” Culture is embedded in specific human groups, forming shared ideas, values 
and beliefs and generating behavior (Taylor, 1992). The universally agreed upon, intrinsic national spirit, values, customs or 
ethical norms formed by the people of a particular nation constitute the cultural pattern of that nation and carry the kernel of 
that nation's cultural spirit and values. Chinese culture is centered on the traditional cultural thoughts of Confucianism, which 
embodies such outstanding qualities as loving others with kindness, convincing others with virtue, honesty and friendliness, 
and perseverance that constantly strive to be stronger, which have enabled the Chinese nation to shine throughout the 
development of world civilization and the alternation of cultural models (He, 2023). 
In the construction of the “Belt and Road”, the dissemination of Chinese culture to the international world plays an 
indispensable role in shaping China’s national image, enhancing the country’s cultural soft power and promoting economic 
development. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the dissemination of Chinese culture to the 
international world, pointing out that “we should promote the building of international communication capacity, tell Chinese 
stories, disseminate Chinese voices, and show the world that we have the ability to communicate with the outside world to 
present a real, three-dimensional and comprehensive China, and improve the national cultural soft power and Chinese cultural 
influence.” (Xi, 2019). China-Poland friendship enjoyed a long and rich history. Poland was not only one of the first countries 
to recognize New China and establish diplomatic relations with China, but also one of the first countries to respond to the 
“Belt and Road” initiative. China has been Poland’s second-largest trading partner for many years whereas Poland is also 
China’s largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe (Yao, Xia & Yan, 2023). In terms of culture, there are close 
cultural exchanges between China and Poland, the development of Chinese language education in Poland is thriving, and 
Polish language education and research in China is flourishing as well (Li & Xu, 2024). 
International students form a special group in universities whose thoughts and behaviors serve as a bridge between Chinese 
and foreign cultures to promote cross-cultural communication and build up cultural gap. Meanwhile, they serve as an 
important window for the dissemination of Chinese culture to the outside world. Based on this, this study selects Polish 
international students of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies as the research object to explore the influence of Chinese 
culture in target country students to dissect the influence of Chinese culture on international world. Throughout the survey, 
interviewees are asked to answer questions consisting of their cognition of Chinese culture, content preference and 
dissemination influence, in order to provide reference for the enhancement of China’s cultural dissemination power and 
cultural soft power. The study adopts a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, combining literature 
analysis and questionnaire survey. In view of theories related to cultural context in the field of hermeneutics, the paper will 
analyze the current situation and difficulties of Chinese culture dissemination in Poland based on the results of the 
questionnaire survey, and explore the countermeasures and suggestions for the dissemination and promotion of Chinese 
culture in Poland from the perspectives of the physical context (channels of dissemination), the linguistic context (discourse 
power), and the intellectual context (symbols, heroes and values). 
2. Analysis of Survey 



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2.1 Cultural Awareness 
The first part of the questionnaire investigates the ways of disseminating Chinese culture among the Polish international 
student community, obstacles in dissemination process, and the public’s overall perception of Chinese culture. The data 
collected shown that Polish students learn about Chinese culture mainly through the news media, books and newspapers, and 
generally display a greater interest in traditional Chinese culture, particularly from the ancient times to the Qin and Han 
Dynasties and the modern period. Among the many well-known Chinese cultural values, patriotism, collectivism and hard 
work are regarded as the core of the Chinese national spirit. However, language barriers and communication channels are still 
the main obstacles to cross-cultural communication between China and Poland, and the influence of Chinese culture in the 
international world still needs to be enhanced due to the “cultural gap”. 
2.2 Content Preference 
Chinese culture is vast and profound with rich contents including folk customs, film and television works, literature and art, 
philosophical thoughts and so on in a broad sense. In terms of content preference and dissemination methods, Polish students 
are more interested in Chinese literature and arts such as poems and songs, national culture such as Taiji calligraphy and other 
traditional skills. The Mid-Autumn Festival, which symbolize reunion, falls into the preference of Polish students. In terms 
of forms and languages of communication, the respondents believe that multi-channel communication including text reading, 
film and television works, on-site experience and expert explanations should be adopted, and that English-based and multi-
language representational symbols should be used as the medium of communication. 
2.3 Evaluation of Cultural Dissemination  
The evaluation of communication includes the overall effect of cultural communication, the sense of identification with 
Chinese culture, the influence of Chinese culture and the barriers to communication. China and Poland have maintained good 
relations of cooperation in political, economic and cultural fields since the founding of our country, and under the environment 
of increasing exchanges between the two countries and closer relations between the two countries, the spread of Chinese 
culture in Poland has been increasing day by day. According to the survey results, Polish students have a strong sense of 
identity and empathy towards Chinese culture, but the language barrier and content homogeneity are the main obstacles 
affecting the dissemination effect. 
2.4 Recommendation on Cultural Dissemination 
Based on the above questionnaire, the respondents put forward suggestions on strategies to improve the communication power 
of Chinese culture to the international world from different aspects. In terms of output content, the interest, diversity and 
interactivity of cultural content should be highlighted and the differences in cross-cultural backgrounds should be emphasized. 
In terms of communication channels, the advantages of multi-channels should be brought into play, and mainstream media, 
educational institutions, tourism projects and cultural and creative industries need to be used to promote cultural exchanges. 
Furthermore, the audience of cultural communication should not be limited to intellectual groups such as university, middle 
school and primary school students, but also include the role of tourists and cultural practitioners in cross-cultural 
communication and exchanges. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, digital media and cross-border e-
commerce, the development of cultural communication has shifted from traditional paper media to modern approaches such 
as short videos, live broadcasting platforms and social media. Hence, cross-cultural communication should follow the 
development trend of the times and give full play to the role of Internet technology in international environmental exchanges, 
so as to disseminate the influence of Chinese culture and demonstrate the Chinese culture soft power. 
3. Major Dilemmas 
3.1 Homogeneity of Communication Channels 
Communication channels belong to the physical context elements in the cultural context, and their homogeneity is mainly 
reflected in the following three aspects. Firstly, the international dissemination approach of Chinese culture is single. In recent 
years, the rise of the media industry has made the media the major approach of international communication and 
dissemination. The development China’s media industry is relatively late compared to the Western countries. Official media 
plays the key role in dissemination of Chinese culture and the approach, nevertheless, is rejected by the Western media. At 
present, the international economic, political and cultural state is dominated by western media and there is still a huge gap 
between Chinese media and authoritative one to enhance our international status and right of discourse. Secondly, the means 
of disseminating Chinese culture to the international world need to be strengthened. The Internet and its derivatives are 
becoming major communication channels. However, in the process of China's cultural dissemination process to the 
international world, the existing technical means and channel platforms still suffer from the problems such as relatively 
traditional means of dissemination, single form and backward technology. Under the traditional means of external 
communication, the relationship between the communicator and the communicated is more of a process in which the 
communicator acts as an authority to indoctrinate the communicated and the communicated passively accepts the culture as 



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an audience. Finally, the way Chinese culture is disseminated to the international world is in need of innovation. At present, 
the speed, depth and breadth of cultural dissemination have undergone profound changes, and the interactive and high-speed 
dissemination of massive information, the multi-centre radiation of public opinion, the diversification of audience groups and 
the diversification of ideologies have posed more challenges to the dissemination of Chinese culture to the international world 
(Xi, 2019). Consequently, Chinese culture should break through the traditional communication methods, make full use of 
Internet resources such as building a platform for Chinese language and cultural interests, updating the existing 
communication technology and applying appropriate communication strategies. They help facilitate the process of telling 
Chinese stories and disseminating Chinese voices in a more vivid way, enhancing the appeal and attractiveness of Chinese 
culture to the audience groups, and promoting the real “going out” of Chinese culture.  
3.2 Barriers of Language Differences 
Language is a “system of representation”, the main tool for human beings to represent the world and to communicate (Chen, 
2009). The practical activities of human society rely on language to represent or characterize what we want to say, to express 
or convey a certain idea, concept, concept or feeling (Hall, 2003). On account of the influence from enormous factors such as 
geographic environment and humanistic psychology, countries formed different referential systems represented by different 
linguistic symbols. Therefore, the obstacles to cross-cultural communication come directly from the barriers of linguistic 
communication in the first place. Language and culture are inseparable from each other as language is the path through which 
we can perceive human psychology, understand the psychological state, cognitive style and thinking pattern of a country. 
Chinese and Polish are two different types of languages, for example, Polish lacks a direct equivalent for the word “you”. 
Unlike Chinese, Polish does not follow strict rules of syntactic order, and in many cases the order of Polish syntax depends 
on different factors such as the context or emotional mood of the message (Li, 2023). Poland is a typical low-context country 
whereas China is a high-context country. The understanding of discourse behavior and the interpretation of texts in high-
context countries entails the search for elements of the textual context, which is often not limited to semantic meaning or 
surface meaning. In low-context communication, the listener knows little about what is being said, must be told everything 
explicitly, and his or her responses in communication are more outwardly orientated. Therefore, the differences in verbal 
behavior and the obstacles it brings are significant barriers to Sino-Polish cultural exchange. Besides verbal communication, 
non-verbal communication also serves as a crucial role in intercultural communication. Taking the classroom teaching of 
Chinese teachers to Polish students as an example, since Polish culture pays more attention to individualistic values and 
equality of power relations, most Polish students are inclined to keep a closer distance with their teachers and expect teachers 
to stimulate the classroom atmosphere with active body language. Rich explanatory and instructive movements and positive 
expressive movements which can enhance the harmony and activity of the classroom atmosphere are encouraged and popular 
among Polish students. The teacher's encouragement and infection will make students more actively involved in classroom 
learning, thus bringing about equal cultural communication (Hou, 2023). 
3.3 Asymmetry of Cultural Context 
Cultural context includes physical, linguistic and intellectual contexts. Cultural differences brought about by physical context 
refer to the differences in time and space, direction, geography, clothing, food and other physical elements. For example, 
Polish people might find it difficult in appreciating the significance of the word “panda” in symbolized in the mind of Chinese 
people. The elements of the physical context are included in the text in the form of linguistic symbols and ultimately integrate 
into cognitive context. However, as the differences of physical context can be eliminated by studying literal materials such as 
books, journals, parallel texts, etc. related to the text, the physical context doesn’t constitute the most significant obstacle in 
cross-cultural communication (Chen, 2023). The impact of differences in linguistic context on cognitive styles and verbal 
communication behavior has already been discussed in previous paragraphs and will not be discussed in this paragraph. 
Indeed, the most crucial source of textual meaning in cross-cultural communication is knowledge context that contains 
encyclopedic knowledge and the intention of the messager, and the difference in cultural contexts formed by the knowledge 
context has become the biggest obstacle in cross-cultural communication. Knowledge accumulates into an all-encompassing 
cultural empire through symbolic representation and the content of which can be divided into four aspects: material, spiritual, 
institutional and methodological from a macro perspective. As the crystallization of human cognition and experience, 
knowledge formed and inherited by different cultures will inevitably carry the characteristics of the cultural system itself, 
forming a distinctive cultural model. Generally speaking, a cultural system contains common cultural phenomena, heroes and 
heroines, celebrations and rituals, and values etc. from the surface to the essence of the content. The different levels of a 
cultural system form an organic whole and guide people's life practices. However, the differences in cultural symbols, heroes, 
rituals and even values between different cultures constitute an asymmetry of cultural contexts, which should be paid attention 
to in cross-cultural communication. China has performed intercultural communication practices with Poland in cultural 
promotion in recent years. For example, female hero symbols representing Chinese culture, such as Hua Mulan, Mu Guiying, 
Liang Hongyu, have been created into the IP image of the game “Original God”, whose appearance combines the images of 



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a number of well-known and valiant female heroes. The game focuses on combining with Chinese traditional culture in the 
promotion of Polish localities, which provides opportunities for overseas players to get in touch with China’s excellent 
traditional culture and helps to enhance their curiosity and love. Such practice helps to enhance their curiosity and favourite 
degree, and strengthens the sense of identity of Chinese culture in Poland (Ma & Ge, 2023). 
4. Responses and Recommendations 
4.1 Enriching Communication Content and Broadening Communication Channels 
Physical context is an important part of cultural context, including geography, food, clothing, architecture and so on. In cross-
cultural communication, communication channels and modes of communication are important physical context elements that 
constitute cross-cultural communication. The mediated international social context has changed the way the world understands 
China, and the explosive development of digital video industry and Internet industry has led to the expansion of overseas 
communication channels. 
Currently, the top five social media platforms in the world are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Tiktok. At present, 
Youtube and Tiktok are the two main platforms for the dissemination of Chinese culture to the international world. Using 
“China” as the keyword to search on YouTube, the top 500 videos are screened by purposive sampling, with the number of 
viewings as the reference value, and the thematic contents are ranked in descending order as follows: music, sports, food and 
drink, film and animation, festivals, tourism, martial arts and acrobatics, life customs, crafts, games, dance, theatre, and 
history. Music topped the list with 30 per cent; sports and food with 15 per cent and 13 percent respectively. On TikTok, using 
“Chinese Culture” as the keyword to search, the top 500 videos were filtered out through purposive sampling, using the heat 
ranking as the reference value, and the theme contents were, in descending order, living customs, values, language and culture, 
costumes, Fine Arts, Performing Arts (Zheng, 2022). 
Diversified communication channels have a strong impact on the development of China’s cultural industry and foreign 
communication, among which IP operation is an important way for cultural exchanges between China and Poland. The term 
has been given a new connotation in China, referring to creative intellectual property that has strong attention, productivity 
and can be re-created. Currently, there are successful cases of cultural exchange between China and Poland such as Demon 
Hunter and Three Bodies. For example, the oriental philosophy in Three Bodies has attracted a large number of Polish readers, 
and the book is unique in the Western-dominated sci-fi literature world, providing Western readers with an oriental narrative 
model for sci-fi novels (Ma & Ge, 2023). We should continue to dig deeper in the areas of operation strategy, precise 
placement, content production, and training of professional talents to build a perfect operation system and promote the spread 
of Chinese culture. 
4.2 Constructing Chinese Discourse and Enhancing Cultural Confidence 
People live in the world of language and symbols, and Heidegger once said that “Things fail to appear when words fail to 
express”, which means that people cannot clearly express their meaning and understand the world, nor can they communicate 
effectively without language. The use of language creates discourse, and discourse in turn embodies the characteristics of 
human behavior, which is purposeful, relevant and comprehensive. The use of discourse by communicators to achieve their 
goals leads to the creation of discourse which falls into the core topic of contemporary cultural studies (Chen, 2009). On 22 
June, 2024, Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Beijing together with his wife and began a five-day state visit to China. 
President Xi Jinping held talks with President Duda to draw a blueprint for the future development of China-Poland relations. 
Both leaders of the two countries had an in-depth exchange of views on issues of concern and attended the signing ceremony 
of cooperation documents together (Yu, Ma & Zhao, 2024). The elevated co-operative relationship between China and Poland 
reflects China's rising discourse and international status. 
At present, the international environment facing Chinese culture is still occupied by dominant Western cultures, we must 
establish a correct concept of self-awareness, identify our own cultural positioning and set up correct cultural mentality (Tong, 
2014). The core values we advocate embody the connotations of “wealth, strength, democracy, civilization and harmony” and 
the bright vision of “patriotism, dedication, honesty and friendliness”, which not only conveys the positive discourse of the 
Chinese nation’s amity, harmony and mutual benefit, but also lays the foundation for our people’s cultural self-confidence. 
In addition to maintaining a profound understanding and full confidence in our own culture, we should also be adept at actively 
learning from the outstanding cultural achievements of other nations and build up a discourse system that embodies Chinese 
characteristics and unites the world’s consensus. It helps truly realize the harmonious coexistence of Chinese and foreign 
cultures in the blending of water and milk. The construction of a foreign discourse system is not only reflected in the formal 
level, but also in the ideological level, which is the core content of the discourse system and the essence of cultural exchanges. 
4.3 Creating Chinese Cultural Symbols and Promoting Cultural Coexistence and Co-prosperity     
Cultural contexts are shaped by symbolic representations, condensed into all-encompassing cultural empires and embodied 
in cultural models or systems, which are material, spiritual, institutional and methodological in terms of content. According 



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to Hofstede’s onion diagram of the elements of culture, the different layers of culture include symbols, heroes, rituals and 
values, which guide people's lives through practice (Chen, 2023). Cultural communication should start with the brand image 
of China’s core culture, and create product symbols and signs that embody the spirit, culture, sentiment, and temperament of 
the Chinese nation. Just as the Hollywood film brand is the most intuitive elaboration of the American spirit of freedom, the 
German industrial manufacturing brand is the clearest expression of the German tradition of rigor and meticulousness, and 
the French clothing and luxury goods brand is the most direct demonstration of the French elegance and romantic sentiment, 
the cultural traits of the Chinese are also in dire need of interpretation by symbols formed by Chinese brands with international 
influence. As the most vivid carrier of culture, the words and deeds of Chinese people are always interpreting the connotation 
of Chinese culture and showing the charm of Chinese culture, which is the most convincing display of Chinese culture (Wen, 
2023). It can be said that the positive outlook and good image of the Chinese people is the most crucial brand to optimize the 
overall image of Chinese culture and is the most iconic sign and symbol to show the excellent culture of the Chinese nation. 
At present, the mode of international cultural exchange is dominated by the West and traditional cross-cultural communication 
is centered on Western civilization, mainly serving the global expansion of Western culture. With the rise of China’s 
international status and discourse power as well as the construction of “Belt and Road” Initiative, cultural exchanges should 
gradually migrate in the direction of “two-way interaction, symbiosis and co-prosperity”. The current cross-cultural 
communication is different from the traditional cross-cultural communication in that the focus of the communication is to 
find the point of convergence between Chinese and foreign cultures, and to find the key to the value kernel that can inspire 
human empathy, bringing about a two-way interaction in cultural communication. For example, the overseas name of Jiyin is 
Tiktok, and Alipay is called Ascend in Thailand; these cultural symbols are converted to match the local people's user habits 
and cultural needs (Wen, 2023). 
5. Conclusion 
The heterogeneity of different cultures brought asymmetries on symbols, heroes, rituals, and values, which in turn bring about 
barriers to cultural communication from perspective of cultural context. In this paper, we conducted a questionnaire survey 
on Polish students, investigated in communication awareness, content preference, communication evaluation and 
communication suggestions. Countermeasures in terms of broadening communication channels, constructing the Chinese 
discourse system and creating Chinese cultural symbols are put forward to actively promote the dissemination of Chinese 
culture to the international world and eventually reach cultural identity. 
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