Conclusion
China’s ability to seize opportunity and increase its presence through cultural diplomacy attests to its effectiveness and increased capability to wield its soft power. This paper explored both Brazil and Germany as contexts where China has increased its cultural diplomacy presence during the past years. Drawing on the analysis，the paper summarizes the five mainpoints.
Domestically，China’s cultural diplomacy has taken a more direct political form in the official political discourse，underscoring the importance of domestic factors in public diplomacy studies.
Cultural diplomacy initiatives in Brazil and China differ in terms of scale and framing. In the case of Brazil，they are embedded in a South-South narrative.
Similarities can be found in the agenda-setting of Chinese cultural diplomacy activities in both countries. Image and identity are built around the historical roots of traditions，values and cultural arts，stressing an “apolitical” approach to cultural outreach，as illustrated by Cull（2009），when emphasizing the need to maintain a distance between the cultural and political aspects of foreign policy.
Fourth，actors mostly belong to the central government structure； however，provincial governments engage in the promotion of their regions.
Under the umbrella of bilateral cooperation and China’s overall policy guidance，cultural diplomacy actors pursue sometimes overlapping activities in setting up enabling conditions for Chinese interests. Cumulatively，relationship-building measures work side by side with the growing economic interests.
Summarizing the respective country contexts demonstrate the importance of analysing cultural diplomacy from a cross-country perspective. In the case of Germany，the scattered actor structure in China is replicated in the cultural diplomacy outreach. Different actors，most notably the Confucius Institutes and the China Culture Centre spearhead initiatives disseminating China-related programmes in the field of language and cultural activities. Most importantly，the Confucius Institutes hold an important role due to its widespread activities at the secondary and tertiary education level. At the same time，Chinese language and culture has already been anchored into the broader structure of the German higher education system and into secondary education. In terms of other venues of cultural diplomacy，arts have been a major way of positioning China in Germany and introducing the country to a wider audience. We can note the presence of provincial actors. Received with a certain discomfort by the German government，the Belt and Road Initiative brings further opportunities for cultural diplomacy outreach，involving Germany and national and EU-level.
When comes to China-Brazil ties，Chinese cultural diplomacy is yet to expand significantly. Different than in its public diplomacy outreach in Germany，China’s public diplomacy in Brazil operates on a South-South narrative to stress the common interests and venues for opportunities of this burgeoning relationship. Similarly，to Germany，the Confucius Institute is the main actor with a cross-regional outreach. In contrast to Sino-German ties，there is little academic collaboration between both countries despite potential in terms of cooperation in vocational，secondary and higher education. A growing Chinese community is targeted through the introduction of the national Chinese Immigration Day，while an unconsolidated “China Studies” field and severe cuts to educational funding in Brazil leave room for Chinese diplomacy actors to mould knowledge production and the framing of China-related issues in academia. Moreover，the presence of Party-state media（Xinhua，CGTN，etc.）in Brazil，as well as the implementation of cooperation agreements in the field of media further reflect the efforts of promoting favourable views on China.
Overall，future research will be necessary to look into the more specific arrangements of China’s cultural diplomacy in different national contexts. Equally important is the need to further understand the effectiveness of cultural diplomacy. As pointed out，since cultural diplomacy is a component of public diplomacy “to support the export of representative samples of that national culture in order to further the objectives of foreign policy”（Gienow-Hecht & Donfried，2010，p.15），the role of knowledge about how the practice of cultural diplomacy is perceived and translated into outcomes is a determining factor to meet the rising expectations，both domestically and abroad.
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[1] This paper does not draw an entire picture of all cultural diplomacy activities in Brazil and Germany. It shows limitations due to the difficulty to get an into-depth picture of the scope of China’s cultural diplomacy initiatives in the respective national contexts，we also did not consider the German or Brazilian cultural diplomacy activities towards China. It also does not evaluate the economic cooperation between the countries，or the wider multilateral forum in which cultural diplomacy also may take place. It would require a larger study to explicitly link the home and host context links between Chinese cultural diplomacy in Brazil and Germany.
[2] Drawing on a comparative，qualitative approach，the paper assesses the country-contexts supported by both Chinese，English，German and Portuguese data sources，bibliographic review and two interviews in Brazil and two interviews in Germany with practitioners or experts on the issue.
[3] 要提升中国国际话语权，打破 “西强我弱 “的国际话语权基本格局，需要有战略性筹划和合理有效的政策措施 。
[4] It should be stressed，however，that these activities mainly refer to China’s cultural diplomacy domestically，in the event of international events in the country，rather than abroad. For this reason，sport and large-scale events will not be included in the analysis to be followed.
[5] Interview conducted in 2018-06-24.