Shaping China’s Global Imagination: Branding Nations at the World Expo (Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy)

A comprehensive discussion of how countries embrace branding as a crucial element in their pursuit of soft power and why certain nation-branding efforts succeed while others fail through the example of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. This book explores the concept of nation branding - what it is and how it works - through an instructive case of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, where 190 countries showcased their national cultures to a predominantly Chinese audience. The comparative analysis of national pavilions (including Brazil, India, Israel, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United States) demonstrates how a place-branding activity, such as the World Expo, facilitates communication to build a nation's image, thereby enhancing its soft power. As nation-branding efforts will only increase in the coming years, this study forms an important basis for future inquiry Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Soft Power, Nation Branding, and the World Expo....Pages 1-21 Branding Nations....Pages 23-42 The Shanghai Expo as a Site for Nation Branding....Pages 43-62 Defining Nation Brands....Pages 63-85 Communicating Nation Brands....Pages 87-108 Experiencing Nation Brands....Pages 109-119 Remembering Nation Brands....Pages 121-141 Nation Branding as Strategic Narrative....Pages 143-159 Nation Branding: Perspectives, Practices, and Prospects....Pages 161-171 Coda....Pages 173-174 Back Matter....Pages 175-210