Chapter 2 Previous Studies on China’s “Outward-Oriented” Higher Education Internationalization Approach As mentioned in the introductory chapter (Chap. 1), China’s approach to “outward- oriented” higher education (HE) internationalization for the purpose of enhancing its international status and worldwide influence contains three major dimensions: (1) cultural diplomacy programs such as the Confucius Institute (CI) program, (2) HE- related international development aid towards developing countries, and (3) HE-level international student recruitment strategy and activities. Each of these three dimen- sions has been researched in previous studies. Following previous perspectives and findings, this chapter provides the main background of the research focus of this book, while introducing different viewpoints from relevant studies. It particularly includes the studies conducted by scholars in Mainland China, who are both policy recipi- ents and researchers of China’s HE internationalization. Through reviewing previous studies, this chapter attempts to explain the present situation of China’s cultural diplo- macy, the tradition and development of China’s international aid in HE, as well as the enormous changes China has brought about in international student recruitment. It also attempts to identify the gaps between what is happening currently and previous studies, also what this book seeks to contribute. A more detailed discussion of the present situation and challenges of China’s “outward-oriented” HE internationaliza- tion will be presented in Chap. 5 of this book (Understanding Three Dimensions of China’s “Outward-Oriented” Higher Education Internationalization: Challenges and Suggestions). 2.1 Studies on China’s Cultural Diplomacy and Its Implementation Through Higher Education Compared to its significant progress in economic development, it is obvious that China’s efforts in cross-cultural communication have not yet achieved desired results (Shen, 2013). Most people in the rest of the world are not well informed about China’s © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 H. Wu, China’s Outward-Oriented Higher Education Internationalization, East-West Crosscurrents in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2558-9_2 7