Aesthetic politics in China’s documentary co-production for cultural diplomacy

This article examines the development of China’s cultural diplomacy through the lens of documentary co-productions. It explores how earlier forms of state-led communication, previously dominated by top-down messaging and abstract national imagery, are increasingly replaced by emotionally driven, people-focused narratives. Through the case study of a co-production documentary series Homestay China (2019), the article argues that co-production represents a recalibrated form: one that trades ideological assertion for curated affective encounters. Framing the discussion within Jacques Rancière’s concept of the distribution of the sensible , the article examines how co-production’s visual and narrative strategies reframe China’s political messaging as ordinary, intimate and shared. Ultimately, the article argues that while co-productions may appear to decentralize narrative authority and encourage intercultural dialogue, they remain structurally enclosed by the logics of cultural diplomacy. The presence of foreign guests functions less as co-authorship but legitimizing witness. What emerges is a soft power practice that invites emotional resonance with a pre-staged setting. Such practice positions global audiences not as participants in mutual exchange, but as observers of a benevolent and modernizing China.