1　Introduction

This section elaborates on the strategic deployment of international communication capacity building outlined in the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, highlighting the pivotal role of college English education in cultivating international communication talents and emphasizing that college English textbooks must proactively respond to national needs. It introduces the background of the "Three Progressions" initiative and the publication history of the *Understanding Contemporary China* textbook series, explaining that the newly added *Understanding Contemporary China: College English Integrated Course* in 2025 provides crucial support for enhancing students' ability to tell China's stories well. It clarifies that this study takes this *Course* as an example, aiming to explore the integration mechanism between international communication capacity cultivation and foreign language education, and to provide theoretical and practical references for the development of higher foreign language textbooks.

2　College English Textbooks and International Communication Capacity Building

This section discusses the national strategic background of strengthening international communication capacity building, cites General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches on cultivating international communication talents, and points out that foreign language education faces new challenges in assisting college students to participate in international communication and addressing the "stuck voice" problem. The chapter analyzes the triple mission of college English textbooks: serving as a vehicle for spreading Chinese culture and enhancing cultural soft power, functioning as a tool for training English language proficiency and foundational international communication capabilities, and exploring possible pathways to build smart textbooks through digital technology to achieve a closed loop of "language learning—communication practice—effect feedback." It ultimately emphasizes that innovation in college English textbooks is a foundational project and strategic layout for telling China's stories well.

3　Principles for Compiling College English Textbooks from the Perspective of International Communication

This section analyzes three types of imbalance existing in traditional college English textbooks from the perspective of international communication: cultural dimension imbalance leading to "Chinese culture aphasia," content type imbalance lacking contemporary Chinese narratives, and competency structure neglecting the transformation of communication skills. Accordingly, it proposes that textbook compilation needs to coordinate three sets of core relationships: first, the unity of national identity and international understanding, maintaining cultural confidence while avoiding "self-centeredness" and enhancing mutual learning among civilizations; second, the unity of traditional China and contemporary China, both inheriting excellent traditional culture and setting contemporary topics reflecting modern China's landscape to present a true, multi-dimensional, and comprehensive China; third, the unity of language proficiency cultivation and communication skills training, upgrading listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation to practical international communication skills, setting authentic output tasks, and guiding students to use new media technologies and authentic foreign language expressions to tell China's stories in ways easily accepted by audiences.

4　Innovations in the Compilation of the *Course* Integrating the Perspective of International Communication

This section elaborates on the innovations in compiling college English textbooks integrating the perspective of international communication, manifested as the combination of explicit mechanisms and implicit permeation. At the explicit level, international communication skills are taught through intercultural communication technique boxes; at the implicit level, international communication logic runs through the entire process of topic selection, concept interpretation, skills instruction, and task design, respectively addressing three core questions of China's stories: "what to tell," "how to tell," and "how well to tell."

In topic selection, the textbook designs 12 units around the "Five-sphere Integrated Plan" overall layout, focusing on globally consensual themes while simultaneously presenting Chinese practices and other countries' initiatives. Its innovations are reflected in three aspects: first, advocating a civilization view of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness, through the responsive design of "Understanding China" and "Exploring the World" sections, helping students understand the commonalities and characteristics of different modernization paths and transcending Western-centric narratives; second, responding to international communication strategic needs by incorporating practices from Global South countries, such as the case of Peruvian biologists protecting forests, promoting mutual learning among civilizations from a fairer perspective; third, elevating communication positioning by telling interactive stories between China and the world, demonstrating the integrated pattern of "you in me, me in you."

In concept interpretation, the textbook focuses on transforming original Chinese-characteristic discourse into teaching texts, using strategies such as contextualizing macro-narratives and individualizing narrative perspectives, supported by specific cases. For example, it uses the micro-practice of the "Courtyard Discussion Hall" in Beijing's Qianmen area to reflect the macro-framework of "whole-process people's democracy," helping students achieve the sublimation from conceptual cognition to value identification and solidifying the foundation of discourse competence.

In skills instruction, the textbook constructs an intercultural communication skills checklist from three dimensions: narrative subject, narrative content, and narrative approach, explaining communication skills for 12 units through 24 materials. Through revealing material architecture ideas, multi-level excavation of material value, and interdisciplinary integration of foreign languages and media, combined with video micro-lectures and case libraries, it forms a closed loop of "learning—understanding—application," providing support for students to be able and skilled at telling China's stories.

In task design, the textbook designs highly authentic intercultural communication scenarios, covering diverse settings such as online forums and international conferences, training practical skills in writing, oral output, and presentation, and providing detailed output step suggestions. It also sets up a "Competition Collection" special zone connecting textbooks with competitions, displaying outstanding student works through "Works Circle," promoting the transformation of teaching achievements into practical works, and continuously delivering youthful energy for international communication.

5　Conclusion

This section elaborates on the new mission of college English textbooks in international communication capacity building, proposing that textbook compilation needs to achieve the triple unity of national identity and international understanding, traditional China and contemporary China, and language proficiency cultivation and communication skills training. It uses the *Course* as an example to illustrate its innovative practices in four aspects: topic selection, concept interpretation, skills instruction, and task design. Finally, it looks forward to textbook construction proactively integrating into national strategy, through updating knowledge systems, optimizing narrative systems, and improving competency training models, to provide educational support for cultivating compound international talents and assisting in the dissemination of China's voice and image building.