Public diplomacy practitioners, students and scholars are aware that one of the critical obstacles for public diplomacy is resource deficiency, which includes the lack of funding and personnel. In other words, the scope of influence is a problem. Both Biden and Locke successfully attracted Chinese attention, with which any diplomatic approaches can be magnified.

The American companies get a peek into the high-walled Chinese playground; China gets an injection of Hollywood storytelling pep, marketing savvy and global distribution that might help its film industry kick on. Despite the endless barrage of coverage declaring the 21st century Beijing-owned, Chinese cinema isn't flourishing.

APDS Blogger: Di Wu

Beijing invests a lot of diplomatic and public-relations effort in persuading the world that China's "peaceful rise" is nothing to fear. This is especially true in Africa...Libya's recent turmoil represents a missed opportunity for Beijing to have shown its readiness to shoulder the responsibilities of a great power.

China relies extensively on its investment and foreign aid apparatus to bolster its soft power on the continent. While Sata's election will not deter the Chinese from further investing in Zambia, it could signal the beginning of a trend in African politics for candidates to run on anti-Chinese platforms.

Today, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy released a Media Monitor Report on "Expo Shanghai 2010 - Flaunting Nations' Beauty through the Practice of Nation Branding".

It is one of India's wildly successful exports and a symbol of the country's soft power. But the curry is no longer simply "Indian" . It has become as much English or Scottish as it is Thai or Samoan. Once associated with the kitchens of the subcontinent, the curry's aroma now wafts across continents effortlessly, often taking on a life of its own.

China continues its 'soft power' diplomatic efforts to expand its influence around the globe with the establishment of ever-more Confucius institutes at universities around the world and, recently, the spread of an offshoot aimed at schools called the Confucius Classroom scheme.