Monica Pokorny of Polson was one of 10 young professionals to spend three weeks in China in June as part of a public diplomacy exchange focused on global environmental issues.

On October 1, 2011, Voice of America’s (VOA) Chinese radio service will go silent, as U.S. international broadcasting abandons the airwaves and moves to the Internet. In the burgeoning age of new media, many...seem to be questioning the continued relevance of shortwave radio.

Despite China’s considerable economic influence, however, China has largely been unable to project its soft power into the region, as it has been unable to do in many areas of the world – if indeed it wants to.

What if Washington had concluded that this competition required not more military might, but more and smarter investment in education, innovation, energy and the environment, and the full unfolding of America's soft power?

The 24-year-old host of "OMG Meiyu," a trendy, cross cultural English teaching feature produced by Voice of America’s Mandarin Service, has become an overnight sensation in China...More than 2-million people have now clicked on Jessica Beinecke’s quirky videos, which teach Chinese speakers about common English expressions used by young Americans.

he Chinese government published a white paper on the country's development, stressing peaceful development is China's strategic choice to realize modernization, make itself strong and prosperous and make more contribution to the progress of human civilization...the white paper says that the goal is to promote development and harmony domestically and pursue cooperation and peace internationally.

A research carried out by The News International shows that there are nearly 510 million Chinese-speaking people using the internet currently—-the second most after those who talk in English. Mandarin is the most widely spoken language on earth as over 1.372 billion humans residing on the planet express themselves in this lingo.

A carrier of culture will not be popular worldwide if it is unpopular in its own country. For example...the Peking Opera does not enjoy much popularity among contemporary Chinese youth. China should make practical efforts to foster the people's interest in the Peking Opera, both at home and abroad, in hopes that someday this art form will be as popular in the West as the Western opera is in China.