The first official visit since the 1950s to what was then a closed, even secretive Communist country, the tournament remembered as “Ping-Pong diplomacy” changed the course of history. It broke China’s deeply hostile relationship with the United States, and led to the momentous visit by President Richard Nixon the following year.

“China has conveyed kindness and goodwill to the world through the first lady’s public diplomacy”, and Peng has “enchanted local and foreign media”, according to a research from research by Renmin University of China, via CNBC.

Faced with a patchy image abroad, China is adopting an unusual tactic in its propaganda campaign: using bright-eyed foreign students to burnish its reputation. [...]A new video, released on Tuesday on the YouTube and Facebook accounts of People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, has been ridiculed on the Internet for the interviewees' fawning praise of President Xi Jinping.

"Who is Xi Dada?" was created by the People's Daily, often described as a "mouthpiece" of the Communist Party. The video itself is a list of compliments from doe-eyed foreign students who appear to be studying in Beijing. President Xi is described by the students as "a wise and resolute president", "super charismatic" and "not only a businessman, but also a family man".

With his feel-good tours of Boeing, Microsoft and a local high school complete, Chinese President Xi Jinping departs Washington state Thursday for the other Washington, where tougher discussions on cybersecurity, intellectual property protections and human rights await.

Throughout China’s history, elements of hybrid warfare have often been crucial components of its conflicts with its neighbors. [...] The contemporary analogy would be “diplomatic warfare”; neutralizing unfriendly states through public diplomacy, support for local insurgencies and pressure in international organizations. 

Liyuan's public persona has not disappointed in providing a spark of personality to China's image abroad. The high-profile spouse, widely regarded as the most visible since since Jiang Qing, the late wife of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, has played a significant role in diplomacy.

Xi Jinping’s first state visit to the United States [...] comes as the Xi administration is engaged in an ongoing crackdown on human rights activism and the freedom of speech, and as the state legislature has recently passed or proposed several laws aimed at minimizing dissent and reinforcing Party ideology.