She is only 10, but Dai Jingya has already come face to face with more heads of state than most people will in their lifetimes. She has rubbed shoulders with Chinese President Xi Jinping four times, and greeted the leaders of Singapore, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Denmark. Dai is one of a group of children culled from Beijing schools to welcome the constant stream of foreign dignitaries coming to the capital to pay their respects, alongside People's Liberation Army soldiers and a host of top Chinese officials.

Alice Roosevelt's 1905 journey to Japan, Korea and China is documented in rare photographs held by the Freer and Sackler Galleries....The timing of this voyage made certain that amid an 83-member diplomatic delegation including seven senators and 23 congressmen, headed by Secretary of War, future president and chief justice William Howard Taft, Alice would be a brighter star than ever. 

China’s overall economic and strategic interests now seem to go hand in hand with a willingness to engage with Europe culturally.This move beyond economics and normal diplomacy towards ‘a meeting of minds and souls’ is taking place at a time when China itself has entered a new phase of internal growth, one which has made the question of culture and soft power a core strategic priority for the country’s future growth and prosperity.

Most of the focus on China’s soft power has emphasised infrastructure projects spearheaded by Beijing as a way to forge good relations with countries it deemed to be of strategic importance. But China has come to recognise the intangible benefits of a well-burnished public image abroad – goodwill and influence roads and railways alone cannot buy.

Internationalization of higher education is becoming a new mantra for the Polish government. In June, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education signed an agreement with the UAE to attract more of their students. Poland already has similar agreements with Oman, Malaysia, and China. [...] The point is that there are lots of reasons to internationalize and the rankings are one small part. 

With stops in 15 countries, the event serves as a promotion of all things British to the nouveau riche of some of the emerging markets most heavily targeted by the luxury industry. The event was born out of a diplomatic mission to Abu Dhabi carried out by Olver, a former Adjutant of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in the British army. 

Beijing's scholars and foreign policy mandarins are experimenting on the "power/knowledge" model to win the hearts and minds of African thinkers and wielders of power in governments and regional groupings. [...] China's new power/knowledge approach to African affairs is part of its emerging African strategy.