A more purposeful military diplomacy, Xi suggested, is a vital necessity to buttress China’s emergence as a great power in Asia and the world.

Starting next September 50 students and 10 faculty members from China's Ningxia University will study for nearly a year at Missouri State University to burnish their agricultural, English and teaching skills. 

Britain's Prince William published a video message on Wednesday to send his good wishes for the Chinese New Year ahead of his first visit to China.

Neither the people behind A Taste of China nor those at Light Chaser are intentionally pushing political agendas.  That is what makes this a genuinely new era in Chinese propaganda. These projects have their own voice, yet they do propagate a preferred narrative, one of a problem-free Chinese culture. 

Since 2010, the country's Ministry of Culture has poured manpower into organizing myriad Chinese New Year events worldwide, in partnership with overseas business entities and cultural organizations.

The 2014 CPD Annual Review demonstrates that although public diplomacy is present in every region of the world, it is predominantly in the northern hemisphere. North America is ranked the most active region in public diplomacy, with the United States contributing the most. Asia (Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and Central Asia combined) comes in second, and Europe is third, with almost the same presence as Asia. As expected, China, Japan, and South Korea take the lead as the major actors in Asia Pacific. India is also very active in PD in South Asia.

As part of the CPD Annual Review process, in January we highlighted some of the year’s key public diplomacy moments in our Top 10 List of the most notable stories from 2014.