When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, by his side will be his glamorous folk singer celebrity wife, Peng Liyuan.  For the Xis, this will be a first visit to India together. For an Indian audience, this will be a first experience of a new - and, some would say, softer - side to China's diplomacy.

China has global ambitions to export its technology, with the twin objectives of securing access to energy and other commodities in return for financial and technical support. The Indian ventures would be a stepping stone towards realizing ambitious proposals to build high-speed railway lines from China to Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, and across South America and Africa. 

President Xi Jinping wason  Tuesday due in Sri Lanka where he will launch construction of a Chinese-backed $1.4 billion port city as he promotes his vision of a "maritime silk road" in the face of growing competition from Japan and India.

The picturesque Maldives, with its stunning scenery and turquoise waters, has long had a hold on the imagination of Chinese people, and the growing links between the countries will take on a more substantial form with a range of key infrastructure initiatives. A housing and a road project involving China was unveiled on Monday, part of a number of infrastructure projects that include building a landmark bridge and upgrading the main airport in the island country. 

The British government is spending £1.5 million ($2.44 million) to have all of Shakespeare’s works translated into Mandarin by the Royal Shakespeare company. UK culture secretary Sajid Javid said he hopes the move will build “stronger links with China.”

The sudden blackout of popular U.S. shows is seen as an example of Chinese leaders keeping a tight grip on foreign media to counter the U.S.'s soft power and shore up China's own television industry. Last year, Chinese censors withheld box office receipts while negotiating a rise in tariffs on Western importers. Now, Chinese leaders want to become not only international exporters of finished goods but also dramas and soap operas...

This week, China announced that it was sending 700 military personnel to join the UN's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, an oil-rich east African state and site of an ongoing civil war. China has contributed to UN peacekeeping missions before, but the unprecedented size of its contribution, and its purpose in sending troops, reveals just how complicated China's foreign outreach has become as the country continues its rise to super-power status.