Foreign countries are sending tens of thousands of students to American universities every year, propping up school budgets and contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy. And no city sends students to American universities quite like Seoul. The South Korean capital funneled more than 56,000 students into U.S. bachelors, masters, and PhD programs between 2008 and 2012, according to a new study by The Brookings Institute. 

China’s overreach was costly, among other things it accelerated a developing arms race in Asia and amplified calls for Washington and Tokyo to counter Beijing. Still, China acquired useful information to hone its ongoing strategy in the South China Sea. Understanding why Beijing took this action and its attendant lessons will help Washington and its partners deal with China.

The United States has exhausted its annual supply of EB-5 immigrant investor visas for the first time in the program's history following a surge of applications from Chinese nationals.  The State Department's chief of visa control, Charles Oppenheimer, told lawyers at an industry conference earlier this week that no more spots will be available to Chinese for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

The ruling party has told all 86.6 million of its members to engage with its first foray into social media with a public account launched this month on massively popular mobile social media platform WeChat, which boasts 438 million monthly active users. The account, called “gong chan dang yuan”, or Communist Party member, is managed by the Organisation Department of the party’s highest organ of power, the Central Committee. The department has told all members of the world’s largest political party to follow the account.

At a time when the restive region of Xinjiang has witnessed executions of suspected separatists, knife attacks on train passengers, and clashes between the Chinese government and forces it has identified as Muslim extremists, a film company believes it has the answer — a cartoon princess. With the encouragement of the authorities, a Chinese animation company is turning to a Disney-like character for help in bringing ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese together.

"We know our performances are a fantastic way for people to demonstrate their connections to lead politicians in both countries and to forge relationships at a cultural diplomacy level. We have a five-year vision and we would like some people who want to be part of that journey," she says. Tours are expensive for the company that, with a turnover of A$50 million (about HK$361 million), receives just 16.3 per cent of its funding from state and federal governments.