China, home to the world's second-biggest economy, is experiencing a period of prosperity. However, when it comes to "soft power", the country remains a work in progress. In trying to meet this challenge, particularly in the performing arts, China has turned to Broadway impresario Robert Nederlander Jr.

Culture is helping to bolster the country's "soft power" and build its influence. It's a success story that may offer important clues for China as it seeks to use culture to bolster its own soft power and a reminder of the halcyon days when Hong Kong's Canto-pop stars seemed destined for global fame.

Recently, Beijing has launched what Joshua Kurlantzick deems a “charm offensive”- China’s rising soft power. In the quest for closer relations and natural resources, China has begun to transform the world balance of power.

An article in the Global Times Thursday cited the example of the Letpadaung copper mine project, jointly established by China and Myanmar, which has become the target of growing protests. Leader of Myanmar's National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, has said she will visit the area. She has also insisted that Myanmar should stick to its agreement with Chinese companies.

SOMETIMES China flexes its soft power without really having any idea it has done so. That appears to be what happened on November 27th when the People’s Daily Online, a website of the Communist Party’s English-language mouthpiece, republished an article by the Onion, a satirical version of an American newspaper, declaring North Korea’s Kim Jong Un the “Sexiest Man Alive”.

Two state-owned Chinese film companies are aiming to list shares on Shanghai's stock exchange, as Beijing champions the growth of a homegrown film industry to rival Hollywood... Chinese policy makers see a vibrant film industry as an extension of what is called soft power, giving the nation cultural sway on par with its status as the world's No. 2 economy.

The Confucius Institute at Liberia University, which was jointly established by Changsha University of Science & Technology in China and the Liberian government, through the University of Liberia (UL) nearly 4 years ago , has made some landmark achievements in the area of cultural exchange program.

"China's rise" and the "US decline" have been hotly discussed among politicians and scholars. How does China's rise influence the US? Is the US really in decline? How will the Sino-US relationship develop in the future? Global Times reporter Wang Wen interviewed American political scientist Joseph Nye, former dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University on these topics.