China and the United States are dialing down their rhetorical broadsides over greater U.S. military and economic influence in Asia ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Beijing Tuesday...Cui said China is ready to work with other countries, but “it will not mean that China will have to change its foreign aid policy.”

The Chinese and Foreign Culture Week features three themed art exhibitions, namely "Height" – 2012 Xinjiang 1st Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan Fine Arts Exhibition, Datang City Colourful Painted Silk Road Art Exhibition, and includes three themed professional performances.

Entertainment marketing firm Cimarron hired three summer interns with Chinese backgrounds to comb social media sites and offer cultural insights as it expands overseas...Cimarron, which creates movie trailers as well as ad campaigns for such films as "The Dark Knight Rises," hopes the students will eventually help the company with its expansion into China.

A consequence of China’s rise as a global economic superpower has been the nation’s quest for resources, influence and riches in Africa, extracting minerals and food, building highways and schools, and selling cheap cellphones and pharmaceuticals. In July, President Hu Jintao pledged that China would lend $20 billion to African governments for agriculture and infrastructure.

The Strategic Summit will explore how new communications strategies are advancing commercial, cultural and nation branding for China. With engaging keynote speakers, case studies and interactive discussions, the Strategic Summit will build on a format used at the popular and highly-rated National Summit on Strategic Communications organized annually in Washington DC.

Leading Chinese and Scottish business figures are to deliver a series of lectures in a bid to encourage more trade and economic activity between the two countries. The talks are being organized by the University of Edinburgh's Confutius Institute for Scotland.

The Guangzhou Acrobatic Ballet will perform at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo on September 6 as part of the cultural exchange between China and the Dominican Republic.

Some Chinese experts believe their gardening practices, steeped in Eastern culture and philosophy, will not work in the West, but Jon Burley, associate professor in the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State University, cannot see why not, because the quintessential Chinese garden is actually very versatile, he says.