So far, Beijing's soft power strategy has focused on ramping up the Chinese media overseas, with steps like state news agency Xinhua taking out advertisements at New York's Times Square. The spread of Confucius Institutes across Asia and the world is another high-profile effort.

As a matter of fact, the region’s leaders have also expressed a common fear that China’s financial aid might be a poisonous gift, that with this soft power, Chinese investments might lead to economic dependency and political vassalage.

China is increasingly making its presence felt internationally. Till now, over 350 Confucius Institutes and 500 Confucius Classrooms have been founded in 105 countries and regions. Aiming to promote Chinese language and culture, the global presence of Confucius Institutes is viewed as a barometer of China's "soft power".

The Year of Chinese Culture will bring Chinese literature, arts, cultural heritages, films, acrobatics, puppet shows, among others, to different Turkish cities. It aims to introduce to the Turkish people China's long history, its splendid culture and its development achievements in rich and colorful forms.

In China, a large number of government departments and officials have stepped into the online world through weibo, the most popular and biggest micro blog service in China. But most of them are still more show than tell, while some have just followed the new media trend blindly without interacting with netizens.

In 2010, nearly 130,000 Chinese students studied in the U.S., a 30 percent increase from the year before. China is now America's top source of international students. For Chinese students in the U.S., there's a bigger challenge than the language barrier: defining and defending their homeland.

While Chinese leaders have generally eschewed explicit mention of China’s global leadership role, they have nonetheless asserted Beijing’s right to influence matters of global concern. But the key question is still: Can China lead the world, and if so, where is its leadership heading?

More information is emerging about the expansion plans of China Central Television (CCTV), which I wrote about four weeks ago. Apart from setting up new offices in New York and Nairobi, CCTV is said to plan new hubs in South America, the Middle-East and Europe. Within five years it will increase its overseas staff tenfold