The one thing that the world learned early on from the ISS experience is that space is a great forum for diplomacy. One time arch-rivals now work side by side on a daily basis.

There has been an officially sanctioned revival of Confucius in recent years, as authorities have turned to his teachings to reach out to the international community to strengthen China's "soft power" and counter an invasion of Western culture.

China wants to use both inbound and outbound tourism to help promote its international image, which has been battered by endless product and food safety scandals and ethnic unrest.

Tibetan ‘soft power’ has ensured that we are going to see a continued rise in Tibetan nationalistic aspirations along with the flourishing of Tibetan culture and civilization, in tandem with the rise of China as a global power.

The advance of China and the multidimensional strategic challenge that it poses are most effectively characterized by one of the most loosely defined and misunderstood buzzwords in the modern parlance: soft power.

People.com.cn, the online arm of China's People's Daily newspaper, will soon launch its initial public offering (IPO) in the domestic A-share market as the nation accelerates its marketization of State news portals.

What are your first thoughts about symbols of Chinese culture? The Great Wall, the Bird's Nest or Peking opera? A survey among 2,000 college students shows that Confucius, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and former chairman Mao Zedong broke into the top 10 Chinese cultural icons among the 270 candidates.

Dominating the games demonstrates to the Chinese the superiority of their system, analysts say. China's lavish preparations and hospitality show fellow Asian nations that it is a friendly power whose leadership in the region should be embraced, not feared, they say.