As Hollywood comes to China in desperate search of new, lucrative audiences, China is desperate to harness something of the elusive magic. If it can build its own film industry, the argument goes, it can use it to develop its so-called "soft power", in the same way US movies have carried American values and norms around the world for a century or more.

A total of 20 young leaders from China and Austria have engaged in close discussions and exchanges in a four-day agenda from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries. [...] Revolving around topics including cultural inheritance and China-EU interconnectivity, delegates from the two sides have engaged in lively discussions.

The Rebalance author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into the U.S. rebalance to Asia. This conversation with Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch – Founder and President of the U.S.-China Education Trust and the first Asian American to hold the rank of U.S. ambassador – is the 70th in “The Rebalance Insight Series.”

[W]hen Mr. Zhao, a Chinese tourist, arrived with his wife in September, they spent their first day wandering the humdrum suburban office parks that Facebook and Google call home. Joining a guided bus tour with a dozen other Chinese visitors, the two became part of the steady flow of Chinese tourists to Silicon Valley that represents — despite pervasive censorship and outright hostility from the Chinese government — the tremendous influence Silicon Valley wields in China.

Beijing today lodged a formal protest with the U.S. because President-elect Donald Trump, bypassing established diplomatic channels, spoke to Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen yesterday by telephone. [...] “During the discussion, they noted the close economic, political, and security ties exists between Taiwan and the United States,” notes the readout of the Trump transition team of the historic conversation. 

“I think what’s interesting is that it helped contribute to US citizens thinking positively about the cuisines of China,” said Johanna Mendelson Forman, an adjunct professor and researcher of gastrodiplomacy at American University. “In recent years, Chinese regional foods and food waves have become a great interest in Chinese cultural diplomacy.”

The English Premier League recently signed its biggest deal outside of the U.K. Chinese electronics giant Suning has stumped up £560m for the television rights to broadcast its games to the growing legion of fans there. But it’s not just the size of the agreement that’s eye-catching. It’s a double display of soft power at work: by both China and the U.K.

Chinese media company StarTimes on Wednesday launched a satellite digital television project in Kenya as part of its long-term agenda to bridge rural-urban information gap in the East African nation. According to StarTimes, the southwestern Kenyan county of Kajiado will pilot the project that has given over 120 households in Saina Village free access to the StarTimes digital television service.