While China practices harsh media control at home, it has embarked on a major campaign abroad to present itself as a modernizing and open nation.

China is likely to stake out a position between the big nuclear weapons states and the non-nuclear-armed countries at an international conference next month, a prominent Swedish think tank said on Monday.

Beijing's new response is typically massive and ambitious: a $6.6 billion global strategy to create media giants that will challenge agenda-setting Western behemoths such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., the BBC and CNN. The stations don't broadcast outright propaganda but rather programming with a Chinese focus and flavor, tailored for local audiences.

The Ottawa-born Rowswell is famous throughout China as a comedian and television commentator and he’s one of Canada’s secret weapons in its bid to create a buzz at what is almost certainly the largest nation-branding event ever staged.

Many countries are willing to go that extra mile to impress the Chinese, but the Danes may have topped them all. On Sunday, Denmark unveiled its well-known statue of the Little Mermaid at the unofficial opening ceremony for its Shanghai Expo pavilion.

Near the center of the World Expo grounds, the crimson-painted, crown-shaped China Pavilion towers over other nations' exhibits as a physical display of the country's pride and growing power.

In exactly one week, the countdown clocks in Shanghai will all finally hit zero. This is because this year May Day will also be Opening Day for the 2010 World Expo, an event that has been largely ignored in the United States (at least until very recently)...

The Ottawa-born Rowswell is famous throughout China as a comedian and television commentator and he's one of Canada's secret weapons in its bid to create a buzz at what is almost certainly the largest nation-branding event ever staged.