Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras got a special gift from his Chinese hosts during his official visit to China in July: a two-wheeled bicycle. Explaining the symbolic value of the gift, Tsipras said that the bilateral relations are like a two-wheeled vehicle. "One wheel is economic cooperation and the other, cooperation in culture and education. We are the cyclists who will develop our two countries," said Tsipras.

The 1st River Nile Dragon Boat Festival, a unique event ever held in Egypt that combines sport and culture together, kicked off on Saturday. "The event is a new chapter in the Egyptian-Chinese cultural and civilization intermingling," said Atef Abdel Hamid, Governor of Cairo.

Perhaps less apparent is the fact that the multiple dimensions of Beijing’s coercive diplomacy have been complemented by the Communist Party of China’s renewed utilization of people-to-people relations in order to advance political objectives.

Sri Lanka's social and economic relations with the US expanded rapidly in the late 1970s. Hundreds, if not thousands of Sri Lankan students are studying in the US and many Sri Lankan professionals have reached the top of their careers in the US. The number of Sri Lankan doctors listed in the New Jersey telephone directory is staggering.

Although China lacked the creativity to produce a soft power hit like the popular Disney movie, it seems to have the vision to shape something bigger: the “One Belt, One Road” initiative – the supreme mixture of soft and hard power, something similar to Joseph Nye’s idea of smart power. China has the power, now can ‘One Belt, One Road’ take it down the path to glory?

To promote cultural exchange between China and South Korea,  Korean Culture Day was held at the Korean Cultural Centre in Beijing on Wednesday. [...] As part of the activities, students from the Korea National University of Arts in South Korea, the Manhattan School of Music in New York and China's Central Conservatory of Music presented traditional Korean folk songs and classical Chinese music.

The local content production industry has received a huge boost following the signing of a cultural co-operation deal where local films will be broadcast in China.  The Rwanda-China broadcasting co-operation agreement that was signed between Rwanda Broadcasting Agency and the Chinese embassy in Rwanda will improve the quality of services and professionalism in broadcasting and the cultural industry.

China has launched a program to promote stories of well-behaved outbound Chinese tourists in an effort to improve overseas images of Chinese world travelers. [...] China's tourism industry, which has seen rapid growth, has become an influencing force in the world. [...] "The behavior of Chinese [outbound] tourists is one of the important parameters to gauge the national soft power," ​