China's Mid-Autumn Festival will fall on September 15th this year. Chinese people mark the festival by getting together with their families and eating mooncakes. Even if you're not in China, you can still get a taste of the festive atmosphere. We'll take you now to a special performance in Australia and a mooncake-making contest in Cape Town, South Africa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pushed Buddhism diplomacy during his recent trip to Hanoi. India had announced special annual scholarships for Vietnamese students in advanced Buddhist studies at Masters/Doctoral level and scholarships of a year for study of Sanskrit at Indian institutes for Buddhist Sangha members.  

To establish a tourism image of “Panda” brand, enable the tourists from all over the world to visit panda and travel in China [...] the Global Tourism Marketing Activity “Beautiful China, More than Pandas” sponsored by National Tourism Administration of China and organized by Sichuan Tourism Development Committee was officially launched in Berlin, Germany on September 2.

Revelations that Labor senator Sam Dastyari benefited from the largesse of Chinese benefactors have prompted several Australian journalists to draw attention to the problematic prospect of Chinese influence in Australia. [...] While important stories, these are not examples of soft power. Soft power is something different and the difference is important. Understanding it helps us analyse China’s attempts at influence.

China had earned a great deal of soft power by hosting the high-level summit. Soft power, or the non-military influence that a country and its culture can have around the globe, has been a matter of focus in certain sections of the Chinese foreign policy establishment. 

Taiwan’s “soft power,” an intangible attraction based on the ideals and principles an actor – a government, country, organization, or individual- values, stands for, projects, and how the actor behaves at home and abroad. [...] Why is Taiwan still unable to connect with international audiences? Taiwan’s external communications are failing to help the island transit from the invisible to the visible.

People to people exchange has become a bright spot in and an important part of the friendly cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, said Korn Dabbaransi, former deputy prime minister of Thailand and chairman of the Thailand-China Friendship Association.

Silk today not only embodies the history of contact between the East-West, it is also a symbol of modernity and fashion. "Today, you'll find silk-made accessories and garments displayed in many high-end fashion stores in the US and Europe," Zhao said. "Which proves that silk is a welcome symbol in East-West cultural exchange."