The Qatar China 2016 Year of Culture launched with a spectacular show featuring folkdances, songs and acrobatics by Chinese performers at a packed Katara Drama Theatre last night.

Cultural exchanges will help China and Colombia grow closer together, said Chinese Ambassador to Colombia Li Nianping Friday after the first performance of the Jilin Song and Dance Ensemble here [...] As two countries are celebrate 36 years of their diplomatic relations next month, there will be an increase in cultural programs and trade missions, Li said, adding that more Colombians are welcome to China for a visit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday he hopes to open a "new chapter" in relations with Iran after the lifting of international sanctions under a historic nuclear deal, as he paid the first visit by a Chinese leader to the Islamic Republic in 14 years.

In a recent study that elicited the views of mainland Chinese tourists to Taiwan, the researchers show that the increase in tourism between the two places has already had a positive influence on the “long-term peace-building effort” and that it will “facilitate political reconciliation and mutual recognition” in the future.

Social media is changing "business as usual" for governments, opening up democratic processes, delivering services both to understand and surveil constituents, managing threats and conducting direct diplomacy. Even so, adoption of social media is slow and uneven, with vast differences both between and within states. As more and more governments move towards e-government, their use of social media will grow. 

As the dust settles after the 2nd annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China, media commentary outside of China has largely focused on President Xi Jinping’s opening statements about “cybersovereignty,” with scholars focusing on the suppressive censorship tactics that this policy is oft seen to represent in China’s domestic cyberspace.