Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “Showcasing favorite cuisines, ceremonies and values is an often overlooked and powerful tool of diplomacy. The meals that I share with my counterparts at home and abroad cultivate a stronger cultural understanding between countries and offer a unique setting to enhance the formal diplomacy we conduct every day.”

The Confucius Institute at the University of Arizona is proud to present the first Annual Chinese Culture Festival September 22-30, 2012 in Tucson. From Chinese medicine, martial arts, and tai chi to poetry, movies and music, Tucsonans are guaranteed a rich cultural experience.

The American Music Abroad program sends American bands overseas to engage with audiences and communities, especially underserved youth. The program builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” which embraces the full range of diplomatic tools, including music, to engage people and create opportunities for greater understanding.

The appeal of values as a persuasive tool dates back to Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the Western intellectual heritage. Implicit in Confucius’ The Analects are values that govern behaviors and proper relations in society. Contemporary persuasion theories provide strong support for using values to change attitudes and behavior.

The new Diplomatic Culinary Partnership is part of Clinton’s “smart power” philosophy of using “every diplomatic tool at our disposal,” said U.S. Chief of Protocol Capricia Penavic Marshall, in a written response to questions from The Associated Press.

Lagos State Government will introduce Mandarin, or Chinese language, in public schools’ curriculum as from next session, Olayinka Oladunjoye, Lagos State Commissioner for Education, said in a statement on Monday.The commissioner made the disclosure after a meeting with the delegation from the Chinese Confucius Institute, University of Lagos.

The county has just embarked on a bold plan to have all its children fully bilingual — in English and Mandarin — by the time they graduate from high school. In recent weeks, children from pre-kindergarten through third grade began mandatory Mandarin classes, part of a curriculum that in three years will include middle school and high school students.

Under the partnership, the Confucius Institute will train the six district teachers in Chinese language and culture and provide three instructors from China to assist those teachers in their own language training and in their first year teaching Chinese to students in Columbia Public Schools. Later, more teachers will be trained.