Several years ago I organized a conference designed to encourage those involved in the work of cultural diplomacy – policy makers, practitioners and cultural producers, public diplomacy officers, and academics; who too seldom talk to one another – to generate a shared conversation about what in fact composes this enterprise.

The WikiLeaks cables show that governments really do think along these strategic lines about the entertainment industry. They call it soft power. Let's hope that they don't forget that someone – Hollywood, Bollywood, or Chinese – is supposed to be making the next generation of classic films at the same time.

In partnership with Saudi Arabia's King Abdul Aziz Public Library, artefacts from forty collections illustrate the basic elements of the Hajj... At a time when there are many misconceptions about Islam and people are quick to get their information about Muslims from TV, the British Museum's Hajj exhibition is a good place to learn what Islam is really about.

The Barbican in London opened its doors to reveal five decades' worth of possessions accumulated by the mother of the Chinese conceptual artist Song Dong. Jane Alison, senior curator at the Barbican, said that Waste Not was "so personal and poetic … it helps us to understand the reality of Chinese history and culture in the 20th century in a way that newspapers can't".

For some industry insiders, the trio personify a growing partnership between Beijing’s aspirations to export what it calls “soft power” – a sugarcoated version of China and its myriad social problems – to the West and Hollywood producers, who are bending over backwards to get a piece of the world’s fastest growing film market.

VaughanTown takes a new approach to a cultural exchange program which finally offers the chance to get to know Spain and its people without the language barrier. The program, based on one to one conversation sessions and group activities, runs for 6 days and 5 nights, from Sunday to Friday, almost all year round.

China is ready to work with the United States to advance people-to-people exchanges, Education Minister Yuan Guiren said prior to Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to the US. People-to-people exchange is still an important driving force in today's increasingly close China-US relations.

In its latest move to reshape what Chinese viewers can watch on television, the government agency that oversees mass media has issued a new set of regulations that seek to restrict comedies, dramas and movies from abroad. The new regulations ban all imported programs during prime time and limit such shows to no more than 25 percent of a channel’s offerings each day.