Mr. Xi’s journey to America’s heartland underscores the importance of the public dimension of U.S-China diplomacy. Since China’s “soft power” efforts have largely been bi-coastal, Mr. Xi’s trip to the fly-over country is particularly noteworthy. Let’s hope that Mr. Xi’s Iowa visit will help broaden and enrich the Chinese imagination of America.

At a time when the rest of the world marvels at — or perhaps dreads — China’s rise, Beijing perceives a serious weakness in its own armour: the lack of soft power. For all its economic woes, the West still possesses ample soft power as evidenced by its cultural domination.

Cuddly pandas are China's ambassadors of soft power and other countries use money or culture to enhance bilateral ties, but Singapore prefers to say it with flowers -- orchids, to be exact. The tropical city-state cultivates special orchid varieties and names them after a motley mix of foreign leaders and celebrities as part of its diplomatic repertoire.

The rap star from New York flew briefly to the Somali town of Dolo along the Ethiopian border to visit a refugee camp run by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. Rap and rock stars, action heroes, and yes, even comic book characters...do their job well, raising public awareness about world crises. But some critics have begun to ask whether any of this attention does any actual good.

For the first time – ever – Afghanistan today played an international cricket match against...top-ranked neighbor Pakistan, with whom it has a relationship that is sometimes fraught with uneasiness, sometimes full of professions of brotherhood. The historic cricket match...both illustrated the love/hate relationship and helped fans on both sides of the border to forget, at least for a while, the tensions that exist between their countries.

Brand USA, a non-profit, public-private partnership, is to launch a global advertising campaign next month, as part of the country’s concerted effort in marketing tourism to the world. Symbolic as it may be, it sends an unmistakable signal reaffirming America’s openness and optimism, the very foundation of the country’s soft power.

The hallyu – or “Korean wave” as the phenomenon is known in Asia – is now spreading to Europe and the US, and spurring South Korea’s export earnings. Cultural exports are...giving the once reclusive country a global cachet for the first time, shaking off the war-torn images of the US comedy M*A*S*H.

China's soft power is not only coming from official diplomatic channels. Its average citizens have also been ambassadors for the country. Wherever the Chinese diaspora land, much evidence, anecdotal as well as statistical, confirms that the Chinese tend to become productive members of society without the help of affirmative action.