Cultural Diplomacy

Films commissioned more than 50 years ago by the British Council to showcase the best of Britain to the rest of the world – whether that was a sense of fair play, cricket or the joys of congregated drinking in places "called 'public' houses" – have been digitised and are being released online for the first time.

The group will depart the United States in late January to perform a pair of stage productions to an Indian audience. As part of the tour, the group will visit Delhi, Chennai, Ranchi, Trissur, Pondicherry, Hyderabad and Bangalore. In addition to performing, the group will teach dance classes.

Food has been a trending topic in travel circles for some time now. But though a good meal can tell a traveler much about the local culture, it's not often that food is thought of as a force for political change at home.

The power of South Asia as a cultural block is woven around its young contemporary music which is drawing from ancient traditions to fuse with new sounds to create a distinct voice and identity.

The annual Taiwan Design Expo kicked off in Taipei City Dec. 11, with local and international designers from France, Germany, Japan and the U.K. showcasing over 1,450 creations at the nine-day event.

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said here on Friday that public diplomacy is the vehicle for dissemination of the ideas, interests, concepts, and the approaches that define our foreign policy.

Once upon a time, it was a schoolyard taunt to label someone "four-eyes," but in Taiwan, they have adopted an unusual take on such labels. There is a strange and ubiquitous fashion trend seen among Taipei's teens and twentysomethings who sport eyeglass frames sans the lenses. It is not entirely clear where the trend originated, as some point to the Japanese and Korean pop scene as the trend's provenance, while others argue it to be a homegrown Taiwanese fashion.

The understanding between artists and individuals – on a people-to-people level, is one of the cornerstones of free societies. During the cold war, artists and cultural exchanges helped win what some scholars call the “war of ideas” by demonstrating to the world the promise of America.

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