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.

The man expected to be China's next president, current Vice President Xi Jinping, is meeting Tuesday with President Obama at the White House. Richard Wike, Associate Director of the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, answers questions about public opinion at home and abroad regarding China and the United States.

The administration is proposing to trim assistance to Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia in order to bolster spending in areas given higher priority by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Middle East would gain, with the creation of a special $770 million fund to support political and economic reform in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.

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.