I have spent some time as of late picking through the now infamous train wreck that was the American pavilion at Shanghai. Cynthia Schneider offers her opinion on what went wrong here. Here’s my take:

Through such platforms as overseas visits by Chinese leaders, receiving visits to China by foreign leaders, the Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai World Expo, we engaged in dynamic public and cultural diplomacy...and showed to the rest of the world a China that is culturally-advanced, democratic, open and making continuous progress.

...Hu told the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that China needed to invest more in its soft power resources. Accordingly, China is spending billions of dollars on a charm offensive. The Chinese style emphasises high-profile gestures, such as rebuilding the Cambodian Parliament or Mozambique's foreign affairs ministry.

We aren’t doing too much in public diplomacy. We do have regular attendance at such expos, a military band that travels, a festival of arts held in the South Pacific, and shows like Pacific Night in Washington, DC and elsewhere . However, I don’t know if there’s a systematic plan to exploit this area on the world stage.

A Win-Win Game for Players

Today, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy released a Media Monitor Report on "Expo Shanghai 2010 - Flaunting Nations' Beauty through the Practice of Nation Branding".

The Shanghai Expo's China Pavilion expects crowds to teem through its doors when it reopens on July 12 in the sweltering summer heat. The pavilion will be open to public for three months till Oct 9, from Tuesday to Sunday.