Hallyu, or the Korean Wave phenomenon, has helped put South Korea on the map as a modern Asian nation with much to offer culturally. But has it brought economic gains to the nation?

China will enhance its cultural soft power in the 2011-2015 period, according to a document of the Communist Party of China (CPC) issued Wednesday. ...A public culture service system should be basically established with the emphasis in grassroots rural areas and central and western regions, it said.

Historian and diplomat Joseph Nye gives us the 30,000-foot view of the shifts in power between China and the US, and the global implications as economic, political and "soft" power shifts and moves around the globe.

Let's play connect the dots. After the US midterm elections, President Obama will visit India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan. Trace a line between the nations, noting how it loops down through the Indian Ocean and back up through the South China Sea and East China Sea, forming a semicircle around China.

In recent years, Indian corporate largesse has also benefited, among others, Yale, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. But these gifts also illustrate a broader phenomenon: India's growing soft power.

Turkey is at a crossroads: Its economy is booming, and the Turkish economic miracle is the direct result of the current government’s willingness to foster domestic entrepreneurship and do whatever is necessary to integrate the country into the twenty-first century’s global economy.

Recently China has been ramping up its efforts at soft power. Last July Xinhua announced that it would launch a 24 hour English language channel and in 2009 China Central Television (CCTV) launched an Arabic channel. Even the private sector is getting into the act and Blue Ocean Network, China's first privately-owned English language TV network targeted at overseas audiences was launched in 2009.

Taiwan has been trying to raise its international profile with the goal of becoming a full member of the world community even though its relations with mainland China have improved over the past year, the British Broadcasting Corporation has reported.