China's most celebrated operatic export Tian Hao Jiang's "I Sing Beijing" is a summer program bringing some 20 promising young professionals from the U.S., Europe and South America to China to learn to sing in Mandarin, a program that will culminate with a gala concert at the National Centre for the Performing Arts on August 18.

On October 6th, the Cuban Interests Section (aka the Cuban Embassy) will launch a clever bit of public diplomacy by opening "Hemingway's Bar." And what is as interesting is that the Cuban national historical landmark, the Finca Vigia...will be providing educational and cultural exhibits and material about Hemingway's work and life during his two decades living in Cuba.

It's inevitable that the economic problems have put a dent in our soft power," he says. "In material terms, it's almost a non-story. The math in the Standard & Poor's downgrade was incorrect.

On the economy, 62 percent of respondents agreed that China’s growing economy was good, while 25 percent disagreed, and 37 percent agreed that a growing US economy was good, while 53 percent disagreed. Somewhat similar results were recorded by a 2008 survey on soft power conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCOGA).

The U.S. State Department, in recognizing the need for inclusiveness in the world of sports and people-to-people exchanges, has announced today that it will bring 14 athletes from Kazakhstan to the United States to participate in an inaugural exchange for athletes with physical disabilities.

Cultural diplomacy usually comes in the form of a traveling art exhibit or a celebrity visit to a war-torn country. But there's a deeper kind of diplomacy taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C...arts managers from around the world have been coming to D.C...

When the first Americans to participate in people-to-people exchanges with Cuba in 7½ years leave Miami on a Marazul charter Thursday afternoon, the central Virginia couple will be aboard. They want to meet the people who go with the music and cigars, said Liane Young.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the meeting at the State Department to promote sports as a means of building ties between countries, underlining US solidarity with Japan after its devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.