Kalakshetra group leading India’s soft power push in China

India is planning a year-long soft power push in more than a dozen Chinese cities by bringing classical dance troupes, Indian food festivals, first ever Bollywood events in China and even a social media campaign in an attempt to raise the country’s cultural profile, especially among younger Chinese.

Officials are hoping the initiative will also help boost the minuscule tourism traffic from China to India that has remained largely stagnant even as outbound Chinese travel across the world has boomed in the past decade.