The book is clearly organized, with neatly packaged discussions. Students of Chinese foreign policy form the major audience for this study, in addition to international relations scholars curious about applying the idea of soft power beyond the USA.

Richard Curt Kraus, University of Oregon, Journal of Chinese Political Science

This book explores a very important topic in contemporary Chinese foreign policy and international strategy. It is a comprehensive study on the resources behind China's soft power, the practice of soft power-based foreign policy and the implications for China's rise and international politics for the coming decades....this book is commendable for its conscious attention to theoretical clarity, particularly given the fact that the term soft power has been used very loosely in many other writings....This book should be a useful read for people who are interested in Chinese foreign policy and China's rising strategy in international politics. It is successful in proposing a soft power perspective in watching and studying China's rise.

June 2010, Li Mingjiang, Pacific Affairs

Sheng Ding's book could not be more timely and is wonderfully insightful. China is clearly on the rise in the global system, and he explains that this has as much or more to do with 'soft power,' including examples of it such as the attractiveness of its development model and skillful agenda-setting. Though to his credit, he also highlights potential threats to China's soft power.

Yale Ferguson, Professorial Fellow, Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University