1. In September 1978, the State Council promulgated the Document Designating Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries to Ministry of Culture. In March 1981, under the approval of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the State Council set up the National Liaison Committee for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries to exclusively take charge of cultural relations with foreign countries. In May 1982, the State Council decided to integrate the Ministry of Culture, National Liaison Committee for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries, Foreign Language Bureau, National Publishing Administration and State Bureau of Cultural Relics into the new Ministry of Culture. The New Ministry of Culture took charge of cultural exchanges with foreign countries. These measures provided organizational and management guarantees to China to continually expand cultural relations with foreign countries during the period.

2. In 1982, the fifth session of the fifth National People’s Congress brought developing cultural exchanges with foreign countries into the Constitution. It provided a legal guarantee for China to keep expanding cultural exchanges with foreign countries.

3. In 1983, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that “It is correct to open the economy to the outside world. We must adhere to it as a long-term policy. We will also develop cultural exchanges with foreign countries over a long period.” Under the guidance of the policies and guidelines of the reform and opening up, China has gradually extended the scopes of cultural exchanges and relations with foreign countries.

4. In 1997, Chinese President Jiang Zemin pointed out in the report to the 15th Party Congress that “China’s cultural development is indispensable with the joint effort of civilization construction of the humanity. We must adhere to the principle of relying on our own and using it for our own to launch cultural exchanges with foreign countries in various ways, learn from the advantages of cultures of all countries, and demonstrate the achievements of Chinese cultural construction to the world. We must resolutely resist corruption by all kinds of decadent ideas and cultures.”

5. In 2002, the report of the 16th Party Congress pointed out that “We will continue to carry out extensive people-to-people diplomacy, expand cultural exchanges with the outside world, enhance the friendship between peoples, and propel the development of state-to-state relations.” General Secretary Hu Jintao put forward, for the first time in the report to the 17th Party Congress, the new concept of improving the soft power of national culture. He explicitly proposed that “In the present era, culture has become an increasingly important source of national cohesion and creativity, and an increasingly important element for competition in overall national strength.” It has become a basic goal in China’s cultural construction to improve the soft power of national culture, and the influence and competitiveness of the Chinese culture. Culture, along with politics and economy, has constituted the pillars of China’s overall diplomacy.

6. In 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward for the first time the concept of constructing a harmonious society at the general assembly of the United Nations.