Soft power

Soft power is a concept within contemporary Chinese political thinking and refers to power which comes from economic or cultural means. An example of soft power is Hollywood which within a Chinese context is seen as an example of soft power exterted by the United States in that it allows the United States to culturally influence the rest of the world in ways that Bollywood or the Hong Kong movie industry do not.

Soft power is contrasted with hard power which refers to power which comes from military or diplomatic sources.