 Studying Chinese and Celebrating Chun Jie in Nairobi: The Confucius Institutes as the Strong Arm of China’s Public Diplomacy and Soft Power 
The China-Africa relationship has evolved from the initial Chinese economic and political assistance to Africa to today’s Sino-African comprehensive cooperation in political, economic social and cultural fields. In this context, the several local branches of the Confucius Institute have become a Chinese national platform to carry out teaching and cultural activities related to its public diplomacy to wield China’s soft power. This article analyses the hybridity of Confucius Institute’s communication activities and strategies, which combine one-way propaganda and two-way relational, even affective dimensions. This public diplomacy is aimed to charm many publics from the political, economic and intellectual decision-making elites’ level or high-potential profiles to that of ordinary citizens, especially students.