In the past few years, the Chinese President has been engaged in more frequent diplomatic activities with other country leaders. Terms like ‘hometown diplomacy’, ‘stroll diplomacy’, ‘manor diplomacy’, and 'media diplomacy' have entered the lexicon of foreign affairs.

Hometown diplomacy

Time: May, 2015

Location: Xi'an China

Scene: President Xi Jinping welcomed India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Daci'en Temple in Xi'an during his visit to China. Xi’an is the capital city of Shaanxi province as well as President Xi's home town. The two leaders looked back on the history of communication and exchanges in culture between China and India, and expressed their wish to promote an even better relationship between the two countries. Modi said during the visit that Xuanzang was a symbol of cultural exchange between China and India, and that the peoples of the two countries had been tied together as early as Xuanzang's trip to India. He also stated that he had been really impressed by this trip.

Time: September, 2014

Location: Gujarat, India

Scene: President Xi Jinping first visited Modi's home town of Gujarat when he visited India. That day happened to be Premier Modi's 64-year-old birthday. He accompanied President Xi to visit Gujarat where they had a tour to the former residence of Mahatma Gandhi. A photo of the two leaders operating a spinning wheel proved very popular in China.

Time: September, 2013

Location: Samarqand, Uzbekistan

Scene: During President Xi Jinping's first visit to Uzbekistan, he was invited to visit the home town of President Islam Karimov. The two leaders visited the history museum of the Taimur Family. President Xi was especially interested in a painting in the museum, which President Karimov explained to him was a map of the ancient Silk Road.