China's Ministry of Culture held a meeting with the press on Wednesday, providing Xie Jinying, the director of the Bureau of External Cultural Relations, with a platform to announce the details of the nation's cultural plans before a group of reporters in Beijing.
Xie's statement was based in the international context, as he revealed that China now has cultural cooperation agreements with 146 countries.
As a result of China's joint arrangements in the cultural sphere, there are now 20 China Cultural Centers throughout the world, after the first facilities were built in 1988. Mauritius and Benin were the locations of the inaugural China Cultural Centers, and the 20 centers have been functional since they were launched several decades ago.
The bureau's director announced that a Brussels-based facility will be unveiled during the first half of the year, while a new cultural center will become active in Singapore at some stage during 2015.
Sweden, Tanzania, Romania and Hungary have also been identified by Beijing for the construction of additional global cultural centers.
The China Cultural Centers provide venues for the staging of different kinds of events that seek to show the world the numerous aspects that make up Chinese culture.
The Chinese Culture Year event and the Chinese Art Festival are two key examples of Chinese cultural events that have become renowned in overseas settings.
Additionally, the Happy Chinese New Year event is a particularly popular cultural gathering on the global stage, and occurred in 321 cities in 112 different countries last year.
Xie informed reporters that the reach of China's cultural influence is set to further expand, as more than 800 events will be presented in 118 countries over the course of this year.