This paper contextualizes China’s contemporary global cultural footprints by examining the recent development of its cultural diplomacy. It started with discussing the limitations of applying ‘soft power’ as the mainstream analytical tool: its lack of historical perspective and engagement of the domestic dimension, as well as the incompatibility with the very purpose of cultural diplomacy with its binary view of cultures and values. Then an alternative and more sophisticated framework of analysis building on cultural hegemony, Orientalism and nationalism is proposed to look beyond and beneath the soft power narrative to reveal a three-dimensional picture against the historical, international and domestic contexts. The dynamics among all the forces at work in this terrain are also critically analyzed to illuminate the complex nature of this uneven global cultural terrain of struggle and the unique challenges faced by China’s cultural diplomacy