China is practising exercising its soft power.

Popular Chinese sitcom Ode to Joy will be shown on television screens across Nepal starting next spring.

Originally in Mandarin, the show will be dubbed in Nepali, one of the first languages in which the show will be dubbed.

According to a report by Sixth Tone, the broadcast represents a new step towards stronger ties between China and the Himalayan republic.

The move demonstrates China's tightening embrace of countries under its "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiative.

Chinese "Sex and the City"

Ode to Joy has accumulated more than 20 billion views online since it aired in China in 2016.

The show has been likened to the American sitcom Sex and the City -- but without the sex.

It tells the story of five young women who live on the same floor of an apartment building in Shanghai.

The drama series has been praised for its depiction of Chinese women as being strong and independent.

Nepali fans

Currently, most Nepalis look to India for entertainment but its soap operas are often quite patriarchal.

Ode to Joy, on the other hand, offers story lines that the Nepalis can relate to.

According to Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, a Kathmandu-based filmmaker who is leading the Ode to Joy project in Nepal, the screening of the Chinese drama series in Nepal will allow the local people to better understand the Chinese people.

However, whether these Chinese shows will be able to win the Nepali audiences over is still unknown.

Sherpa's fictional drama series depicting Nepal's first female prime minister received stellar reviews in 2015.

China's cultural diplomacy in action

Ode to Joy is one of the many shows aiming to deliver a slice of contemporary China under the government's Silk Road Film Bridge Project.

China's media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), launched the initiative in 2013 to promote cultural exchanges with OBOR countries.

Joint efforts to co-produce and translate movies and television dramas are underway as well.

China's finance ministry awarded contracts worth a total of RMB11.87 million (S$2.4 million) to several companies to translate Ode to Joy into Nepali, Polish, and Romanian.

The 2015 documentary Beautiful Village that showcases China's diverse landscape is among one of the several other television series and movies that are being translated.

This is all part of a broader push to "tell China stories well", presenting aspects of the nation to people around the world but absent from foreign media.

In 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping toured the newsrooms of state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) and other state news outlets, such as People's Daily to encourage journalists to share more positive stories about China.

Still some way to go

However, China's soft power offensive still has some way to go as compared to other countries such as India and South Korea.

Bollywood is extremely popular in South Asian and Middle Eastern countries due to linguistic and cultural similarities. South Korean pop music has also been successful in captivating fans across the world with its catchy tunes and flashy dances.

Also, according to a 2017 survey of 450,000 people in more than 60 countries by the Pew Research Centre, respondents in nations such as Vietnam, South Korea and India, held an "unfavourable" view of China.

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Pumping in more money for such initiatives that specifically target OBOR countries might help.

In addition to pledging an extra RMB700 billion (S$152 billion) to China's Silk Road Fund in May this year, China has published a set of strategies to improve cultural exchanges among OBOR nations.

According to Wang Jufang, culture and media coordinator for the University of Oxford's OBOR Programme, while China's investments in soft power have seen limited success, such efforts mean that China has realised the importance of "winning hearts and minds when pursuing economic and other strategic interests".

As China becomes a more prominent global player both economically and politically, its culture could win broader international appeal.

Top image via YouTube.