I. Introduction
1.1 Significance of the Study
The comparison between China and India is a popular topic in social sciences. Since these two very similar countries gained independence around the same time, one democratic in 1947 and another communist in 1949, many world leaders and scholars have come to view the economic, social and political performance of the two Asian giants as the best testimony of which is the better approach to modernity for developing countries (Gilley 21). Current scholarly interest tends to focus more on evaluating the different development models that China and India embrace. It is easy to find works contrasting the two countries’ economic reforms, political systems, social progress and human development, yet direct comparison between China and India’s building of soft power is lacking. However, the understanding of how China and India build their soft power strength is essential as the two Asian giants, both of which have splendid cultures and a long history, are on the rise and eager to shine in the world stage. To address such inadequacy, this paper intends to present an assessment on China and India’s soft power building and find out who has the lead in the race.

1.2 Structure of the Study
The paper is divided into several sections. It begins with a literature review that goes over studies on China and India’s soft power strength. Then, it proceeds to explain the key concept “soft power” using Nye’s classic theoretical framework. Concerning the different nature of the three soft power resources, the three main parts of the paper are organized in different ways. As for the discussion of culture as a soft power resource, the paper focuses on the events, actions, and behaviors that reveal China and India’s efforts to enhance their soft power strength by exploiting their cultural resources. As for political values, more weight is