As public diplomacy (PD) has been credited with increasing significance in the management of external affairs, China has made considerable efforts to develop and expand its public diplomacy programs, attempting to introduce a new China to the world. However, the great input into China’s public diplomacy does not come out with a satisfactory outcome. Why does China fail to perform its public diplomacy to portray China as a peace-loving, responsible emerging global power? What is the primary determinant to impede China to achieve its success in public diplomacy? This thesis will adopt a communication model together with two analytic models of public diplomacy to examine two practices of China’s public diplomacy, Beijing Olympic Games and Confucius Institutes. Although the factors that have an impact on the performance of China’s public diplomacy are various, the main determinant, as the analysis reveals, is the actors in China’s public diplomacy that leads China’s PD to failure. The actor, either the Chinese government or non-governmental organizations, fails to perform an appropriate role in the practice of China’s public diplomacy