The article reviews the argument that China’s civil society is less effective in generating soft power than states where civil society operates freely. Over the years, China has become aware of the centrality of civil society in diplomacy and devised cooperative frameworks to increase its attractiveness based on its unique understanding of the concept as an attainable policy outcome. The article contributes to this literature by exploring how the country conducts activities under the framework of people-to-people diplomacy, a priority of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The study presents a case study analysis of China’s people-to-people exchanges with Central Asia in the heritage sector. This article presents some preliminary empirical evidence on how Chinese civil society operates to maximise the chances of representing China positively to Central Asian audiences. The study also argues for two principles to underlie efforts in heritage cooperation - i.e. shared identity and reliance on one-sided interpretations of shared historical experiences.