Each year, the CSCC invites leading experts to Penn to present their research and share their knowledge about contemporary China. Typically scheduled for Wednesday afternoons 4:30-6 pm, speakers will deliver their remarks and then entertain questions from the audience. Attendance is open to the entire Penn community. Announcements about upcoming talks will be posted on the CSCC website and disseminated via the Center’s listserv. To be added to the listserv, please visit our signup page https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/cscc-announce.
Past Speaker Series
Global Development: A Useful Notion?
Zha Daojiong, Professor of International Studies, Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, Peking University
“Development” is traditionally a contested notion in studies and practices of international political-economic exchange. What sense can be made of proposition from China, including its “Global Development Initiative…
Crossing the Strait? PLA Modernization and Taiwan
Phillip Saunders, Ph.D., Director, Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University
Drawing upon the new book Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for War with Taiwan, Dr. Saunders will discuss China’s…
The Informal Rules of the Chinese Communist Party
Ewan Smith, Associate Professor of Public Law, University College London; Hauser Global Fellow, New York University Law School
Professor Smith discusses his recent China Quarterly article "On the …
The Regulation of Prostitution in China: Law in the Everyday Lives of Sex Workers, Police Officers, and Public Health Officials
Margaret Boittin, Assistant Professor of Law, York University
Professor Boittin discusses her book, The Regulation of Prostitution in China: Law in the Everyday Lives of Sex Workers, Police Officers, and Public Health Officials, forthcoming with Cambridge University…
Xi Jinping’s Power Concentration and Implications for Chinese Foreign Policy
Suisheng Zhao, Professor of International Studies, University of Denver
Xi further consolidated his power and becomes an all-powerful empire at the CCP 20th National Congress. How has the lineup changed the CCP elite politics? How has Xi reached this point of power? What are the foreign…
China in Xi’s Third Term: Personnel, Priorities, and Policy
Cheng Li, Director and Senior Fellow, The John L. Thornton China Center, The Brookings Institution
Cheng Li is the director of the John L. Thornton China Center and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. He is also a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.…
Is there an European way when dealing with China?
Philippe Le Corre, Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute
While US-China relations have reached yet another low point in 2023 thus far, Chinese leaders have been trying to engage with the EU. Still, war in Ukraine is making a rapprochement very unlikely within the…
China's Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order
Isaac Kardon, Senior Fellow for China Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In his new book China’s Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order, Isaac Kardon examines China’s laws and policies to…
Due Diligence and Corporate Transparency in China
David Barboza, Co-founder, The Wire Digital Inc.
David Barboza is the co-founder of The Wire Digital Inc., a New York-based news and data platform focused on China and global supply chains. The startup consists of a digital weekly news magazine, called The Wire,…
Japan’s Strategic Review and a Taiwan Crisis
Sheila Smith, John E. Merow Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
2022 is expected to be a watershed year in Japanese strategy. North Korean missile launches and China’s expanding military power have intensified Japanese concerns about their security. But it is tension across the…
