Speaker Series

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.

Upcoming Speaker Series



2023

TBD

Cheng Li, Director and Senior Fellow, The John L. Thornton China Center, The Brookings Institution
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418



2023

Xi Jinping’s Power Concentration and Implications for Chinese Foreign Policy

Suisheng Zhao, Professor of International Studies, University of Denver
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

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…



2023

The Sex Trade in China: Policing, Health, Business, and the Regulation of Prostitution

Margaret Boittin, Assistant Professor of Law, York University
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418



2023

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
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

Professor Smith discusses his recent China Quarterly article "On the …



2023

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
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

Drawing upon the new book Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for War with Taiwan, Dr. Saunders will discuss China’s…

Past Speaker Series



2023

Is there an European way when dealing with China?

Philippe Le Corre, Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute
- CSCC Conference Room, Room 418, 133 S. 36th St.

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…



2023

China's Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order

Isaac Kardon, Senior Fellow for China Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- CSCC Conference Room, Room 418, 133 S. 36th St.

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…



2023

Due Diligence and Corporate Transparency in China

David Barboza, Co-founder, The Wire Digital Inc. 
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

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,…



2022

Japan’s Strategic Review and a Taiwan Crisis

Sheila Smith, John E. Merow Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

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…



2022

The Tiger Leading the Dragon: How Taiwan Propelled China’s Economic Rise

Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of Political Science, Davidson College
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

Professor Rigger discusses her new book "The Tiger Leading the Dragon: How Taiwan Propelled China’s Economic Rise". How did…



2022

Clash of the Titans? Development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies in the U.S. and China

Nan Jia, Associate Professor of Management and Organization, USC Marshall School of Business
- Virtual Talk via Zoom

Professor Nan Jia's Bio

As one of the most important technology advancements in our era, Artificial intelligence (AI) stands to fundamentally…



2022

Micro-institutional Foundations of Capitalism: Sectoral Pathways to Globalization in China, India, and Russia

Roselyn Hsueh, Associate Professor of Political Science, Temple University
- Rm. 200, Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics (PCPSE), 133 S. 36th St

Professor Roselyn Hsueh discusses her new book, Micro-institutional Foundations of Capitalism: Sectoral…



2022

Daring to Struggle: China's Global Ambitions Under Xi Jinping

Bates Gill, Professor of Asia-Pacific Security St​udies, Macquarie University;  Executive Director, Center for China Analysis, Asia Society Policy Institute
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

Professor Bates Gill discusses his new book Daring to Struggle: China's Global Ambitions Under Xi Jinping(Oxford…



2022

China's Two-Child Policy and the Gender Implication

Yuying Tong, Professor of Sociology, Chinese University of Hong Kong
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

The universal two-child policy since 2016 in China did not lead to a significant increase in fertility, and the new three-child policy in 2021 has also become a hard sell. Many public debates have discussed the…



2022

The Cold War’s Long Shadow: Indian Foreign Policy and the Current State of Play of Indo-Pacific Geopolitics

Swagato Ganguly, Editoral Page Editor, The Times of India; CASI Spring 2022 Visiting Fellow
- A Virtual Seminar via Zoom

In partnership with the South Asia Center, Center for the Study of Contemporary China, and Perry World House