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
David Nelson Rowe, China, and How the History of IR’s New Right Was Lost
Robert Vitalis, Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
“Simply put, China was an integral part of what made the “New Right” new. –Joyce Mao
“Twenty years is about the length of time it takes a group of academics to storm the ramparts, take the…
China and Climate Change: Transnational Science, Politics, and Policy in Historical Perspectives
Zuoyue Wang, Professor of History, California State Polytechnic University
In the burgeoning field of historical studies of climate change, few studies exist that focus on Chinese policy making and US-China scientific interactions in the early years. In this talk I review Chinese public…
A Case for Dualism in the Chinese Legal System
Hualing Fu, Professor of Law, Warren Chan Professor in Human Rights and Responsibilities, University of Hong Kong
The Chinese legal system embodies a unique duality under a constitutional trinity: the Communist Party's leadership, responsiveness to popular demand, and legality. The Party's dominance is central, and its prerogative…
Guanchang Meixue: Heart Distress and Aesthetic Attunement in China’s Bureaucracy
Jie Yang, Professor of Anthropology, Simon Fraser University
The “aesthetic turn” in both political thought and mental health care centers around Western aesthetics and Euro-American psychology. This paper attempts to indigenize both by focusing on “bureaucratic aesthetics” in…
The Future of the South China Sea Dispute: Perspectives from the Philippines
Justice Antonio Carpio, Supreme Court of the Philippines
Co-sponsored by Perry World House.
The South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea remain geopolitically fraught locations. The People’s Republic of China has successfully militarized the region…
TBA
Elizabeth Wishnick, Senior Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Past Speaker Series
China's Economy: Fiscal Stimulus, Innovation and Productivity
Judith and Marshall Meyer Lectures on China’s Economy
Chang-Tai Hsieh, Phyllis and Irwin Winkelried Professor of Economics, University of Chicago
What Explains Corporate Governance Regimes in China? The Same Old American Law and Economics Theories
Yun-Chien Chang, Professor of Law, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
The corporate literature has examined what factors affect corporate governance regimes and the effect of the choice of such regimes in the U.S. and other developed economies. Very few empirical works have been done…
Rethinking the impact of US-China Trade on US Employment: A Value-Chain Perspective
Judith and Marshall Meyer Lectures on China’s Economy
Shang-Jin Wei, N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy, Columbia University
Political rhetoric and recent research have emphasized the effect of US-China trade on displacement of US manufacturing jobs. However, the United States imports intermediate inputs from China, helping downstream US…
Art Test Fever: Art School and Evaluation Regimes in China
Lily Chumley, Assistant Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University
Over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chinese art and design secondary education system expanded dramatically, along with the private test-prep schools that prepared students for standardized examinations…
It Takes Two to Tango: Autocratic Underbalancing, Regime Legitimacy, and China’s Responses to India’s Rise
Oriana Skylar Mastro, Assistant Professor of Security Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Why has China yet to respond strongly to improving and expanding Indian military capabilities, in particular along the disputed border? This article posits a new mechanism that discourages appropriate balancing…
Access to Elite Education, Wage Premium and Social Mobility: The Truth and Illusion of China's College Entrance Exam
Ruixue Jia, Assistant Professor of Economics, UC San Diego
This study examines the returns to elite education and the implications of elite education on mobility, exploiting an open elite education recruitment system – China’s College Entrance Exam. We conduct annual…
Who Governs Multiethnic China?
Sara Newland, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Villanova University
While China’s provincial-level minority autonomous regions—and in particular Tibet and Xinjiang—receive substantial media attention, the sensitivity of ethnic politics in China makes these regions difficult to study…
The Origins and Dynamics of Crony Capitalism in China: Insights from 260 Cases of Collusive Corruption
Minxin Pei, Professor of Government, Claremont McKenna College
Corruption in the post-Tiananmen era exhibits distinct characteristics not found in the 1980s, such as astronomical sums of money looted by officials, their family members, and their cronies in the private sector,…
A Conversation with the Honorable Kevin Rudd:
U.S. Policy under Xi and Trump
Featuring the Honorable Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia; President, Asia Society Policy Institute. Moderated by Wharton School Dean Geoff Garrett.
Presented in partnership by the Penn Wharton China Center, Perry World House, Center for the Study of Contemporary China and the Wharton China Business Society.
The Rise of China and the Changing Nature of Power in the 21st Century
Adam Liff, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Indiana University
This talk engages two basic questions: What makes China’s rise to “great power” status in the 21st century different from those of the past, and what does that mean for the potential for international conflict…
