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



2025

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

“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…



2025

China and Climate Change: Transnational Science, Politics, and Policy in Historical Perspectives

Zuoyue Wang, Professor of History, California State Polytechnic University
- CSCC Conference Room, PCPSE Room 418, 133 S. 36th St

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…



2025

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

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…



2025

Guanchang Meixue: Heart Distress and Aesthetic Attunement in China’s Bureaucracy

Jie Yang, Professor of Anthropology, Simon Fraser University
- CSCC Conference Room, PCPSE Room 418, 133 S. 36th St

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…



2025

The Future of the South China Sea Dispute: Perspectives from the Philippines

Justice Antonio Carpio, Supreme Court of the Philippines
- CSCC Conference Room, PCPSE Room 418, 133 S. 36th St

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…



2025

TBA

Elizabeth Wishnick, Senior Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- CSCC Conference Room, PCPSE Room 418, 133 S. 36th St

Past Speaker Series



2013

China's New Leadership: People and Priorities

Alice Miller, Stanford University, Hoover Institution
401 Fisher-Bennett Hall

The recently closed 12th National People's Congress completes a generational transition in China's leadership that began with the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party last November. Who are China's…



2013

China’s National Security Strategy and East Asian Security

Xia Liping, Dean and Professor of School of Political Science & International Relations at Tongji University, China.
CSCC Conference Room, Fisher-Bennett 345

It was the first time when China put forward the concept of China’s national security strategy in the White Paper on China’s National Defense in 2004.  China’s national security strategy and China’…



2013

Ethnic Minority Experience in China’s Urban Labor Market and the Lessons Learned for Other Jurisdictions

Reza Hasmath, Lecturer in Chinese Politics at the University of Oxford, and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta
CSCC Conference Room, Fisher-Bennett 345

This talk looks at contemporary ethnic minority experiences in China’s urban labor market by focusing on describing the ‘ethnic penalty’ that emerges when analyzing the relationship between the educational and…



2013

The US-China Strategic Economic Relationship: Overcoming Distrust?

Arvind SubramanianSenior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International EconomicsSenior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Huntsman Hall 270

Facilitating China’s economic rise is one of the central issues for the world economy. Based on his recent book Eclipse, the author will argue that strategic distrust between the world’s major economies can be…



2013

To Rise or Not to Rise? China, India, and the Search for Technology and Power

Andrew B. KennedySenior Lecturer, Policy and Governance,Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Foreign Policy Research Institute, 1528 Walnut Street, Suite 610, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, US

ANDREW B. KENNEDY is Senior Lecturer in Policy and Governance at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. His research focuses on international politics in Asia, with…



2013

China's Influence and Impact on the Future of Everybody's Internet

Rebecca MacKinnon, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation
ANNS 111, Annenberg Building

In recent global debates over the future of Internet governance, China, Russia and a collection of authoritarian states have found themselves at odds with the U.S. and much of the democratic world. China wants the…



2013

"He"(合) in Chinese Management

Yadong Luo, Emery M. Findley Distinguished Chair of Graduate Business Studies and Professor of Management at University of Miami.
CSCC Conference Room, FBH 345

"He"(合 amalgamation) is an important addition to what we know about virtue (德), harmony (和), flexibility (柔), and credibility (诚), together constituting five Confucius philosophies used widely in Chinese…



2013

An Arab Spring in Beijing? Islam, the Middle East, and China

Dru Gladney, Professor of Anthropology at Pomona College, President of the Pacific Basin Institute
401 Fisher-Bennett Hall

This talk examines China’s important and changing relationship with the Middle East, especially with regard to the recent tumultuous events there following several uprisings and revolutions across North Africa and…



2013

Judicial Risk and Assessment of Judges in China

Xingzhong Yu, Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Professor in Chinese Law, Cornell Law School
CSCC Conference room, Fisher-Bennett 345

This talk will examine “judicial risks” Chinese judges are facing. It will discuss the judicial responsibility systems for incorrectly decided cases, decisional accountability and personal safety of judges in China.…



2013

A Rights-based Approach to Civil Society and Public Interest Law in China

Jia Ping, Public interest lawyer Zhang Tao, Civil Society Activist
Silverman 270, Penn Law School

Public interest lawyer Jia Ping and civil society activist Zhang Tao will share their insiders’ perspectives on challenges facing civil society leaders and public…