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

Pensions and the Politics of Retirement Age Reform in China

Mark Frazier, Professor of Politics, New School for Social Research
- CSCC Conference Room, PCPSE Room 418, 133 S. 36th St

Raising legal retirement ages, also known as retirement age reform, is politically contentious worldwide, but it should be more easily pursued in non-democratic regimes that can effectively deter opponents from…



2025

The Authoritarian Commons: Neighborhood Democratization in Urban China

Shitong Qiao, Professor of Law, Duke University
- CSCC Conference Room, PCPSE Room 418, 133 S. 36th St

Based on six-year fieldwork across China including over 200 in-depth interviews, Qiao’s new book The…



2025

TBA

Yanbai Andrea Wang, Assistant Professor of Law, Penn Carey Law
- CSCC Conference Room, PCPSE Room 418, 133 S. 36th St



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



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

TBA

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



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



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

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

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.…



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…