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



2021

Triumphalism and the Inconvenient Truth: Correcting Inflated National Self-Images in a Rising Power

Haifeng Huang, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, Merced
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

Do people in a rising authoritarian power with pervasive propaganda and information control overestimate their country’s power and popularity in the world? This is an important question since inflated national self-…



2021

How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate

Isabella Weber, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- CSCC Conference Room, 133 S. 36th St, Room 418

Professor Weber will discuss her new book : How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market…



2021

Disaggregating China, Inc: State Strategies in the Liberal Economic Order

Yeling Tan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon
- Virtual Talk

Please register to receive Zoom info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/disaggregating-…



2021

The Politics of Dating Apps: Gender, Sexuality, and Emergent Publics in Urban China

Lik Sam CHAN, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Virtual Talk

Please register to receive Zoom info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-politics-of-dating-apps-tickets-149640449613



2021

Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Will Challenge Global Regulation

Angela Zhang, Associate Professor of Law, The University of Hong Kong
- Virtual talk

Please register to receive Zoom info:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinese-antitrust-exceptionalism-tickets-149640058443…



2021

The Evolution of the Chinese Internet: Creative Visibility in the Digital Public

Shaohua Guo, Associate Professor of Chinese, Carleton College
- Virtual Talk

Please register to receive Zoom info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-evolution-of-the-chinese-internet-tickets-…



2021

The Limits of State-Led Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Patents

Yuen Yuen Ang, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
- Virtual Talk

Please register to receive Zoom info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-limits-of-state-led-…



2021

Utopian Ruins: A Memorial Museum of the Mao Era

Jie Li, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University
- Virtual talk

Please register to receive Zoom info:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/utopian-ruins-a-memorial-museum-of-the-…



2021

Subversion or Seduction? Holding China’s Economic Statecraft Accountable

China and International Relations Series
Audrye Wong, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School and MIT’s Security Studies Program
-

Co-sponsored with the Browne Center for International Politics.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://upenn.zoom…



2021

Calculating Bully: Explaining China’s Coercion

China and International Relations Series
Ketian Zhang, Assistant Professor of International Security, George Mason University
-

Co-sponsored with the Browne Center for International Politics.

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://upenn.…