In addition to the regular speaker series and other co-sponsored events, CSCC convenes an informal “Weekly Forum,” noon on weekdays in the CSCC conference room. These sessions are envisioned as “brown-bag lunches” at which graduate students or faculty can informally introduce or present work in progress. This will be a great way for all of us to get to know one another and learn more about the kinds of work on contemporary China being done across Penn’s campus. Please email us your thoughts and suggestions on how to best organize the Friday Forum and to let us know when you would like to volunteer to discuss some of your work. Even on days when no discussion is scheduled, people are welcome to bring their lunch to eat with others in the CSCC conference room.
Past Weekly Forums
Contemporary Chinese Queer Performance
Hongwei Bao, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Nottingham
The End of Zero Covid - Personal Notes on life on the ground during the tumultuous last phase of Zero Covid and its aftermath
Deborah Seligsohn, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Villanova University
Deborah Seligsohn was in China from mid-October 2022 through January 7, 2023. She got to enjoy two separate quarantine regimes, multiple different testing regimes and life under the direction of one's local district…
China's Shifting Nuclear Policy and Its Implications for International Security
Tong Zhao, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Evidence shows that the main goal of China’s nuclear weapons today is no longer only to maintain nuclear-level stability with the United States, but also to help achieve U.S.-China political stability. The new goal…
Turning China Fever to China Fear? China’s Economic Statecraft and Its Impact on Foreign Businesses
Seung-Youn Oh, Associate Professor of Political Science, Bryn Mawr College
China has increasingly resorted to economic statecraft to advance its strategic goals as the world’s second-largest economy, largest manufacturer, and the center of global supply chains. China’s sanctions include…
Constrain Bureaucratic Zealotry for Zero-Covid: Conflicting Goals in China’s Policymaking
Hongshen Zhu, CSCC Postdoctoral Fellow
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ruling communist party of China decentralized pandemic control decision making, but held local officials accountable for pandemic control with sanctions, creating a single-minded…
More Bottoms than Tops? Transmediated Sexual Roles and Masculinity Assemblage in Chinese Gay Communities
Benson Zhou, CSCC Postdoctoral Fellow
This talk addresses the production, circulation, and implications of the discourse “there are more 0s (bottoms) than 1s (tops)” in gay communities. It explores why many Chinese gay men perceive it as a “sexual truth…
When Autocrats Clean House: Xi Jinping’s Anti-Corruption Campaign and Its Consequences
Chris Carothers, CSCC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
Corruption is rampant in many authoritarian regimes, leading to the widespread perception that autocrats have little incentive or ability to curb government wrongdoing. Yet meaningful anti-corruption efforts by…
Grand Strategy or Grand Tragedy? China’s Foreign Policy in the Xi Jinping Era
Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Jude Blanchette holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, he was engagement director at The Conference Board’s China Center for Economics and…
Performing Legality: When and Why Chinese Government Leaders Show Up in Court
Jieun Kim, CSCC Postdoctoral Fellow
Starting in 2015, Chinese government leaders have been required by law to appear in court when citizens sue their unit. Yet, little empirical research has been undertaken to explain this unique practice of “…
Building a New JV University from Scratch in China: The Case of Duke Kunshan University
Denis Simon, Professor of China Business and Technology, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Joint venture universities in China are part of a larger on-going effort to internationalize Chinese higher education and to absorb some of the “best practices” from Western universities. Launching and operating…
