Dear UC San Diego,

We would like to extend a warm welcome to you as we begin our long-awaited shift back to in-person activities. While most of our public lectures and other activities will remain virtual for now, we are excited for the return of students to campus and welcome in-person visits from colleagues and friends. The bustling activity already underway has us all delighted as we anticipate a lively 2021-22 academic year.

Since the last newsletter, the 21st Century China Center has been abuzz with activity, especially in recent weeks. On Sept. 14, our Task Force on U.S.-China Policy, convened with the Asia Society on U.S.-China Relations, released a new report on China’s domestic trends and recommendations for U.S. policy. In the days prior, we hosted a two-day discussion with 17 sitting and former members of Congress on China and the role of Congress in the U.S. approach to China. We also held our third virtual UC San Diego Forum on U.S.-China Relations for American leaders from various backgrounds, including members of the Biden administration.

Over the summer, the center staff and faculty carried out new research, including four projects involving current or former students. These teams delved into topics including changing congressional sentiments toward China and the Chinese policy community’s evolving view of the U.S. 

Students associated with the center have also been hard at work, and we would like to offer our congratulations to several of them. Two doctoral candidates in political science, Yang Yang and Jiying Jiang, have been awarded the Ichimore Student Research Award. Yang’s research examines Chinese public opinion through citizens’ microblog posts, while Jiying’s studies legislative and post-legislative policymaking in China.

We extend a warm welcome to our new Dean Caroline Freund and to several new members of the 21st Century China Center team: Assistant Director of Research and Writing Harris Doshay, as well as Young Yang, who will serve as research data analyst and our new event coordinator, Susan Zau. We are also happy to welcome Dru Gladney of Pomona College, an expert on ethnic politics in China, as a non-resident scholar. Finally, we are proud to be hosting award-winning journalist Jing Li as a new 21st Century China Center fellow, as well as Professors Yuan Cheng (from Fudan), Dongtao Qi (from Singapore) and Dapeng Cai (from Japan) as the center’s visiting scholars.

We have a robust fall line-up of stimulating public lectures. Our fall series will cover topics ranging from Chinese state media’s approaches on Twitter to how China’s changing views of World War II inflame nationalistic foreign policy today. See below and be sure to register today to put them on your calendar.

You can see our events listed below, and we encourage you to also check on the China 360° bulletin, China Data Lab and the China Focus blogs. We look forward to seeing you on Zoom and hopefully, in a few months, being with you in person!

With warm regards,

Susan Shirk, Chair, 21st Century China Center; and

Lei Guang, Executive Director, 21st Century China Center

Global China: Xinjiang in Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative

Oct. 7, 2021 at 1 p.m. PDT | Register

Dru Gladney from Pomona College will examine the important role Xinjiang plays in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its geopolitical implications.

CHINA Town Hall - Featuring national speaker Fareed Zakaria of CNN and local speaker Michael Davidson of UC San Diego

Oct. 19, 2021 at 4 p.m. PDT | Register

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria will speak on the domestic importance of the U.S.-China relationship, with our very own Michael Davidson who will address the question of how U.S.-China relations will make or break climate change.

A Border in the "Endless Frontier": U.S.-China Scientific Exchange

Oct. 28, 2021 at 1 p.m. PDT | Register

Yangyang Cheng, postdoctoral fellow at Yale Law School, will discuss the crucial role scientific exchange has played in U.S.-China relations historically and its continuing importance today. 

The Counter-Narrative Strategies of Chinese State Media on Twitter 

Nov. 3, 2021 at 1 p.m. PDT | Register

Jennifer Pan from Stanford University will explain how Chinese media outlets use social media to shape global public opinion.

China’s Good War: How Memory of World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism

Nov. 10, 2021 at 1 p.m. PST| Register

Rana Mitter from Oxford University will examine the ways in which public narratives of World War II enhance contemporary Chinese nationalism and China's newfound confidence abroad.

Necessary Fictions: The State, Stock Markets and Growth in East Asia

Dec. 2, 2021 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

John Yasuda from Johns Hopkins University will consider the ideological politics of regulation, focusing on why East Asia’s stock markets, particularly mainland China’s, have failed to thrive. 

Civil Society as Social Entrepreneurs: Strategic Rebranding or Evolution? 

Dec. 9, 2021 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

Jessica Teets from Middlebury College will discuss how Chinese NGOs are pursuing new, more entrepreneurial organizational forms in response to fiscal and legal challenges.

Data visualizations on wide-ranging topics in Chinese politics and political economy are featured on our China Data Lab blog.

China Focus is an online magazine dedicated to providing depth and context for understanding China and U.S.-China relations. It is run by GPS students with the support of the center.

Listen and subscribe to the China 21 Podcast.

For students, faculty and others interested in new academic research, sign up for upcoming China Research Workshops.

Support – The 21st Century China Center receives support from philanthropists, alumni, community members, foundations and institutional partners, and welcomes tax-deductible donations to support our mission.

21st Century China Center, School of Global Policy and Strategy

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