21st Century China Center Winter 2022 Newsletter

Dear UC San Diego,

We would like to extend holiday well wishes to you as we begin the new quarter in remote-only mode. Fall quarter saw the long-awaited return of students to campus, and we held a small number of events in person as we continued to host well-attended virtual public lectures and seminars. We even found a moment for a fall social in the courtyard with the center’s faculty, students and friends. We also welcomed Sherry Hu, our new assistant director of operations who comes to us from UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management and brings with her valuable experience to help us in our mission. You’ll meet her in the coming year as the point of contact for many of our public events.

We had a robust fall quarter research agenda. Our China Data Lab researchers are digging into the data collected from the China From the Ground Up surveys and will start sharing preliminary findings on the data lab blog this winter. They are also wrapping up data collection for several projects, including an assessment of Chinese innovation, analysis of U.S. Congressional sentiments toward China and research into Chinese experts’ views toward the U.S. In the past year, the center also supported two outside research projects, one looking at China’s public diplomacy in Africa and another analyzing how political tensions influence cross-border investment.

Our engagement in policy discussions and public outreach remained strong. We resumed our policy dialogue with Fudan University on U.S.-China relations, and finished the quarter strong with our fourth virtual UC San Diego Forum on U.S.-China Relations that brought together 80 American leaders from various backgrounds, including members of the Biden administration. Between public lectures and research workshops on China, we maintained a steady weekly schedule that covered topics ranging from media to ideology and civil society.

Looking to the coming quarter, we have a fantastic lineup of public lectures. Our winter series will cover topics ranging from COVID-19 conspiracies on Weibo to the prosecution of the China Initiative in America. See below and be sure to register today to put them on your calendar. Academic researchers interested in our Friday research workshops are welcome to contact Harris Doshay or sign up at the link in the Quick Links section below.

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

With warm regards,

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

Lei Guang, Executive Director, 21st Century China Center

Featured News

China Forum

In December 2021, we hosted our fourth virtual UC San Diego Forum on U.S.-China Relations, bringing together over 80 experts and policymakers working on issues pertinent to U.S.-China relations.

Task Force Dialogue

In November 2021, our Task Force on U.S.-China Policy met with journalists, former diplomats and former senior government officials from around Asia. Following this meeting, the Task Force initiated an ongoing transpacific dialogue designed to increase U.S. understanding of Asian perspectives on China’s role in the region and around the world.

Upcoming Events

Webinar: The Twists and Turns of the DOJ’s China Initiative

Jan. 13, 2022 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

Journalists Eileen Guo and Jess Aloe alongside lawyer Nelson Dong will discuss findings from Guo and Aloe’s recent article detailing how the China Initiative shifted from focusing on economic espionage to procedural research issues, largely targeting ethnic Chinese researchers in the process.

Webinar: The Economic Effects of Joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Jan. 20, 2022 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

Taylor Fravel from Massachusetts Institute of Technology will examine the effects of joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on participating states. The goal is to analyze economic pathways through which the BRI can serve as a tool for Chinese influence in the world, including through foreign direct investment, exports, development finance, contract funding and debt forgiveness.

Webinar: Anxious China: Inner Revolution and the Politics of Psychotherapy

Feb. 3, 2022 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

Li Zhang from UC Davis will examine how an unfolding “inner revolution” is reconfiguring selfhood, psyche, family dynamics, sociality and the mode of urban governing in post-socialist China.

Webinar: When National Identity Meets Conspiracy: COVID-19 Conspiracies on Weibo

Feb. 11, 2022 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

Kaiping Chen from University of Wisconsin-Madison will share her work on how the use of identity language affects the diffusion and the discourse of COVID-19 conspiracy and counternarratives on Weibo.

Webinar: The Growing Role of STEM and Higher Ed in China’s Belt & Road Initiative

Feb. 24, 2022 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

Denis Simon from Duke University will highlight this new face of the BRI initiative and discuss some of the broader implications for China and the West in economic, political and technological terms.

Webinar: Counterproductive Tech War: Why State-Business Relations Matter in China and the U.S.

March 10, 2022 at 1 p.m. PST | Register

Ling Chen from Johns Hopkins University will discuss the changing dynamics of state-business alliances in the context of the U.S.-China tech war, explaining how the weaponization of the technology supply chains reshaped the interests of the state and businesses in the two countries, alienating them from one another in the U.S. and aligning them in China.

In-person: Retrofitting Leninism: Participation without Democracy in Modern China

March 17, 2022 at 4 p.m. PST | Register

Dimitar Gueorguiev from Syracuse University will present findings from his new book, discussing how China integrated participatory elements into its governing system while maintaining authoritarian rule. This event will be in person.

Profiles of China Scholars and Speakers

M. Taylor Fravel is a professor of Political Science and director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Fravel studies international relations, with a focus on international security, China and East Asia. In 2016, he was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation. Fravel has been a member of the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy and of the board of directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and serves as the principal investigator for the Maritime Awareness Project.

Kaiping Chen is an assistant professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Life Sciences Communication. Chen’s latest research examines how digital media and technologies affect politicians' accountability and how deliberative designs can improve public discourse on controversial emerging technologies while mitigating the spread of misinformation. Her research is supported by the NSF and has been published in flagship journals across disciplines, including the American Political Science Review, Journal of Communication, New Media & Society and PNAS.

Ling Chen is assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a 2021-22 Wilson China Fellow. Her research interests lie in political economy and state-business relations in China, especially the political, coalitional and institutional origins of economic, tax and industrial policies. Her current work examines how the “Tech War” is playing out in the U.S. and China. Chen’s first book was published by Stanford University Press, and her articles have appeared or are forthcoming in American Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly and World Development.

Dimitar Gueorguiev received his Ph.D. from UC San Diego and is now an associate professor at Syracuse University, where he teaches courses on Chinese politics, research methods and globalization. His most recent book, “Retrofitting Leninism,” examines participatory institutions in the PRC. Gueorguiev is currently a fellow at the Wilson China Center and a Public Intellectual with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Quick Links

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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