Your 21st Century China Center Spring Quarter Newsletter

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Dear $[UD:FIRST_NAME||]$,

We hope you just had a wonderful break, and welcome back to the 2025 spring quarter!

Here at the center, our winter quarter was buzzing with events and activities. We brought 11 speakers to campus for public lectures and research seminars. Additionally, we launched the inaugural Washington China Forum and co-hosted a workshop on “innovation and industrial policy in China” with the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.

Spring will be a busy season for conferences and workshops. Over the next three months, we will host four international research and policy conferences on China’s low-carbon transition, climate change, Chinese economy and trade, and digital methods for historical research. Meanwhile, our partnership with the Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China continues to bring cutting-edge research to students and scholars through the weekly China Research Workshop.

To allow more time for in-depth discussions with speakers, we are adjusting the frequency of public talks and adding discussion with invited audiences. You can review our lineup of public lecture s below. Be sure to register early and put them on your calendar to receive timely reminders. We want to draw your attention to two events in particular: One is our special China Town Hall, on April 24, in partnership with our community partner, The Bishop’s School. It will feature three experts in a nationwide webcast, followed by an in-person talk by Victor Shih, the center director. The other is the Robert F. Ellsworth Memorial Lecture on June 2, to be delivered by Rick Waters, a former State Department official and now the director of Carnegie China.

You can check out the “Featured News” section for more about the Young Scholars Conference, our collaboration with the Haili Foundation and the 2025 China Focus essay contest.

We invite you to subscribe to China 360°, the center’s bulletin on our scholars’ policy-relevant research, reports, blogs and op-eds. If you are into data visualization, check out the latest China Data Lab blogs.

With warm regards,

Victor Shih, Director, 21st Century China Center

Lei Guang, So Family Executive Director, 21st Century China Center

UPCOMING EVENTS

Bureaucracies at War: China’s Decision-Making in Comparative Perspective (In-person only)

Thursday, April 10, 4 p.m. PDT | Register here

Tyler Jost from Brown University explores how China’s leaders balance political security and quality information during international crises.

China Town Hall: President Trump’s China Policy in the First 100 Days (Hybrid)

Thursday, April 24, 3:30 p.m. PDT | Register here

Ryan Hass, Matthew Turpin and Lingling Wei will assess the Trump administration’s China policy, followed by Victor Shih’s talk on the trade-offs of U.S. policy towards China.

Institutional Genes: The Origins of China’s Institutions and Totalitarianism (Hybrid)

Friday, April 25, 4 p.m. PDT | Register Here

Renowned political economist Chenggang Xu from Stanford explores how Soviet and Chinese imperial systems fused, creating China’s modern regime.

Film Screening with Director Joyce Xu: “500 Miles Away from Home” and “Dongting Village”

Thursday, May 8, 5–6:20 p.m. PDT

Location: Solis Hall 107, UC San Diego | No registration required

Film director Joyce Xu brings two of her documentaries to Professor Ping Zhu’s literature class at UC San Diego. The two documentaries explore personal and historical narratives, one about a Chinese printmaker with bipolar disorder and the other about contemporary residents in the British-leased territory of Wuhan.

Running the Right AI Race: U.S.-China Competition in General-Purpose Technologies (Hybrid)

Thursday, May 22, 5 p.m. PDT | Register here

Jeffrey Ding from George Washington University explores great powers’ adaptation to tech revolutions, focusing on AI.

Religious Change in Post-Mao China (In-person only)

Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 12:30 p.m. PDT | Register here

Yanfei Sun explores religious transformation in post-Mao China, comparing growth dynamics across China’s largest religions.

The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping (In-person only)

Thursday, May 29, 4 p.m. PDT | Register here

Joseph Torigian, from American University, explores Xi Zhongxun’s struggle between personal beliefs and Party demands, revealing the Party’s power and its human cost.

Robert F. Ellsworth Memorial Lecture:

Geopolitical Shifts and U.S.-China Relations (Hybrid)

Monday, June 2, 4:30 p.m. PDT | Register here

Rick Waters, a former State Department official and the director of Carnegie China, examines the U.S.-China rivalry unfolding amid U.S. strategic retreat and a global democratic downturn.

FEATURED NEWS

Young Scholars Conference

The Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China, the 21st Century China Center and The Carter Center are hosting this year’s Young Scholars Conference, titled “History, Social Science, and Digital Methods for Researching China,” on May 5–6, 2025. The event will explore the integration of social science and historical scholarship, with a focus on the use of digital tools and methodologies.

Community Salon on Chinese Culture

The center partners with the Haili Foundation to bring Chinese-language salons to friends and supporters in the community. Our salons are by invitation only, and the event series offers multidisciplinary explorations of Chinese art, music, science and their modern-day relevance.

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker Memorial Lecture

Susan Shirk, director emeritus of the center, has been invited to deliver the 11th annual Nancy Bernkopf Tucker memorial lecture on U.S.-East Asia relations at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., on April 16.

China Focus Essay Contest

The 2025 essay contest is now open for submissions! Organized by China Focus and co-sponsored by four organizations, including the center, this year’s topics include the Trump administration's responses to China’s global influence and an evaluation of China’s “Made in China 2025” policy. Six prizes will be awarded. The submission deadline is May 1.

SCHOLAR PROFILES

Rick Waters is an American foreign policy analyst and the director of Carnegie China. He previously served as a top China policy official at the U.S. State Department, overseeing the creation of the Office of China Coordination and holding roles such as deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan. Waters is fluent in Mandarin, Spanish and Arabic, with deep expertise in China’s geopolitical landscape and U.S. policy toward China.

Jeffrey Ding is an assistant professor of political science at George Washington University. His 2024 book, “Technology and the Rise of Great Powers,” investigates how past technological revolutions influenced great powers. Ding received his Ph.D. in 2021 from the University of Oxford.

SUPPORT OUR MISSION

In the 21st century, two nations will play pivotal roles in shaping a global future: China and the U.S. When you make a tax-exempt gift to the center, you help influence this future as well. Find out how you can support our ongoing work today.

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