| | | | | | Dear $[UD:FIRST_NAME||]$,
Welcome back to the winter quarter of the 2025–2026 academic year!
We’re pleased to share that the center will be moving to Brian C. Malk Hall, our new home beginning this winter quarter.
We start the quarter with fresh momentum, following Victor Shih and Lei Guang’s 10-day trip to China in November — meeting partners, reconnecting with scholars and university administrators, and scouting new possibilities for exchange, fieldwork access and collaboration.
Back home, the fall quarter was equally energizing. One of the highlights was the Robert “Bob” Ellsworth Memorial Lecture featuring senior fellow and former top diplomat Sarah Beran, whose thoughtful reflections on the future pathways of U.S.-China relations drew a packed audience.
In late January, we will return to Washington, D.C., for the 2026 Washington China Forum, an event jointly organized with the Council on Foreign Relations’ China Strategy Initiative. We are convening scholars, administration officials, policy experts, practitioners and congressional leaders to take stock of one of the world’s most consequential relationships.
Another winter highlight: Four leading China economists — Yao Yang, Chang-tai Hsieh, Shang-jin Wei and Loren Brandt — will be in residence at 21CCC from February 23–27. Their visit will feature a research workshop, a public talk on China’s domestic and global economy, small-group lunches with graduate students, and individual meetings with scholars. More details will be announced in the new year.
Coming up, our regular winter public lecture series is packed with compelling conversations, from Ruixue Jia’s talk on China’s “exam empire” to Ching Kwan Lee’s take on the struggles for Hong Kong's destiny. Henry Huiyao Wang from Beijing will present on China’s new five-year plan, and Kyle Jaros will show how states and cities shape U.S.-China relations. Amid all this, we celebrate the Chinese American artistic heritage and resilience around the Lunar New Year with the 2026 Chou Wen-chung Distinguished Lecture, “Rediscover Chinatown,” to be given by David Lei and Nancy Rao. Follow the registration links below to join any, or all, of our events.
Finally, our weekly China Research Workshop with the Fudan-UC Center continues to bring cutting-edge academic work to campus. If you’d like to be added to the CRW mailing list, let us know.
We invite you to subscribe to our China 360° bulletin and to check out our latest data visualization blogs at the China Data Lab and read the student-led China Focus blogs. We look forward to seeing you on Zoom or in person!
With warm regards,
Victor Shih, Director, 21st Century China Center Lei Guang, So Family Executive Director, 21st Century China Center | | | | | | |
Exam Empire: How Exams Have Shaped Chinese Society and Politics (Hybrid) Thursday, Jan. 15, 4–5 p.m. PT | Register Tracing China’s exam system from imperial roots to today, Ruixue Jia reveals how it shapes opportunity, values and U.S.-China dynamics.
The Struggle for Hong Kong: a Decolonization Lens (Hybrid) Thursday, Feb. 5, 4–5 p.m. PT | Register Ching Kwan Lee reinterprets Hong Kong’s post-1997 protests through the lens of decolonization struggles.
China’s New Five-Year Plan: Strategy, Growth and Its Global Role (Hybrid) Tuesday, Feb. 10, 4 p.m. PT | Register Henry Huiyao Wang unpacks Beijing’s priorities in technology, growth and global strategy in its new five-year plan, ahead of China’s legislative sessions in spring.
Chou Wen-chung Distinguished Lecture on Chinese Culture Rediscover Chinatown: Performing Arts, Identity and the Making of Community Friday, Feb. 20, 3:30 p.m. PT | Register Chinatown’s rich arts — from 19th-century opera to today’s lion dances — reveal a resilient, vibrant community shaping American culture.
Subnational Statecraft: Geopolitics, Cities and U.S.-China Relations (Hybrid) Thursday, Mar. 5, 4 p.m. PT | Register Kyle Jaros examines how subnational actors in the U.S. and China are shaping and responding to intensifying great-power rivalry.
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Future Leaders Summer Program is open for applications!
This unique summer program is crafted for high school students eager to build problem-solving and diplomacy skills in global affairs — with a special emphasis on China, India, the U.S. and Pacific Rim countries. You can find more information on the program's site. Please spread the word and recommend students who might be interested. | | | | | | | |
Kyle A. Jaros is an associate professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, where he specializes in Chinese politics, political economy and contemporary U.S.-China relations. His work focuses particularly on the role of subnational governments and cities, offering nuanced insights into how local dynamics shape national and international outcomes. | | | | Ruixue Jia is a professor of economics at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and co-director of China Data Lab at the 21st Century China Center. Her research bridges economics, history and politics. Her recent work centers on the political economy of ideas, offering fresh insights into how institutions and beliefs shape economic development. She is coauthor of the new book “The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China” and holds key editorial and leadership positions in several major economics associations. | | | |
Ching Kwan Lee is a professor of sociology at UCLA whose research spans political sociology, labor, development, popular struggles, global China, the global South and comparative ethnography. She is the author of three award-winning books examining China’s turn to capitalism, including “Gender and the South China Miracle,” “Against the Law” and “The Specter of Global China.” A recipient of the American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Career in Political Sociology Award, Lee also writes extensively on Hong Kong’s political movements, most recently in her new book, “Forever Hong Kong: A Global City’s Decolonization Struggle” (2025).
| | | | Henry Huiyao Wang is the founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization, a former counselor to China’s State Council and a distinguished professor at China Foreign Affairs University. He previously held senior roles in China’s trade and foreign economic agencies and was a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Brookings Institution. A widely published scholar and policy adviser, Wang works extensively on global trade, investment, migration and China’s evolving role in the world, with a focus on U.S.-China relations. | | | | | | | | 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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