DR. ANDREW MACIVER PH.D. ANTHROPOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

May 21, 2024 at 7:00 AM UTC

In the late second millennium BC, the socio-political landscape of early China underwent a major rupture when the Zhou and their coalition of highland allies conquered the Late Shang state (ca. 1250-1046 BC) at Anyang. Following the fall of Anyang, the Shang people dispersed widely throughout the Western Zhou world (ca. 1046-771 BC). Displaced to new locales with their own complex histories, the Shang people were confronted with the reality of navigating new worlds while simultaneously dealing with the fall of their own. This talk presents an overview of the conquest of the Shang and analyzes the lifeways of the Shang people during the early Western Zhou period. A particular focus is given to the experiences of trauma within Shang communities in the aftermath of the conquest. Through their attempts to adapt and persevere in a time of social transformation, the Shang people significantly impacted the emerging Western Zhou order.

PROFESSOR FIONA YAN LIU NORTHWESTERN POLYTECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

May 22, 2024 at 7:00 AM UTC

As a portable wealth, gold was highly valued by mobile pastoralists for its monetary and aesthetic values in ancient Eurasia. The gold making in ancient China underwent an important development during the early Iron Age following the arrival of new decorative motifs and technological skills from foreign lands. Comparing the stylistic features of goldwork discovered at burial sites (9th-1st c. BCE) in China, Central Asia, and far west to the Mediterranean world, demonstrates that there were extensive contacts between China and the Hellenic world that occurred much earlier than the opening of the commercial Silk Roads, while the micro-analyses of some gold objects and their manufacturing techniques attest to local inventions that occurred as response to outside stimuli. Drawing from scientific data, archaeological record and epigraphic evidence, this interdisciplinary research investigates how material culture informs us of the changing patterns in the transnational flows of people, objects, technologies and ideas over time through individual case studies. Examining the production, consumption and distribution of prestige gold artefacts in early China is essential to investigating the variability of economic and political powers at the regional scale in Eurasian antiquity.

BAOHUI ZHANGIS PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT LINGNAN UNIVERSITY, HONG KONG. DAVID SMITH (MODERATOR)IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN POLITICS AND FOREIGN POLICY, JOINTLY APPOINTED BETWEEN THE US STUDIES CENTRE AND THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES. HE IS A REGULAR COMMENTATOR ON AMERICAN POLITICS IN THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA.

May 23, 2024 at 6:00 AM UTC

What defines the polarity of the current international system? Unipolarity, bipolarity, or multipolarity? This talk examines the theoretical and real-world challenges of deciphering the polarity of the international system. It argues that the root cause of the challenges lies with the fuzzy nature of power, which makes precise measurement of state power and comparisons of state power difficult at best. This is especially the case during a power transition, which creates fluid and unpredictable power trends. For example, whether a rising China has “peaked” or a relatively declining United States has successfully retrenched have implications for forecasting the emerging polarity. This talk examines the current debate over polarity and how it affects our understanding of US-China relations. It is premised on structural realism’s insight on the centrality of polarity in explaining great power behaviors and international outcomes. Baohui Zhangis Professor of Government and International Affairs at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He was also director of Centre for Asian Pacific Studies from 2010 to 2020. His research interests include great power politics, Sino-US relations, and Chinese foreign policy. His recent publications include “Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst: China’s Varied Responses to US Strategic Competition,”Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 33, No. 146 (2024), pp. 352-371; “Polarity and Strategic Competition: A Structural Explanation of Renewed Great Power Rivalry,”The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 16, Issue 4 (Winter 2023), pp. 383-405; “From Defensive toward Offensive Realism: Strategic Competition and Continuities in the United States China Policy,”Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 31, Issue 137 (2022), pp. 793-809; “When Civilizational Clashes Meet Power Shifts: Rethinking Global Disorder,”Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Winter 2022), pp. 352-373; “China’s Rise and the New World Order,” in B.J.C. McKercher, ed.,Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft(New York: Routledge 2022), pp. 46-59. David Smith (Moderator)is Associate Professor of American Politics and Foreign Policy, jointly appointed between the US Studies Centre and the School of Social and Political Sciences. He is a regular commentator on American politics in the Australian media.

HENRY YEUNG

May 23, 2024 at 10:30 PM UTC

On Thursday, May 23 from 3:30 to 5pm in THO 317 and online,the UW Taiwan Studies Program will welcome Henry Yeung (National University of Singapore) to discuss his book Interconnected Worlds: Global Electronics and Production Networks in East Asia. His book offers key empirical observations on the highly contested and politicized nature of semiconductor global production networks since the US-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this capital-intensive manufacturing industry, governance and power dynamics are manifested differently from many other industries due to highly complex technology regimes, production network ecosystems, and, more recently, geopolitical imperatives. While some of these critical dynamics had been in play ahead of the 2020s in China, Taiwan, and South Korea, their intensity and significance became more apparent by the early 2020s. The book also examines the need for strategic partnerships with technology leaders toward building national and regional resilience in the US, Western Europe, and East Asia. ProfessorHenry Yeunghas been a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, since 2018, and Professor of Economic Geography since 2005. As a leading academic expert in global production networks and the global economy, his research interests cover broadly theories and the geography of transnational corporations, East Asian firms, and developmental states. He is the first geographer based in Asia to receive both the 2018 American Association of Geographers Distinguished Scholarship Honors (“in recognition of his extraordinary scholarship and leadership in the discipline”) and the UK’s Royal Geographical Society Murchison Award 2017 (for “pioneering publications in the field of globalisation”). In November 2022, he was conferred the 2022 Sir Peter Hall Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field by the Regional Studies Association in London: “acknowledging and celebrating excellence in the field of regional studies”. This event was made possible by the generous support of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.

主讲人：何岸。国观智库秘书长，南亚研究中心主任，中国原驻印度使馆一秘，国际关系学院英国文学硕士。长期从事国际战略研究，参与编写重大课题数十余部，参与涉及我国大型专项保障数十余起，重点研究方向为中印关系和南亚地区问题等。 评议人：毛克疾，国家发展改革委国际合作中心助理研究员。毕业于清华大学和美国约翰霍普金斯大学，获法学硕士、文学硕士双学位，哈佛燕京学者，长期从事南亚国家的政治经济研究。著有《印太战略下的美印协调》《莫迪的“印度梦”》《印度的“大国情结”与中国对印战略》《“印度制造”的双重困境》等文章。 主持人：张文娟，印度金德尔全球法学院教授、副院长，金德尔全球大学印中研究中心创始主任。主要从事比较治理、公益慈善方向的研究，发表中英文论文50多篇，最近出版了《雾与悟：亲历印度》一书。

May 26, 2024 at 12:30 AM UTC

4月下旬，印度开始了近30年来最漫长的选举。外界普遍预测，莫迪有望成功连任。执政十年，莫迪打着印度教民族主义旗号，实施大刀阔斧的改革，印度在经济快速增长、国际影响力不断增长的同时，也面临着国内年轻人失业率飙升和贫富差距扩大的困境。十年时间，分享人何岸以曾经常驻新德里的前外交官身份，近距离观察莫迪。这次沙龙，分享人将通过这一观察视角，和大家一起交流这位印度政治强人的不同侧面。搜索“大学沙龙”YouTube频道收看讲座。

- DA WEI,DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND STRATEGY; PROFESSOR AT SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY; - DMYTRO BURTSEV, JUNIOR FELLOW AT A. KRYMSKYI INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL STUDIES, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE; - EMILIAN KAVALSKI,PROFESSOR AT CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT, JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY IN KRAKOW; - I YUAN,RESEARCH FELLOW, INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY, TAIWAN.

May 30, 2024 at 5:00 AM UTC

This talk will examine the geopolitical implications of the escalating rivalry between the United States and China, focusing on its impact on Ukraine and Taiwan. The participants will discuss three key questions: -What are the drivers of growing tension over Taiwan? -How has the Russo-Ukrainian War affected Taiwan's strategic calculus, self-perception, and global image? -Are comparisons between Ukraine and Taiwan valid or helpful?

ANNIE LUMAN REN

May 30, 2024 at 6:00 AM UTC

Nalan Xingde or Nara Singde 納蘭性德 (1655-1685) is regarded as one of the greatest lyric (ci詞) poets of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1912). In 1682, Xingde embarked on two separate journeys to Manchuria, first accompanying the Kangxi Emperor to make sacrifices at the tombs of the dynasty’s founding fathers; then, on a secret cartographic mission to survey Russian strategic points and roads leading to the city of Nerchinsk. The focus of this presentation is on the poems Xingde wrote during his two trips to Manchuria with a particular emphasis on the concept of the “frontier”. As a member of the first generation of Manchus raised in Beijing, Manchuria is on the one hand, the land of Xingde’s ancestors, a region anointed by the Kangxi Emperor as the “mnemonic site of Manchu identity”. On the other hand, it is a vast and distant land with borders that Xingde was tasked with mapping. This paper investigates the depiction of Manchuria in Xingde’s poetry. It looks at how the poet draws from the well-established tradition of “frontier poetry” 塞外詩 while infusing his unique identity as a Manchu as well as his poetic sensibility into these poems written in Manchuria, and how this in turn, enriches our understanding of the “frontier”. About the Speaker Annie Luman Ren is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian Centre on China in the World and a co-editor of The China Story. Having previously written her PhD thesis on the poetics of China’s most celebrated novel Hongloumeng 紅樓夢 (The Story of the Stone), Annie’s latest research project is on the life and writings of the Manchu poet Nalan Xingde. Annie is also a literary translator. The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

FLORIAN SCHNEIDER

June 14, 2024 at 6:00 AM UTC

Crisis moments like the 2019 Hong Kong protests or the COVID-19 pandemic have shone a spotlight on how divided political opinions are across the Chinese-speaking world, often along fault lines created by tribalist and nationalist attitudes. These attitudes are shaped by official propaganda, but they also interact in complicated ways with the widespread adoption of internet technologies, and especially of mobile and interactive ‘web 2.0’ technologies since the start of the 21st century. Advances in ICT have augmented and accelerated human interactions, included group sentiments, ideologies, and political programmes. Community attachment is today adopted, filtered, transformed, enhanced, and accelerated through digital networks, whether in seemingly banal cases such as fandom practices or in more overtly political contexts such as nationalist agitation. As such processes unfold, the state’s techno-nationalist politics, the commercial rationale of platform providers, and the technical affordances of specific digital designs all conspire to drive viral interactions on China’s internet, be it on social media apps like Sina Weibo or video-sharing platforms like Bilibili. Based on observations about recent developments in the Chinese-speaking world, Florian Schneider relates his earlier analyses of Chinese online nationalism vis-à-vis Japan to the post-pandemic era, asking: what happens to nationalism when it goes digital? About the Speaker Florian Schneider, PhD, Sheffield University, is Chair Professor of Modern China at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. He is managing editor ofAsiascape: Digital Asia, director of the Leiden Asia Centre, and the author of three books:Staging China: the Politics of Mass Spectacle(Leiden University Press, 2019, recipient of the ICAS Book Prize 2021 Accolades),China’s Digital Nationalism(Oxford University Press, 2018), andVisual Political Communication in Popular Chinese Television Series(Brill, 2013, recipient of the 2014 EastAsiaNet book prize). In 2017, he was awarded the Leiden University teaching prize for his innovative work as an educator. His research interests include questions of governance, political communication, and digital media in China, as well as international relations in the East-Asian region. The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

ALTMAN YUZHU PENG IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK AND RECEIVED HIS PHD FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, UK.

June 17, 2024 at 2:00 AM UTC

This talk discusses the manifestation of racism within China’s sports fandom, focusing on a case study of basketball fans’ discussions about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on Hupu, the leading Chinese-language sports fandom platform. The research reveals a pervasive trend of negative commentary towards the BLM movement on Hupu, which derives from China’s historical racial thinking and contemporary nationalist ideology. Hupu users’ expression of anti-Black sentiments reflects the nationalist underpinnings of China’s sports fandom and is dialectically connected to its “mainstream” geopolitical opinions. The research findings offer a fresh perspective on the perpetuation of Han chauvinism and racism within the Chinese-language social media sphere, shedding light on the intersections of sports culture, nationalism, and global sociopolitical movements. About the speaker Altman Yuzhu Peng is an associate professor at the University of Warwick and received his PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is currently working on a British Academy-funded research project exploring digital civic engagement in the Chinese context. He has authored a research monograph, co-edited two anthologies, and published over 30 scholarly articles in respected peer-reviewed academic outlets. He currently sits on the editorial boards of notable academic journals, such as Feminist Media Studies.

SHEN XUESONG (MINISTER COUNSELOR OF EDUCATION FOR THE EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA) PEGGY BLUMENTHAL (SENIOR COUNSELOR TO THE CEO OF THE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION) DR. JAMES SMITH (PRESIDENT, EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY) DR. HEATHER BURNS PAGE (PRINCIPAL, THE BACCALAUREATE SCHOOL FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION, NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS) DR. ALPHA XINYING EDENS (PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF TULSA & 2023 HEARTLAND CHINESE TEACHER AWARD RECIPIENT) MIN FAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE US HEARTLAND CHINA ASSOCIATION)

November 5, 2024 at 2:00 AM UTC

Since the normalization of US-China bilateral relationship 45 years ago, educational exchanges have brought many benefits to both countries. Even though the pandemic and geopolitical tensions have significantly hindered two-way exchanges during the last three years, the overall environment is improving. Last November, leaders of both countries reaffirmed their commitment to continue supporting people-to-people exchange at their meeting in San Francisco, where Chinese President Xi Jinping boldly announced the goal of welcoming 50,000 American students to visit China in the next 5 years. This announcement has created much excitement among educators and community leaders. Please join us in this special online event that brings together leaders dedicated to expanding US-China educational exchanges for a timely discussion on the new opportunities and challenges ahead. This program is a collaboration between theUS Heartland China AssociationandChina Institute in America.

MIN FAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, US HEARTLAND CHINA ASSOCIATION) KAREN MANCL (PROFESSOR EMERITA, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY & WILSON CENTER FELLOW) JENNIFER TURNER (DIRECTOR, CHINA ENVIRONMENT FORUM OF THE WILSON CENTER)

November 17, 2024 at 2:00 AM UTC

The U.S. China Agriculture Roundtable has grown to be the most broad-based bilateral dialogue platform around agriculture, drawing leaders spanning government, trade, business, education, and think tanks from both countries. The upcoming 4th annual Roundtable will further strengthen bilateral collaboration and people-to-people friendships around agriculture. We are excited that two leading experts, Dr. Jennifer Turner and Dr. Karen Mancl of the Wilson Center will be joining us for our 2024 Think Tank Dialogue in Beijing on June 12th. The Wilson Center and the Ohio State University recently published a report to illustrate the complex climate footprint of U.S. and Chinese agriculture and highlight opportunities for bilateral cooperation on policies, projects, and strategies to reduce agriculture’s climate footprint. At this talk, Dr. Turner and Dr. Mancl will discuss possible paths forward for climate and food collaboration between the United States and China. We will also hear from leading professionals in agrifood sciences and agricultural studies.