Harvard University Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

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China's Great Gamble, with Barry Naughton Sep 07, 2018

Show notes

Xi Jinping is consolidating power just as China has embarked on an unprecedented push to become a global and technological power. Xi’s followers are fashioning an economic and administrative system that they hope can achieve these ambitious goals. Some parts of this multi-stranded program will succeed and some will fail. The global economy—and global power relations—will depend on the balance between success and failure, and the ways in which Chinese manages the success and failure of individual initiatives. Barry Naughton is the Sokwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs at UCSD. He is one of the world’s most highly respected economists working on China. He is an authority on the Chinese economy with an emphasis on issues relating to industry, trade, finance and China’s transition to a market economy. The "Harvard on China" podcast is hosted by James Evans at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University.

An Environmental Drama in Northern Song China, with Ling Zhang Jun 25, 2018

Show notes

In the drama of Chinese history, the environment - and the Yellow River (Huang He) in particular - plays a major role. The river's breaching of its northern banks in the year 1048, for example, precipitated an environmental catastrophe that caused political and economic turmoil in the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127 CE). Ling Zhang examines this catastrophe to reveal new information about China's transition from the Tang to the Song dynasty and prompt questions for how China handles its contemporary relationship with its environment. Ling Zhang is an Associate Professor in the History Department at Boston College, and an Associate in Research at Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. The "Harvard on China" podcast is hosted by James Evans at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University.

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides Trap? With Graham Allison Apr 24, 2018

Show notes

Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard Kennedy School, asks how America and China can escape future conflict. Discussed by Roderick MacFarquhar, Leroy B. Williams Professor of History at Harvard University, and Oriana Skylar Mastro, Assistant Professor of Security Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Chaired by Michael Szonyi, Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University,

Metaphor, Myth, and “Dividing up the Chinese Melon,” with Rudolf Wagner Mar 06, 2018

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China's leaders often invoke the "century of humiliation" at the hands of foreigners as a means to promote national unity and garner public support for China's return to great power status. An historical metaphor for outside intervention is the vivid image of foreigners "dividing China up like a melon." As Rudolf Wagner explains, however, this metaphor has a more complex history, which highlights a continuing reverse-engineering of history by China's leaders for political gain. Rudolf Wagner is Senior Professor in the Institute for Sinology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany and Center Associate at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University. His research spans Sinology, history, philosopher, and literature, and he has published extensively on topics ranging from Laozi to Buddhism, Republican China, and contemporary fiction. The "Harvard on China" podcast is hosted by James Evans at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University.

Revolution and Factionalism in China’s Cultural Revolution, with Guobin Yang Feb 06, 2018

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From 1966 to 1968, youth in urban China were embroiled in factional battles in what many of them believed to be a revolution of a lifetime. Guobin Yang explores how this factional violence was the result of the enactment of China's earlier revolutionary tradition, and how echoes of this tradition persist in online forums. Guobin Yang is the Grace Lee Boggs Professor of Sociology and Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Yang’s research bridges the Cultural Revolution, critical social theory, social movements, activism, and media and politics in China. His recent books include, "The Power of the Internet in China" (2009), and "The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China" (2017), both from Columbia University Press. The "Harvard on China" podcast is hosted by James Evans at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

Law, Labor, and Online Censorship in China, with Mary Gallagher Jan 26, 2018

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Mary Gallagher is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, where she is also the Director of the Center for Chinese Studies. Professor Gallagher researches the relationships between capitalism, law and democracy, which she examines in her latest book, “Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers and the State” from Cambridge University Press. In addition, her research also focuses on the resilience of China's authoritarian system and the use of censorship by the Chinese state. The "Harvard on China" podcast is hosted by James Evans at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Subscribe via SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, or other podcast providers.

My Life as a Chinese Rock Star, with Kaiser Kuo Jan 03, 2018

Show notes

Kaiser Kuo is a household name among China watchers as host of the Sinica Podcast with Jeremy Goldkorn, a current affairs podcast that invites prominent China journalists and China-watchers to participate in uncensored discussions about Chinese political and economic affairs. Before launching the podcast, however, Kaiser was the guitarist in the Chinese heavy metal band "Tang Dynasty." Kaiser's story of China's burgeoning rock & roll scene in the late 1980s colorfully fuses the music, culture, and politics of the time to present an alternate angle on events that shaped a generation. Kaiser previously worked as director for international communications for Chinese search engine Baidu. Before that he was a technology correspondent for Red Herring magazine, and also worked as director of digital strategy, China, for Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing. He used to write a column for the foreigner-focused English-language magazine The Beijinger from 2001 to 2011, and is now a regular contributor for SupChina, which acquired the Sinica Podcast in 2016. The "Harvard on China Podcast" is hosted by James Evans at Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Listen and subscribe to the Harvard on China Podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and Podbean.

U.S. Foreign Policy, Trump, and China, with Nicholas Burns Dec 12, 2017

Show notes

As President Trump returns from his first visit to China as Commander-in-Chief, how is U.S. foreign policy reacting to a new administration in Washington and a new rising power in Beijing? The Harvard Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation present Ambassador and Harvard Kennedy School Professor Nicholas Burns, in conversation with Jeeyang Rhee Baum, Ezra Vogel, and Odd Arne Westad, moderated by Michael Szonyi. Speaker: Ambassador (Ret.) Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, Harvard Kennedy School; Former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Discussants: Ezra Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus, Harvard University Odd Arne Westad, S.T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School Jeeyang Rhee Baum, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School Moderator: Michael Szonyi, Director, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and Professor of Chinese History This event was sponsored by Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance, and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

How to Survive as an Authoritarian Regime, with Martin Dimitrov Dec 01, 2017

Show notes

The collapse of communist regimes at the end of the Cold War led to a “third wave” of democratization across the world. Despite this, five nominally communist regimes still survive, including the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and today a rising number of nation states appear to be embracing authoritarianism. Martin Dimitrov, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University and a former postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, talks to the “Harvard on China” podcast about the institutions and mechanisms that it takes for an authoritarian regime to survive in the twenty-first century. The “Harvard on China” podcast is hosted by James Evans at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

The Rise of Xi Jinping, with Roderick MacFarquhar Nov 15, 2017

Show notes

Roderick MacFarquhar, Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science and former Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, explores the rise of Xi Jinping. Hosted by Ezra F Vogel at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

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