China 21

Wang Dan 王丹 speaks with Victor Shih on the lessons from the 1989 student democracy movement. They discuss Wang’s journey as a young student leading up to the Tiananmen Square protests and his life since. Wang describes his mission for Dialogue China - and the discussions he’s fostering about prospects of political reform and preparing citizens for potential crisis at the Chinese Communist Party.

In 1987, Wang Dan was admitted into Peking University. In school, Wang hosted the “Democracy Salon” regularly. In 1989, he participated and organised the 1989 democracy movement, and was one of the people who went on to the hunger strike. After the Tiananmen crackdown, Wang becomes the most wanted person by the government and was jailed until he was released in 1998 by the government under international pressure and was exiled to the United States.

Wang was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for three times and was awarded several other prizes. In 1998, he began to study at Harvard University, and he earned a History PhD in 2008. From 2008 to 2009, Wang was a visiting scholar at the Oxford University. From 2009 to 2017, he was teaching at colleges in Taiwan, including National Tsinghua University. Wang published “Prison Memoir of Wang Dan”, “Fifteen Lessons of the History of the People’s Republic of China”, “June 4th Memo”, and other 20 books ranging from politics, history, to literature. He was awarded the World Chinese Literature Award. He delivered a public lecture at UC San Diego in 2019 on the Past and Future of Political Reform in China.

Victor Shih is the Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations and associate professor of political economy at UC San Diego School of Global Policy & Strategy. His latest book is “Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation”.

Editor/Host: Samuel Tsoi, UC San Diego 

Music: Dave Liang/Shanghai Restoration Project

Geremie Barmé is an esteemed historian, journalist, translator and film-maker. He spoke at UC San Diego in January on resistance movements in two Chinese cities - the case of Tsinghua Prof. Xu Zhangrun’s 許章潤 dissent, and the protests in Hong Kong. Prof. Barmé is the editor of China Heritage, a journal devoted to Chinese history, literature, and thought. Previously, he founded The Australian Centre on China in the World at The Australian National University. Prof. Barmé’s prolific writings provide a rich lens into China for English language audiences. His work can be found at chinaheritage.net and his full presentation is available on video at china.ucsd.edu

Prof. Susan Shirk, chair of the 21st Century China Center at UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (1997-2000), and founded and continues to lead the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue. She’s working on a new book about the Xi Jinping era and is the co-chair of the Taskforce on U.S.-China Policy.

Editor: Samuel Tsoi

Music: Shanghai Restoration Project

Rebecca MacKinnon is the director of Ranking Digital Rights, a program at New America promotes freedom of expression and privacy on the internet by creating global standards and incentives for companies to respect and protect users’ rights. She was a Pacific Leadership Fellow at the Center for Global Transformation at UC San Diego School of Global Policy & Strategy.

Ms. MacKinnon is the author of the book Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom and the co-founder of the citizen media network Global Voices.

Ms. MacKinnon was CNN’s Beijing Bureau Chief from 1998-2001 and Tokyo Bureau Chief from 2001-2003. Since leaving CNN, she taught journalism and conducted research on Chinese censorship at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Molly Roberts is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at UC San Diego and the director of the China Data Lab at the 21st Century China Center. Prof. Roberts uses social media, online experiments, and large collections of newspaper articles to understand the influence of censorship and propaganda on the spread of information in China. She is the author of the award-winning book Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall.

Editor/Host: Samuel Tsoi

Music: Shanghai Restoration Project
Illustration: Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University

Paul Pickowicz, Perry Link and Jeremy Murray speaks with guest host Lazlo Montgomery in this special co-produced episode with China History Podcast, with excerpts from their new book “China Tripping: Encountering the Everyday in the People’s Republic” and discussion about how traveling to China across four decades changed these authors. (Part 1 of 2)

Buy the book from Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538123690/China-Tripping-Encountering-the-Everyday-in-the-People%E2%80%99s-Republic

Editor/Host: Lazlo Montgomery & Samuel Tsoi


Paul Pickowicz, Perry Link and Jeremy Murray speaks with guest host Lazlo Montgomery in this special co-produced episode with China History Podcast, with excerpts from their new book “China Tripping: Encountering the Everyday in the People’s Republic” and discussion about how traveling to China across four decades changed these authors. (Part 1 of 2)

Buy the book from Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538123690/China-Tripping-Encountering-the-Everyday-in-the-People%E2%80%99s-Republic

Editor/Host: Lazlo Montgomery & Samuel Tsoi

Diana Fu describes the evolution of activism, citizenship and civil society in China, and how NGOs engage in unconventional mobilization under authoritarian rule, based on her research on migrant workers and labor organizations.

Diana Fu is an associate professor of political sciences at the University of Toronto. She’s the author of the award-winning book Mobilizing Without the Masses, which describes a third pathway of contention that challenges conventional understandings of mobilization under authoritarian rule.

Editor/Host: Samuel Tsoi

Steph Haggard speaks with Danny Russel about the intensifying U.S.-China rivalry that is ushering in new dynamic in the Asia Pacific region. They address the trade war, negotiations with North Korea, American alliance with Japan, the Indo-Pacific strategy, and warn against the notion of decoupling.

Prof. Stephan Haggard is the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Professor of Korea-Pacific Studies and Director of the Korea-Pacific Program at the School of Global Policy & Strategy.

Daniel Russel is Vice President of International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and most recently served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama Administration.Mr. Russel delivered the Robert Ellsworth Memorial Lecture earlier this month at UC San Diego. To watch his full remarks, visit china.ucsd.edu

Editor/Host: Samuel Tsoi

Barbara Finamore, who founded the National Resource Defense Council’s China program, discusses with China Focus editor-in-chief Charlie Vest about China’s clean energy sectors, domestic environmental activism and its push to develop renewable energy infrastructure abroad.

Barbara Finamore founded NRDC’s China program, focusing on climate, clean energy, environmental protection, and urban solutions in China. She is the author of "Will China Save the Planet?"

Charlie Vest is a Master’s Candidate in Chinese Political and Economic Affairs at the School of Global Policy & Strategy, and the Editor-in-Chief for the China Focus blog for 2018-2019.

This episode was recorded at UC San Diego, and is a production of the 21st Century China Center

Editor/Host: Samuel Tsoi, Charlie Vest

Elsa Kania discusses the potential and concerns of cutting-edge technologies that are underpinning the competition between the U.S. and China, especially in the race towards supremacy in AI and 5G

Elsa Kania is an independent analyst, consultant, and co-founder of the China Cyber and Intelligence Studies Institute. She is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Among her many accolades, she’s also been named an official “Mad Scientist” by the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. Elsa is also a doctoral candidate at Harvard University's Department of Government.

This episode was recorded at UC San Diego, and is a production of the 21st Century China Center

Editor/Host: Samuel Tsoi

Alibaba’s Joe Tsai speaks with Susan Shirk in front of a live audience on a wide-ranging conversation about current trade disputes, security concerns, technological competition, and the innovation and collaboration capacity for U.S. and China.

Mr. Tsai is the co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group, and this year’s speaker for the Sokwanlok Distinguished Lecture Series at the 21st Century China Center, chaired by Prof. Susan Shirk.

This episode was recorded at UC San Diego, and is a production of the 21st Century China Center

Editor: Samuel Tsoi