China 21

In a wide-ranging conversation, Susan Shirk and Geremie Barmé discuss cultural and political life in China during the Xi Jinping era. Barmé, who coined the term “Chairman of Everything,” compares Xi’s style and ambition with the cult of Mao and dynastic rulers from China’s long history. They also traced the usage of classical Chinese in the formation and articulation of policy agendas such as the “the China Dream” 中国梦 and the “Community of Common Destiny.” 人类命运共同体, and the continuity of literary Chinese education and culture through the periods of revolution and reform.

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) Editor/Host: Lazlo Montgomery & Samuel Tsoi Production Support: Mike Fausner, Kirk Wang Music: Dave Liang/Shanghai Restoration Project

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.

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.

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

In the critical period of China’s opening in the 1980s, Chinese policymakers invited Western economists to learn and debate the way forward for China, and that’s the subject of fascinating research by Julian Gewirtz in his book “Unlikely Partners: Chinese Reformers, Western Economists, and the Making of Global China” Gewirtz is currently a Fellow in History and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He completed doctorate in history at the University of Oxford, and he is interviewed by Charlie Vest, a Master’s Candidate in Chinese Political and Economic Affairs here at the School of Global Policy & Strategy, and he is the Editor-in-Chief for the China Focus blog

Ian Johnson joins Richard Madsen to discusses how today’s Chinese Communist Party is striving for a national set of values, and how ordinary Chinese are seeking for deeper meaning in their lives, and the lessons for the rest of the world in this global populist moment. Ian Johnson is a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter in China for over 20 years, for various publications, including The New York Times and The New York Review of Books, and is author of a new book: The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao. Dr. Richard Madsen is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UC San Diego. He is the author or co-author of 12 books, including the landmark village study “Chen Village under Mao and Deng” and Democracy’s Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan.” He is currently working on a book about happiness in China, which he describes as an exploration on “searching for a good life in China in an age of anxiety.” This episode was recorded at UC San Diego Host & Editor: Samuel Tsoi Production Support: Mike Fausner Music: Dave Liang/Shanghai Restoration Project Photo credit: Ian Johnson Video/Book info: http://ian-johnson.com