"Meritocratic Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Political Theory" Presented by Dr Elena Ziliotti

Wednesday 30 September 2024, 12.00-1.30pm

Abstract

Amidst the crisis of political parties and technological changes in the media, leaders play an increasingly central role in democratic politics. Yet they remain under-examined in mainstream contemporary political theory. How can leaders contribute to democratic goals?

Elena Ziliotti’s Meritocratic Democracy brings together insights from parallel debates in Western and Confucian political theories to offer a new perspective on the function of political leaders in contemporary societies. As a Confucian-inspired approach to political leadership, meritocratic democracy points to the preconditions that politicians of all stripes must meet before occupying leadership positions within a democratic institutional framework. It argues the Confucian ideas of virtue politics (德治) and benevolence (仁) can inspire new institutional proposals to ensure political leaders work for democracy, and not against it. These proposals also demonstrate that democracy represents an optimal sociopolitical framework for realising the Confucian ideal of virtuous governance under the circumstances of modern politics.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Elena Ziliotti is an Assistant Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy at the Delft University of Technology. She works on Comparative Political Theory, focusing on debates in contemporary Confucian and Western political theory.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Scandals, Wars and Social Satire: The invention of ‘news’ and negotiations of ‘news values’ in Late Qing China" Presented by Professor Natascha Gentz

12 March 2024

Abstract:

The conceptualization of 'news' played a crucial role in shaping modern journalism globally since the 18^th century and equally contributed significantly to the transformation of the public sphere in Late Qing China.

The conventional 'information order' of 19^th century China underwent profound transformations under the influence of both internal and external factors. This shift was marked by a transition from traditional modes of oral communication and written records, – both characterized by their limited accessibility to segmented publics ­ – to the emergence of modern print journalism.

With a selection of case studies on news coverage, spanning from individual stories to war reportage or social commentary in the form of satire, the presentation aims to illustrate the spectrum of what was conceived as 'news' featured in the Late Qing press in its nascent stage. It will then analyse the far-reaching consequences of these news items in terms of legal, social, and political dynamics within the new historical and international context. Subsequently, it will examine the ensuing transnational negotiations surrounding 'news values,' explaining how and why certain determinations were made and what implications these might have had for the future transformation of the public sphere in Republican China.

Speaker Biography:

Natascha Gentz received her MA and PhD degrees from Heidelberg University. During this time she studied at Fudan, Renmin and Tokyo University. Appointed as a Junior Professor at Frankfurt University in 2002, she moved to the University of Edinburgh to take up the post of Chair of Chinese Studies in 2006. Her research broadly covers the study of modern Chinese media and culture as well as conceptual history from a historical, political and transcultural perspective. Main Publications include: The Beginnings of Journalism in China, 2002; (ed) Mapping Meanings.The Field of New Learning in Late Qing China, 2004; (ed) Globalization, Cultural Identities and Media Representations, 2006; (ed) Transcultural Perspectives on Late Imperial China, 2019; Transcultural Perspectives on Modern China, 2019.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Who defends the Liberal International Order and why? The case of contestation in digital standard-setting" Presented by Professor Sarah Eaton

14 February 2024

Abstract:

Sarah Eaton (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)

Daniel Fuchs (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)

__________________________________________________________________________________

Recent scholarship has illuminated growing threats to the so-called Liberal International Order (LIO), emanating from both rising and established powers. Circumstances of power transition lead China and other rising powers to demand increased voice within existing multilateral institutions. Rising powers dissatisfied with their degree of influence may attempt to revise rule-making more fundamentally by “regime shifting” or “competitive regime creation” (Morse and Keohane 2014). Yet, as recent literature shows, rising powers are not the only ones seeking to revise the international system. Challenges to LIO institutions emanate increasingly from established powers, principally the US (Morse and Keohane 2014; Zürn 2018; Chan 2021; Kruck and Zangl 2020; Kruck et al. 2022)

This paper looks at the other side of the coin, by analysing the politics of institutional defence. Amid rising contestation across global governance arenas, who stands up to defend multilateral institutions? And why are they loyal to the old order? How do they go about trying to save it? We develop a theoretical framework to identify the structural attributes of LIO defenders and the alternatives. We also conceptualize the how of institutional defence. We then carry out a plausibility probe of the framework through case study analysis of current contestation in the arena of digital standardization, shaped largely by China’s emergence as a central player in this issue area.

Speaker Biography:

Sarah Eaton is Professor of Transregional China Studies at Humboldt University Berlin and co-founder of the Berlin Contemporary China Network. She is interested in the study of contemporary Chinese politics and political economy from comparative and transregional perspectives. Her current research focuses on the dynamics of rising power in the field of technical standard-setting, for which she has received funding from both the European Research Council (Consolidator Grant) and the German Research Foundation.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Beijing Winter Swimmers" Screening and Discussion with Director Xiaopei He.

1 February 2024

Abstract:

By a river in central Beijing, retirees break the rules and break the ice to swim in winter, dance Swan Lake in drag, and celebrate Communist and traditional Chinese holidays.

This 30-minute documentary gives an intimate portrayal of a contemporary Beijing community.

Speaker Biography:

Previously an economist working for China's State Council, Dr Xiaopei He, filmmaker, has devoted herself
to the feminist and lesbian movement in China since the 1990s. She took part in the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. After completing a PhD on sexuality and cultural studies in the UK, she returned to China to set up Pink Space, a Beijing-based gender and sexuality rights organisation, using films to represent invisible lives and desires.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Ideology and Economic Change: The Contrasting Paths to the Modern Economy in late 19th Century China and Japan" Presented by Professor Debin Ma.

6 December 2023

Abstract:

This talk revisits the old thesis of the contrasting paths of modernization between Japan and China. It develops a new analytical framework regarding the role of ideology and ideological change (Meiji Japan’s decisive turn towards the West pitted against Qing China’s lethargic response to Western imperialism) as the key driver behind these contrasting paths. We highlight the contrast between Tokugawa Japan’s feudal, decentralized political regime and Qing China’s centralized bureaucratic system as a key determinant driving the differential patterns of ideological realignment. We argue that the 1894-95 Japanese naval victory over China could not be justified under the prevailing Imperial Chinese ideology and thus served as the catalyst for China’s subsequent ideological transformation, which occurred via borrowing Japan’s successful Meiji reforms of both institutions and ideology. Our analytical framework, developed from a comparative historical narrative, sheds new insights on the importance of ideology and ideological change for our understanding of political and economic change.

Speaker Biography:

Professor Debin Ma is an economic historian with research interests centred on the long-run economic growth of China and East Asia. Professor Ma's PhD dissertation focused on the comparative paths of modernization of China and Japan through a case study of the production and export of silk during 1850-1936. Since then, the scope of their research has extended to encompass growth, development and industrialization as well as political, legal and intellectual history, often placing Chinese developments in a comparative and global context. For the past two decades, Professor Ma has actively engaged in the Great Divergence debate on why the Industrial Revolution occurred in England but not in China or elsewhere.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy" Presented by Professor Suisheng Zhao

30 November 2023

Abstract:

Professor Zhao will draw on his new book, 'The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy' to trace the dramatic shifts in China’s foreign policy since its founding in 1949 and the key roles played by Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping. Each of these transformational leaders reshaped foreign policy to better fit their aims for China. His presentation will focus on Xi Jinping’s power concentration and its implications for Chinese foreign policy.

Speaker Biography:

Suisheng Zhao is a Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. He is the founder and editor of the Journal of Contemporary China and the author and editor of more than two dozen of books. His most recent book is The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy (Stanford University Press, 2023). A Post-Doctoral Campbell National Fellow at Hoover Institution of Stanford University, he received his Ph.D. degree in political science from the University of California-San Diego, an M.A. degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri, and BA and M.A. degrees in economics from Peking University.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

Translation seminar series

"Translation Tools and the Technology" Presented by David Shen 28 March 2023

David Shen is an expert in IT and translation which he has been working in for more than 20 years.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

Translation seminar series

"Subtitling and International Communication of Chinese Films" Presented by Qin He

21 March 2023

Speaker Biography:

Qin He is film producer, foreign film content reviewer and subtitling supervisor, recommendation of foreign films for the International Film Screening of China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, jury member of Jordan International Film Festival and North American International Youth Film Festival, film selector of Montreal International Film Festival in Canada and Madrid International Film Festival in Spain, expert of revision group in formulating the Specification for Translating Chinese Radio and TV and Network Audiovisual programmes into Foreign Languages of the State Administration of Radio and Television of China, member of the China University Film and Television Association, a deputy director of the Professional Translation Committee of Film and TV of the China Translation Association, special tutor of China Communication University. Qin He has been responsible for the distribution of 30 foreign films in China and international promotion of more than 20 Chinese films, accumulated a lot of cases and experiences in film subtitling and international promotion.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

Translation seminar series

"The Reconstruction of the Cultural Images in the Translation of Mo Yan's Novels — Challenges and Strategies" Presented by Luminita Balan

14 March 2023

Speaker Biography:

Luminita Balan is a famous Romanian sinologist and translator at the Chinese Department, and the Romanian Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Bucharest, Romania. Luminita Balan has translated the works of Zhuangzi and Xunzi, and also eleven Chinese contemporary literary works. In 2019, Luminita Balan won the "Chinese Government Friendship Award" of the People’s Republic of China.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

Translation seminar series

"Legal Translation" Presented by James Halstead

7 March 2023

Speaker Biography:

James Halstead is General Manager of IMD Legal Translation and Interpreting Ltd, a boutique UK LSP that caters to the language service requirements of the legal sector, providing translation, interpretation, and transcription services across dozens of language pairs.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

Translation seminar series

"Translation project management" Presented by Meixin Li.

21 February 2023

Speaker Biography:

Meixin Li graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) with a Master's degree in Translation (Translation/ Interpretation) and 5 years of experience in translation services. Having assisted in the translation of many comics, novels and game projects, she now is a Project Manager in Lan-bridge Group.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Governance of Food Systems in China: a pork story on sustainability and resilience" Presented by Dr Lingxuan Liu.

22 November 2022

Abstract:

Home of the world’s first strategic pork reserve, China's pork supply chains have experienced dramatic disturbances in recent years. This study examines how various contradictory pressures and policy responses have shaped the pork system in China. Pork-related policy priorities have swung between environmental sustainability and production recovery. Public authorities' weighing of sustainability and resilience has also led to contrasting views on policy formulation and implementation. Reorientation of the pork system for environmental sustainability undermined the system’s robustness to cope with the African Swine Flu epidemic, while dedicated policies on recovery have further compromised the original goals of systemic reorientation. We also discussed how governance has affected the resilience of the pork system and the trade-offs between systemic resilience and sustainability.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Lingxuan Liu joined Lancaster University Management School in March 2016 as a Lecturer of Sustainability. His research interests include sustainable supply chains, sustainable and resilient food systems, corporate sustainability strategies, and ESG. He specializes in business sustainability issues in UK and China, but also has a general interest in developing countries, particularly Southeast Asia and Africa.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Anglo-Chinese Encounters before the Opium War: A Tale of Two Empires Over Two Centuries" Presented by Dr Sunny Xin Liu.

26 October 2022

Abstract:

From Queen Elizabeth I’s letter to the Chinese Emperor Wanli in 1583 and ending with the letter from Lord Palmerston to the Minister of China just before the Opium War in 1840, Dr Sunny Xin Liu’s new book explores Britain and China’s long journey from cultural diplomacy to gunboat diplomacy.

In this seminar, Dr Liu will share fascinating tales of long-forgotten Sino-British interactions from missionaries to scholars, from merchants to travellers and from artists to scientists.

Joining Dr Liu in conversation will be the UK’s pre-eminent China expert Professor Kerry Brown, Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, and Dr Derek Hird, Head of Department of Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University.

Speaker Biography:

Sunny Xin Liu received her PhD in China’s Cultural Diplomacy from University of Central Lancashire. Her research interests lie in public diplomacy, cultural studies, media and communication, and China’s relations with the West.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Collective memory narratives and national identity construction of contemporary China". Presented by Dr Jing Cheng, Xidian University.

7 July 2021

Abstract:

Collective memory, the widely shared perceptions of the past, plays a vital role in the construction of national identity. It shapes the story that groups of people tell about their past, present and future in simplified narratives. The dominant approach to the study of Chinese memory and identity politics largely focuses on the Chinese state’s strategic use of war memories for legitimising the CCP’s leadership and promoting political purposes. While it emphasizes the state’s role and capacity, it may have underestimated the complexity of state-society relations and overlooked historical and cultural elements that could generate resonance among the wider population. By analysing the Chinese victim and victor narratives, it shows that along with the rise of China there has been a notable shift in emphasis onto the victor identity in the stories China is trying to tell and in the way China engages with the world. This shift should be contextualised in the Chinese state-society dynamics. This paper highlights that the memory narratives China makes out of its past provide a window to the changes to Chinese national identity today.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Jing Cheng is a lecturer in School of Foreign Studies at Xidian University, Xi’an, China. Supported by Tomlinson Award of the Asia Research Institute, she did her doctoral research and received PhD in International Relations from the University of Nottingham in 2018. She was a visiting scholar at Imperial College London (2005) and Tsinghua University (2015). Her research lies in the field of national identity, intercultural studies and international communication. She has published in Journal of Asian and African Studies, Political Studies Review, and The Conversation. She is also an associate fellow at Global Governance Institution.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Toward a non-essentialist paradigm of culture: A study of Chinese and Japanese management culture". Presented by Dr Yu Fu and Dr Zoe Zhu.

25 May 2021.

Abstract:

This study reviews and compares the Chinese and Japanese national culture values and norms discussed in the management studies to illustrate the importance of the non-essentialist paradigm of culture facing the key cross-cultural issues faced by organisations when designing and implementing management policies and practices in East Asia. This paper addresses Nathan’s (2010) call for a non-essentialist approach to culture studies by acknowledging the importance of exploring and respecting local culture when developing organisation strategies. A comparative review on the notions in the Confucianism shows the limitation of essentialist scholars who used the functionalist approach on culture. The simplification of culture based on functional and essentialist perspective and the lack of interpretive and non-essentialist analysis on the core of its management culture will result in confusing the corporate ideology (what the company say they do) with the reality (what they actually do). Only through an analysis of the continuity, change, and context of a company, we can better understand the culture behind the mask. Thus, the authors contend that the development of national cultural values and norms and their impact of management policies and practices in Japan and China, needs to be investigated in a dynamic context through a long-term view.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Yu Fu is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology, Management School, Lancaster University. She delivers lectures in the areas of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour. Her research interest lies in international HRM, particularly national cultural factors in employment. The main focus of her research is to investigate the impact of Chinese cultural values on the Western Transnational Corporations’ HR policies and practices in their Chinese subsidiaries.

Dr Zoe Zhu is an International Teaching Fellow in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology, Management School, Lancaster University. She teaches management and marketing in the China campus as well as the Bailrigg campus. As an ethnographer, she is interested in corporate culture in the era of globalization, in particular in the formation, dissemination and interpretation of corporate ideology at Japanese company in East Asia.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"Chinese Consumers Environment Behaviour: The roles of place attachment, responsibility, and norms." Presented by Dr Didier Soopramanien, Loughborough University.

18 May 2021.

Abstract:

Environment Laws and regulations in China are becoming stricter. One notable/interesting example is the compulsory sorting and recycling of household rubbish and, when this started in Shanghai in 2019, apps had to be developed to help consumers recycle. But pro-environment behaviour can also be framed as an ethical/moral decision which one ought to be doing rather than being forced to or be rewarded for complying.

With my colleagues based in China (Beijing) Dr Song Zenning (Beijing Foreign Studies University) and Lancaster (Dr Ahmad Daryanto) respectively, we have studied and are studying the role of place attachment in promoting pro-environmental behaviour. Place attachment refers to peoples’ affection and relationship with a place. The more attached people are to a place, they are more likely to take care of that place and thus engage in environmentally friendly behaviours that will benefit that place.

This presentation will discuss research that we have conducted in China about that relationship and, importantly, we focus on some other intervening factors that may influence how place attachment positively influences pro-environment behaviour of Chinese consumers. More attention will be devoted to on-going work using data collected in Beijing (with Song Zenning and Ahmad Daryanto) where we specifically study the roles of two factors that can influence how place attachment affects pro-environment behaviour. These two factors are: environmental responsibility and social norms.

We find, firstly, that attachment to a place activates a personal sense of responsibility which may counteract the well-known constraining effect of social dilemma to engage in environmental behaviour. Secondly, the place attachment effect on responsibility that promotes residents’ environment behaviour is stronger when individuals perceive that others are also engaging in similar behaviours (i.e., the effect of norms). But the characteristic of the groups of individuals performing these behaviours is important: what neighbours (local norms) are doing or ought to doing matters less than colleagues, friends, and relatives/parents (subjective norms).

Speaker Biography:

Dr Didier Soopramanien is currently a Reader in Marketing at the School of Business and Economics at Loughborough University. Didier holds a PhD from Lancaster University and was also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Science from 2002 to 2011. Prior to moving back to the UK in 2018, Didier worked as an Associate Professor at the International Business School of Beijing Foreign Studies from 2012 to 2018.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"From eSport industry to players: Understanding the platformalization of infrastructure and digital culture in China". Presented by Dr Yupei Zhao, co-founder of UK-China Media and Communication Association.

27 April 2021.

Abstract:

China has embarked on a radical transformation of its online and mobile games industry since its government announced its ambition to be a global sporting power. This study investigates Chinese electronic sports (eSports) in the context of platform governance and platform capitalism, through a case study of the platformization of Tencent, one of China’s largest media conglomerates. examine the interactivity and flow of power arising from direct state control and the processes of commercialization and professionalization.

To support our proposal that the state and corporations, while genetically different, are mutually constitutive, we explore concepts of the platformization of infrastructures and infrastructuralization of platforms. This study proposes that the Chinese eSports industry has an umbrella-like structure and challenges the assumption that China is an authoritarian system with a one-size-fits-all policy.

Moreover, we find eSports is perceived as non-secure, casual, and irregular by the Chinese public and that the mental changes experienced by eSports professionals throughout their careers have been significantly influenced by a more sophisticated form of state power and social norms, including cultural cognitive beliefs, economic stimulation, and authority attributions.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Yupei Zhao (PhD in University of Leicester, UK) is an “Hundred Talent Program Young Professor” and doctorial tutor in college of Media and International Culture in Zhejiang University. She is currently vice chair-elected of International Communication Association Popular Media and Culture Division, co-founder of UK-China Media and Communication Association. Meanwhile, Yupei Zhao has been invited as senior researcher in Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies, China Policy institute at University of Nottingham (UK), and the Eurasian Sport Industry at Emlyon's Shanghai Campus, visiting professor in Xi’an-Liverpool University and Beijing Institute of Technology.

Her research interests widely includes mixed-methods use to examine digital culture and politics, political communication, neo-globalization communication, intracultural communication, cultural diplomacy and social media. She has a PhD and MA in University of Leicester (UK). Thus, far, she is in charge of more than ten research funding projects, and her research has appeared in International Journal of Cultural Studies, Journal of Cultural Economy, International Journal of Communication, Social Science Quarterly, Sage Open, Social media + Society, Media International Australia, popular music and society etc.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"On the culture-specific aspects of formulating opinions in Chinese: A multidimensional and comparative approach"​. Presented by Professor Vittorio Tantucci, Lancaster University.

18 March 2021

Abstract:

How do we say what we think? Is the way we formulate evaluations and opinions culture-specific?

In this paper we adopted a corpus-based approach to analyse pragmatic and textual mismatches that exist from Mandarin Chinese to American English Interaction. We fitted a conditional inference tree model (Hothorn et al., 2006; Tantucci & Wang 2018) that simulates large-scale interactional choices in the two languages, based on the two balanced corpora of spontaneous telephone conversation (CallHome). Our results indicate that while American English evaluations are distinctively subjective and markedly speaker-oriented, Chinese opinions are conventionally formulated as a joint project (cf. Clark 1996) and are pre-emptively aimed at intersubjective agreement among interlocutors (Tantucci 2020). This is pragmatically achieved via specific markers of epistemic cooperation and ad hoc strategies of harmonious rapport-maintenance (Goffman 1967; Spencer-Oatey 2008). Large-scale analysis of naturalistic interaction as such has the potential to inform research in intercultural communication and the study of interactional behaviour in social sciences in general. The culture-specific modality in which we state what we think is a fundamental area of research for advancing cross-cultural awareness and (im-)politeness research”.

Speaker Biography:

Vittorio Tantucci is Lecturer of Chinese and Linguistics at Lancaster University, UK. His publications focus on usage-based intersections of pragmatics and cognition. These issues are addressed typologically and cross-culturally, both from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. His recent major publications include "Language and Social Minds: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Intersubjectivity" (Cambridge University Press, 2021); “Resonance and engagement through (dis-)agreement: Evidence of persistent constructional priming from Mandarin naturalistic interaction” (Journal of Pragmatics 2021, authored with Dr Aiqing Wang); “Diachronic change of rapport orientation and sentence-periphery in Mandarin” (Discourse Studies 2020; authored with Dr Aiqing Wang), “From co-actionality to extended intersubjectivity: Drawing on language change and ontogenetic development” (Applied Linguistics 2020).

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

"China’s Political System: Responding to Giant Crises". Presented by Professor Zhengxu Wang, Fudan University.

19 January 2021

Abstract:

In this talk I first propose a conceptual framework for understanding political systems – a political system should be understood on two levels, i.e. the ideational and the operational level, respectively. With this framework, I explain how the Chinese political system is formed and structured, at both levels, while also comparing it to an ideal liberal democracy. I then examine how the Chinese political system is supposed to respond to giant crises when such crises emerge, and use the Covid-19 epidemic of 2019-2020 as a case study. I conclude with some general discussion on the study of China and the study of political systems.

Speaker Biography:

WANG Zhengxu is Distinguished Professor at the Department of Politics at Fudan University. Previously, he served as Acting Director and Senior Research Fellow at the China Policy Institute, University of Nottingham. Professor Wang received his PhD in political science from University of Michigan in 2005. His current research projects include the democratic values of Chinese citizens, institutional changes and political reforms in China’s political system, and politics of governance in China. He has published widely on socioeconomic modernization, value changes, democratization, governance challenges, and leadership and elite politics in China and East Asia. His publications have appeared in Governance, International Review of Sociology, Political Research Quarterly, Japanese Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Politics, Asian Journal of Public Opinion Research, The China Quarterly, The China Journal, Journal of Contemporary China, and others.

(Bio correct at the time of the seminar)

• 19 February 2020 - 'The world of tomorrow: Imagining Afro-Asian Solidarity & the Modernisation Project in the People’s Republic of China in the 1950s', Dr Zhiguang Yin, University of Exeter.
• 22 January 2020 - 'Happily Ever After' (Documentary Film Screening and Q&A), Director He Xiaopei, Pink Space Sexuality Research Centre China.
• 14 January 2020 - 'Regimes of Temporality: China, Tibet and the Politics of Time in the Post-2008 Era', Dr Séagh Kehoe, University of Westminster.
• 10 December 2019 - 'China and North Korea's development and security nexus', Dr Catherine Jones, University of St. Andrews.
• 14 November 2019 - 'The EU’s tightening scrutiny on FDI from China and political risks for Chinese corporations', Dr Fanwei Kong, Tianjin Foreign Studies University.
• 28 October 2019 - 'Chinese public opinion's role in crisis diplomacy: preliminary findings from the field', Professor Andrew Chubb, Lancaster University.
• 14 May 2019 - 'International influences on social policy in China', Professor Jane Duckett, Glasgow University.
• 24 January 2019 - "Playmates" (Documentary Film Screening and Q&A).Presented by Director He Xiaopei, Pink Space Sexuality Research Centre China.
• 22 November 2018 - 'Brexit, Trade War and the Future of Sino-UK Relations',Professor Wang Zhanpeng, Beijing Jiaotong University.
• 24 October 2018 - ‘Is China a post-secular society? The appearance of Xinyang in Chinese political discourse’, Professor Gerda Wielander, Westminster University
• 15 November 2017 - ‘Are the US and China destined for war?’, Professor Peter Hays Gries, University of Manchester
• 16 February 2017 - ‘Investigating Employability and Entrepreneurship in China’, Dr Peter Sewell, Lancaster University
• 24 November 2016 - ‘Every day-Life Business Delinquencies of Chinese SME Owners’, Dr Qingan Huang University of East London
• 23 November 2016 - ‘British Born Chinese’ Research Documentary Film, Dr Elena Barabantseva, University of Manchester
• 26 October 2016 - ‘Will individual religious belief lead to increased propensity for the individual to act entrepreneurially in China?’ Dr Haina Zhang, Lancaster University
• 10 July 2016 - The 4th Chinese Language Teacher Training Workshop Theme: Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) teaching methodology and teaching resources
• 24 May 2016 - China Research Forum, Lancaster University
• 29 April 2016 - ‘Asia as part of the EU’s Global Security Strategy: Reflections on a more strategic approach’ Dr Michael Reiterer, Principal Advisor for Asia, European External Action Services (EEAS)
• 26 April 2016 - ‘Returnee CEOs under Weak Institution: Blessing or Curse?’ Dr Wenxuan Hou, University of Edinburgh
• 15 March 2016 - ‘Governance with Chinese Characteristics? The Politics of Financial Market Regulation in China’ Professor Dr Jörn-Carsten Gottwald, Ruhruniversität Bochum
• 9 March 2016 - ‘China’s Global Goals and Roles: Changing the World from Second Place?’ Professor Shaun Breslin, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick.
• 11 February 2016 - ‘Designing Performance-Based Incentives for Healthcare Services: Challenges for China’s Healthcare System and Insight from the English NHS’, Professor Zhan Pang, Lancaster University
• 4 November 2015 - ‘Visualizing China and the World: Documentary Filmmaking as a Critical Method’ William A. Callahan, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science
• 29 October 2015 - ‘Revisiting Entrepreneurship in a Transition Context’, Professor David Smallbone, Professor of Small Business and Entrepreneurship; and Associate Director of the Small Business Research Centre
• 10 October 2015 - ‘New Chinglish and the Post-Multilingualism Challenge ’, Professor Li Wei, University College London
• 18 June 2015 - “Relational embeddedness and Supply Flexibility: The Moderating Role of Proactiveness and Culture Differences”, Dr Matevz Raskovic, University of Ljubljana.
• 5 May 2015 - ‘China and Disaster Governance: Unravelling the Domestic Sources of a Global Responsibility', Dr Pichamon Yeophantong, University of New South Wales, Australia
• 12 March 2015 - ‘Chinese currency and its influences on China’s economic growth and globalisation‘ Kang Qu, Bank of China
• 25 February 2015 - ‘Addressing heterogeneity of consumer preferences and the demand for cars in China’ Dr Didier Soopramanien, Associate Professor, International Business School, Beijing Foreign Studies University
• 29 January 2015 - ‘Science, Technology and Innovation in China: Progress, Problems and Prospect’, Dr Cong Cao University of Nottingham