Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speakers

His Excellency Wang Guangya
Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations (Confirmed)
Wang Guangya has been Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and the Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations since 2003. Ambassador Wang was born in the Jiangsu Province in March 1950. After studying in Wales and at the London School of Economics, he divided his career between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing and the Chinese Mission to the UN in New York, with additional study at John Hopkins University in 1981 and 1982. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Wang began his service at the Translation and Interpretation Department in 1975 and rose to the rank of Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998–99), then Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999–2003). In a speech in April 2004, the Ambassador expressed his vision for China’s future foreign policy. “With the fast development of globalization and transnational challenges and threats, no country can develop itself in seclusion, even it is in possession of unparalleled military and economic might. The international community can only choose cooperation to realize true peace and security.” Ambassador Wang is married and has one son.

The Honorable Christopher R. Hill
United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Confirmed)
Christopher R. Hill was appointed to the position of United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs on April 8, 2005. Ambassador Hill is also leading the American delegation to the six-party talks directed toward resolving the nuclear crisis in North Korea. He received his B.A. in Economics from Bowdoin College in 1974 and his M.A. from the Naval War College in 1994. Before joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Hill was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon. He has previously served as the Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998–1999), Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996–1999), and U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000–2004). He has received a number of honors including the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team for the Bosnia peace settlement and the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work in the Kosovo crisis. Ambassador Hill testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June that “dealing with China’s emergence—its economic and political development, its engagement in a rules-based international world, its evolution as a major military presence in the region—will be a key challenge and an important opportunity for the United States and its allies and friends over the next quarter of a century and beyond. ” Ambassador Hill speaks Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, and Albanian. He is married with three children.

The Honorable Peter W. Rodman
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Confirmed)
Peter W. Rodman was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs by President Bush in 2001. Mr. Rodman now acts as principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on matters of international security strategy and policy, primarily in the areas of East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Persian Gulf, Africa, and Latin America. Mr. Rodman was born on November 24, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts and was educated at Harvard College (A.B. summa cum laude), Oxford University (B.A., M.A.), and Harvard Law School (J.D.). He has served the U.S. government in national defense under four separate administrations, most recently serving as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and counselor to the National Security Council (1987–1990), Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (1986–1987), and Director of the State Department Policy Planning Staff (1984–1986). Under the Nixon and Ford administrations, he was a member of the National Security Council staff and Special Assistant to Dr. Henry Kissinger while Dr. Kissinger served as both National Security Adviser and Secretary of State (1969–1977). Mr. Rodman currently lives in Washington D.C. with his wife Veronique. They have two children.

Professor Merle Goldman
Professor Emerita of History at Boston University and Research Associate at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University (Confirmed)
Merle Goldman is currently a Professor Emerita of History at Boston University, where she teaches Chinese History, and a Research Associate at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University. Dr. Goldman was born on March 12, 1931. She obtained her B.A. at Sarah Lawrence College in 1953, her M.A. at Radcliffe in 1957, and her Ph.D. at Harvard University in History and Far Eastern Languages in 1964. Previously, she has taught courses in Far Eastern History at Wellesley College (1963–64), lectured at Radcliffe Seminars at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (1968–70), and taught as a professor in the Department of History at Boston University (1972–2001). She has written and edited dozens of books and articles, including China’s Intellectuals: Advise and Dissent (1981) and Sowing the Seeds of Democracy in China: Political Reform in the Deng Xiaoping Decade (1994), both of which were named notable books by the New York Times. She has been the recipient of numerous professional honors, including membership of the Editorial Board for The China Quarterly (1991) and the U.S. Delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights (1993). Dr. Goldman believes that the expansion of the Chinese economy will result in greater reforms in the political, social, and cultural spheres. She points out in an article in 2000 that “China’s expanding market economy, accelerating political decentralization, social and cultural pluralism, sprouting democratization, and international openness appear closer to its pre-1949 history than to the political centralization, state-run economy, social and cultural homogenization, and international isolation of the Mao period.” Professor Goldman and her husband Marshall have four children and reside in Boston.

Friday U.S. Business and Government Panel:
“Responding to the China Challenge”

The Honorable Mark Steven Kirk
Illinois Representative to the U.S. House of Representatives and Co-Chair of the House U.S.-China Working Group (Confirmed)

Mark Steven Kirk was first elected to Congress in 2000. He is currently co-chair of the bipartisan U.S.-China Working Group in the House, a body that aims to serve as a forum to focus on building greater understanding of China in Congress and to expand political, economic, military, and cultural ties with China. “We are not saying that there are no problems between the United States and China. We are saying that we have a diplomatic agenda that is expanding very rapidly,” Congressman Kirk explains. He is a Naval Reserve intelligence officer who served during conflicts with Iraq, Haiti, and Bosnia. The U.S. Navy named him Intelligence Officer of the Year in 1999 for his combat service in Kosovo. Congressman Kirk flew on missions over Iraq and continues to serve one weekend a month in the Pentagon. He is the only member of Congress to serve during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was an air crewman over Iraq during Operation Northern Watch. Representative Kirk graduated from New Trier High School and attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México before earning a B.A. from Cornell. He holds a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from Georgetown. Congressman Kirk and his wife Kimberly live in Highland Park, Illinois.

Mr. Tony Lorusso
Director of the Minnesota Trade Office and Organizer of the Largest U.S. State Trade Mission to China in 2005 (Confirmed)

Tony Lorusso was appointed in November 2003 as director of the Minnesota Trade Office (MTO), the state’s official export development arm. Mr. Lorusso is responsible for developing the state’s international marketing plans, identifying international market opportunities, managing trade missions, guiding the development of export education programs and promotional events, and overseeing a staff of international trade representatives. Under his direction, the Minnesota Trade Office also is the lead agent for the Minnesota-China Partnership, a new broad-based, statewide strategy to enhance Minnesota’s relationship with China. Mr. Lorusso previously served as the trade office’s director of export promotion for nearly four years and spearheaded a number of high-profile export promotional events, including governor’s trade missions to China, Mexico, Germany, and Canada. Additionally, he served 11 years in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer stationed in Europe and the United States. Mr. Lorusso grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania and graduated from Phoenixville Area High School in 1976. He has a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the United States Air Force Academy and a master’s degree in Systems Technology from the Naval Postgraduate School. Mr. Lorusso currently resides in Saint Paul.

Mr. Theodore W. Schaffner
Senior Vice President for Corporate Development of Motorola, Inc. (Confirmed)

Theodore W. Schaffner is the Senior Vice President for Corporate Development at Motorola, Inc., a Fortune 100 company specializing in global communications. Mr. Schaffner has been heavily engaged in all of Motorola’s operations in China for over a decade. In April 2005, Motorola was named the Most Influential Multinational in China and the Best Corporate Citizenship Practice in China. Mr. Schaffner received his B.A. at Ohio State University and his J.D. from Harvard University School of Law. Presently, he is also a member of the Board of Directors of Bull, an information technology company dedicated to helping corporations and public sector bodies develop open and secure information systems, with a worldwide presence in more than 100 countries. Mr. Schaffner resides in Chicago and has two daughters in college.

Moderator
Professor Anil Kashyap
Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (Confirmed)

Anil Kashyap is the Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. Professor Kashyap joined the faculty in 1991 and teaches courses on Corporation Finance and Understanding Central Banks. He is currently preparing a paper with Wendy Dobson on banking reform in China that will appear in the Fall issue of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Professor Kashyap’s principal research interests include Japan’s financial system, monetary policy, and the sources of business cycles. He is also a consultant in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research. Professor Kashyap graduated with highest honors from the University of California (Davis) in 1982. He later obtained his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989. His research has been published in numerous academic journals and books, winning him grants from the National Science Foundation and earning him an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in Economics. He collaborated with Takeo Hoshi on the book Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan: The Road to the Future (2001), which was selected for the 45th Nikkei Prize for Excellent Books in Economic Science. He has also edited Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan (2003) and Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area (2003). He has previously served as a Senior Houblon-Norman Fellow at the Bank of England (2001) and an economist on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1988-1991). In his free time, Professor Kashyap enjoys rotisserie baseball and bridge.

Saturday Politics Panel:
“Politics and Society in China”

Dr. Lei Guang
Associate Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University and Writer of “Guerrilla Workfare: Migrant Renovators, State Power and Informal Work in Urban China” (Confirmed)

Lei Guang is currently an Associate Professor of Political Science at San Diego State University. Dr. Guang’s interests in teaching and research include Chinese politics, peasant studies, international political economy, and development politics. He is the author of “Guerrilla Workfare: Migrant Renovators, State Power and Informal Work in Urban China,” an article exploring the perspective of Chinese rural migrants on work and their relations with each other and the Chinese Government in the 1990s. Dr. Guang was born in Tongcheng, Anhui. He majored in English and American Studies in his undergraduate and post-graduate studies in China. In 1995, he studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1999 and became a post doctoral fellow with the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford University from 2002 to 2003. In a recent article, Dr. Guang writes that “close contact and interaction between peasants and urban residents has not led to a dissolution of the rural-urban divide, but to its reconstitution as separate economic and cultural formations within city limits.” While growing up in China, Dr. Guang enjoyed small fame among his friends for his skill in ping pong and badminton. He currently resides in San Diego, California.

Professor Cheng Li
William R. Kenan Professor of Government and Chair of Asian Studies at Hamilton College, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution (Confirmed)

Cheng Li is currently the William R. Kenan Professor of Government and Chair of Asian Studies at Hamilton College. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Dr. Li teaches many courses concerning China’s current political, cultural, and social situations, including “Politics in China,” “China’s Cultural Revolution,” and “US-China Relations.” He was born and raised in Shanghai. Dr. Li was primarily self-educated during Mao Ze Dong’s Cultural Revolution. He later received his M.A. in Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in Political Science at Princeton University. Dr. Li is the author of several highly-acclaimed books on China’s current changing landscape, including China’s Leaders: The New Generation and Rediscovering China: Dynamics and Dilemmas of Reform (1997), which follows his experiences in interviewing political and business leaders as well as people from everyday walks of life. Dr. Li’s work has appeared in many publications including The China Quarterly, World Politics, The China Journal, and Critical Asian Studies. He is the recipient of several research grants from institutions including the Freeman Foundation, the Peter Lewis Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He also holds a number of prominent positions in U.S.-China relations including as a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and a member of the Academic Advisory Group of the Congressional U.S.-China Working Group. Professor Li resides in New York.

Dr. Wang Ping
Associate Professor of English at Macalester College and Author of Award-Winning Books Including Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China (Confirmed)

Wang Ping is currently an Associate Professor of English at Macalester College. Dr. Wang was born in Shanghai and grew up on a small island on the East China Sea. After spending three years farming in a mountain village, she overcame China’s grueling university entrance examinations and tested into Beijing University, one of China’s top universities. She went on to earn her B.A. in English Literature at Beijing University (1984), her M.A. in English Literature at Long Island University (1987), and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at New York University (1994 and 1999). Dr. Wang’s major publications include Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China and Foreign Devil. Of Flesh and Spirit was a 2001 Minnesota Book Award finalist and winner of the University of Colorado’s Eugene M. Kayden Book Award for “the best book in the humanities published by an American university press.” The Magic Whip was a 2004 finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and received an honorable mention for the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award. In her books, she is known for her insightful analysis of Chinese culture, particularly relating to women in Chinese society. She has been the winner of numerous awards including grants from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Dr. Wang lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Moderator
Professor Dali Yang
Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago (Confirmed)

Dali Yang is currently a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. His teaching and research interests include China’s political institutions and political economy. Dr. Yang graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Science and Technology in Beijing, and subsequently received his Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University with a specialization in international relations and comparative politics. He joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1993. He is a member of several professional associations including the American Political Science Association, the Association for Asian Studies, the University of Chicago Committee on International Relations (of which he is a former director), the National Committee on U.S.-China relations, the China Telecom Group (advisory board), and the China Roundtable of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (co-chair). He is part of the editorial board of a number of journals, including Asian Perspective, Journal of Contemporary China, and World Politics. Dr. Yang is also the author of many books and scholarly articles. Among his book titles are Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China, Calamity and Reform in China: State, Rural Society and Institutional Change Since the Great Leap Famine, and Beyond Beijing: Liberalization and the Regions in China. In an article titled “Economic Transformation and its Political Discontents in China: Authoritarianism, Unequal Growth, and the Dilemmas of Political Development, ” Dr. Yang discusses the social and political implications of economic expansion in China. He writes that there are “consequences of China’s rapid growth, which include rising income inequality and growing social cleavages. Such inequality and the sharpening of social cleavages and class conflicts have major implications for China’s governance and political development.” Dr. Yang currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Saturday Foreign Policy Panel:
“China, the United States, and the World”

Ambassador James R. Lilley Former United States Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (1989-91), U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (1986-1989), U.S. Ambassador to Taiwan (1982-1984), and Director of the U.S. Institute in Taiwan; Currently Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (Confirmed)

James R. Lilley served as the U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from 1989 to 1991 and to the Republic of Korea from 1986 to 1989. He was appointed United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1991 to 1993. Ambassador Lilley is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he researches China, Taiwan, and Korea. He is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia. Ambassador Lilley was born in Maryland in 1935. He obtained his M.A. in international relations at George Washington University, and his B.A. at Yale University. In addition to working in clandestine operations for the Central Intelligence Agency for 25 years in China and elsewhere, Ambassador Lilley has served as National Intelligence Officer for China (1975-1978), Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (1982-1984), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs (1985-1986), and Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University (1991). Ambassador Lilley believes that “with the increasing strength of China—economic, military and political—most Asians believe that [the United States is] the only offset to that strength and & quietly, most of them would like very much for the United States to be forward deployed for the indefinite future.” Ambassador Lilley’s family has had ties to Asia since his father moved to the country to work for Standard Oil in 1916.

Professor John J. Mearsheimer
R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Co-Director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago (Confirmed)

John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago. His major areas of teaching and research include international relations theory, national security policy, causes of great power conflict, and nationalism and war. Professor Mearsheimer is recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on the international relations theory of realism. He graduated from West Point in 1970 and served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer for five years. He later earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1980. Professor Mearsheimer has won several teaching awards, including the Clark Award for Distinguished Teacher at Cornell University (1977), the Quantrell Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Chicago (1985) and the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Award (1993-1994). He is the author of three books on security issues and international politics, Conventional Deterrence (1983), winner of the Edgar S. Furniss, Jr. Book Award, Liddell Hart and the Weight of History (1988), and The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001), winner of the Joseph Lepgold Book Prize. He has also written numerous articles and op-eds appearing in publications from International Security to The Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times. In his book The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, Professor Mearsheimer writes, “if China becomes an economic powerhouse it will almost certainly translate its economic might into military might.... The result would be an intense security competition between China and its rivals, with the ever-present danger of great-power war hanging over them. In short, China and the United States are destined to be adversaries as China’s power grows.” Professor Mearsheimer currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Ambassador Wu Jianmin
President of the China Foreign Affairs University, Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, and formerly China’s Ambassador to France (1998-2003), the United Nations in Geneva (1996-98), and the Netherlands (1991-94) (Confirmed)

Wu Jianmin currently serves as President of China Foreign Affairs University and President of China’s International Exhibitions Bureau. Now retired from the government, Ambassador Wu was one of China’s senior-most diplomats, serving as spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and director of the Ministry’s Information Department, Ambassador to the Netherlands, Ambassador to France, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland. Born on March 30, 1939 in Chongqing Municipality, Ambassador Wu graduated in 1959 from the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute’s Department of French and conducted postgraduate studies in translation and interpretation. In a recent speech, Ambassador Wu said that “China needs to explain its peaceful development to the outside world and prove it with action, thereby shrinking the market of ‘China Threat,’” a misconception of China that is the result of biases against China based on historical and economic perceptions. “East Asian countries share [a] high degree of economic dependence on U.S. investment and its market and they have huge common interest in boosting bilateral economic cooperation with the U.S.,” he explained. Ambassador Wu resides in Beijing, China.

Moderator
Professor Bruce Cumings
Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago (Confirmed)

Bruce Cumings is the Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago. His field specialties include Modern Korean History, East Asian Political Economy, and International History. Professor Cumings’ teaching and research focuses on 20th century international history, U.S.-East Asian relations, East Asian political economy, modern Korean history, and American foreign relations. Professor Cumings received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1975. His publications include The Origins of the Korean War (2 volumes, 1990), War and Television (1993), Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History (1997), and Parallax Visions: American-East Asian Relations at the End of the Century (2002). He is currently completing a book titled Industrial Behemoth: The Northeast Asian Political Economy in the 20th Century, an exploration of the industrialization of East Asia, including China and Japan and the reactions of scholars and political leaders to this phenomenon. Professor Cumings has generally favored American engagement with China and been critical of American pressure against China. He writes his view in Parallax Visions that “a wise policy begins with...Western humility: we have shaken China enough as it is; we should do what little we can do to encourage a less dominant central government, the rule of law, and basic political rights for China’s citizens—without illusions that we will make much of a difference. The main theme in our relations with China should be a long period of economism that allows both peoples to discover a new relationship.” Professor Cumings currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Saturday Economics Panel:
“China’s Future in the Age of Globalization”

Ted C. Fishman
Freelance Journalist and Author of Bestselling Book China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World (Confirmed)

Ted C. Fishman is a freelance journalist and the author of the bestselling book China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World. His essays and reports have appeared in many publications including The New York Times Magazine, Money, Esquire, USA Today and GQ. He has also been featured on news programs such as ABC, CNN, Fox, BBC, Sky News (UK), and National Public Radio. Mr. Fishman’s bestselling book China, Inc. describes the effects of China’s momentous economic, political, and social changes on lives and businesses in China and the rest of the world. Mr. Fishman is a graduate of Princeton University. He was previously a floor trader and a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, running his own trading firm until 1992. An accomplished public speaker, he is frequently called on to discuss adapting to China’s economic rise with local, state and federal officials. Mr. Fishman currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Professor Zhang Jun
Professor of Economics and Director of the China Center for Economics, Fudan University, Shanghai (Confirmed)

Zhang Jun is currently a Professor of Economics and the Director of the China Center for Economics at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. He is also Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of World Economic Forum, which is published bimonthly by Fudan University. His research interests include Chinese economic reforms, industrial economics, and transitional and institutional economics. He obtained his Ph.D. at Fudan University in Shanghai, China in 1992. He then went to the University of Sussex in England to follow up on his post-doctoral research. Professor Zhang has also held visiting professorships at the Yenching Institute at Harvard University, Washington State University, the University of London, and Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan. He has published more than fifteen books in Chinese and over ninety articles in scholarly journals. In his recent article “Structural Imbalances,” Professor Zhang describes the implications of Chinese economic expansion on the world economy and for China. China’s tremendous export industry “suggests a need for the global trading system to make more room for rising China (if not including India &). But at the same time we must bear in mind that China has enormous inner structural issues to overcome before making such export-led growth really sustainable.” Professor Zhang resides in Shanghai, China.

Professor Wang Hui
Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Author of China’s New Order: Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition (Confirmed)

Wang Hui is currently a Research Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He is the editor of Du Shu, the most important intellectual journal in contemporary China. He was one of the first voices to publicly criticize China’s new economic boom and its embrace of 19th century laissez-faire capitalism, primarily considering that economic growth and development seem to have trumped concerns about social justice and political freedom. His views make him an energizing force behind a novel order of intellectuals in China known as the New Left, who hold the view that China should pay greater attention to priorities besides GDP growth. Professor Wang authored an insightful book considering the implications of China’s new economic boom titled China’s New Order: Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition, which calls for a wide spectrum of reforms in China, including culture, values, and government. Professor Wang believes that China is “caught between the two extremes of misguided socialism and crony capitalism, and suffering from the worst of both systems.” He was an active participant in the Tiananmen Square movement, advocating economic and social justice as an antidote to the corruption caused by the extreme influx of market extremism. Professor Wang currently resides in Beijing, China.

Moderator
Professor Prasenjit Duara
Professor of History, Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Chicago (Confirmed)

Prasenjit Duara is a Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Civilizations as well as the Chair of the Department of History at the University of Chicago. His teaching and research interests include the social and cultural history of modern China, nationalism, imperialism, transnationalism, and post-structuralist theory. Professor Duara was born in Assam, India. He earned his Ph.D at Harvard University in 1983. He has written a number of books including Culture, Power and the State: Rural North China 1900-1942 (1988), winner of the American Historical Association’s Fairbank Prize and the Association for Asian Studies’ Levenson Prize; Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China (1995); and Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (2003). The latter two books are concerned with understanding the phenomenon of nationalism in modern East Asia. Professor Duara is also the author of essays including “Rethinking American History in a Global Age” (2002) and “Reflections on Multiple Modernities” (2002). Professor Duara resides in Chicago, Illinois.