The Evolution of Contemporary China Studies in the United States: Coming Full Circle?

2025 CIW ANNUAL LECTURE 

In the nearly 75 years that the People’s Republic of China has been in existence, the field of contemporary China studies in the United States has developed and evolved through six distinguishable ‘generations’ of scholarship. The evolving social science scholarly analyses of contemporary China have paralleled the changes in the PRC itself over time, but they have also reflected paradigmatic changes in scholarly disciplines in the United States. Other stimuli which have also impacted the field include domestic politics in America and shifts in US-China relations. This CIW Annual Lecture traces the evolution of the field and it concludes that while the field is generally very healthy, diverse, and enjoys great breadth and depth of knowledge, it faces significant new challenges for source material and research in Xi Jinping’s China.

Drinks reception at 5.30pm for 6pm start. 

About the Speaker
Professor David Shambaugh is an internationally recognized authority and award-winning author on contemporary China and the international relations of Asia. In addition to the above current positions, he was also formerly a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at The Brookings Institution and Acting Director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He also served in the U.S. Department of State and National Security Council during the Carter administration, on the Board of Directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Advisory Council of the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), the East-West Center Fellowship Board. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and other public policy and scholarly organizations. Before joining the George Washington University faculty, Professor Shambaugh was Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Reader in Chinese Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) from 1988-1996, where he also served as Editor of The China Quarterly.