9:30 a.m., Thursday, Sept 27, 2007
Taylor Performing Arts Center
Admission: free

Few countries have experienced more dramatic changes as did China in the past century — and the past quarter century in particular. From a “revolutionary country” to a “status quo power,” and from an “outsider” to an “insider” of the existing international system, the realities of the grand transformation in China’s state, society and international outlook have often been obscured by all kinds of myths. For the purpose of highlighting the realities and shattering the myths, Professor Chen discusses the origins, processes and implications of China’s rise from the perspective of a historian of U.S.-China relations.

Dr. Chen Jian is the Michael J. Zak Professor of History for U.S.-China Relations and director of the China and Asia-Pacific Studies Program at Cornell University. He is also a Zijiang Distinguished Visiting Professor at East China Normal University. He received his M.A. from Fudan University in 1982 and his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in 1990. He previously taught at East China Normal University, Tibetan Nationality College, SUNY-Geneseo, Southern Illinois University, and the University of Virginia. He was a Norwegian Nobel Institute Fellow, a U.S. Institute of Peace Senior Fellow, and a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Dr. Chen is regarded as one of the world’s leading scholars in the areas of Chinese international history, Chinese-American relations, and the Cold War. Among his many publications are China’s Road to the Korean War: The Making of the Chinese-American Confrontation (1994), Chinese Communist Foreign Policy and the Cold War in Asia (1996, co-editor), and Mao’s China and the Cold War (2001).