The Chinese Century? Education, Entrepreneurship, and National Power in the 21st Century

Thursday, January 19, 2017 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Rubel Room, UA Poetry Center 1508 E. Helen Street

With Speaker William C. Kirby, Harvard University

A historian by training, Professor Kirby examines contemporary China's business, economic, and political development in an international context.  He writes and teaches on the growth of modern companies in China (Chinese and foreign; state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; business relations across Greater China (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong); and China's relations with the United States and Europe.  His current projects include case studies of trend-setting Chinese businesses and a comparative study of higher education in China, Europe, and the United States. His most recent book is Can China Lead? (Harvard)

At Harvard, Professor Kirby has served as Chair of the History Department, Director of the Harvard University Asia Center, Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Professor Kirby holds degrees from Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and (Dr. Phil. Honoris Causa) from the Freie Universität Berlin and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  He has been named Honorary Professor at Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Chongqing University, East China Normal University, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and National Chengchi University.  He has held appointments as Visiting Professor at University of Heidelberg and the Freie Universität Berlin.  He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.