Exhibit: Dunhuang and Beyond
2024-10-19 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-10-20 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-10-25 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-10-26 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-10-27 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-11-01 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-11-02 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-11-03 14:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) and 9 more dates | Sackler Building, Lower Level, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
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A major milestone and world-renowned heritage site within Silk Road networks, Dunhuang preserves more than 400 embellished Buddhist cave shrines in present-day northwest China.

Dunhuang’s cave shrines date from the fifth to fourteenth centuries. Each encloses visitors within murals and carved figures that depict Buddhist legends and paradises. Chronicling innumerable exemplary works of Buddhist artmaking over centuries, Dunhuang forms the largest encyclopedia art collection in situ. More significant than these artistic achievements, the caves offer a glimpse into a universe that rests beyond our known physical reality. Much like the shadowy illusions of Plato’s allegorical cave, the pictorial programs across Dunhuang’s caves reveal higher truths about life, death, and spiritual transcendence.

This fall, CAMLab contextualizes Dunhuang within Buddhism’s broader currents of space- and art-making that surged across China during the medieval period.• Immersing visitors in confluences of light and sound, the Cave Dance and Shadow Cave projects are case studies of two Dunhuang caves that reimagine the rich theatricality conjured by depictions of the dramas of the Buddha’s life and dances of transcendent beings.

• Rebuilding the world’s tallest pagoda in VR, the Embodied Architecture project invokes an 11the century transmission of these dynamics within the towering Shayka pagoda of the Fogang Monastery in present-day Yingxian, China. There, Buddhist pictorial motifs demarcate a journey of ascension toward enlightenment.

• The Digital Temple project uses an interactive interface to unpack the multiplicity of compositions and multivalent topographies rendered across the murals of Kaihua monastery.

By examining Buddhism’s three primary contexts in medieval China—the cave, the pagoda, and the temple—these CAMLab projects reveal the dramatic perceptual experiences and invisible force fields embedded by visual programs within Buddhist sites.Reserve Your Ticket

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Sheng Liu — Why Climatic Uncertainty Matters to Building Energy Performance: Case Studies in a Subtropical High-Density City
2024-10-23 15:00 - 16:00 | Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
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Speaker: Sheng Liu, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Southwest Jiaotong University; Visiting Scholar, Harvard-China Project (SEAS) and Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD)

Dr. Sheng Liu is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture, Southwest Jiaotong University who works on climate-responding architecture design and low-carbon city design. His research interests include sustainable architecture design, building performance simulation and optimization, climate change and building adaptation, urban microclimate and indoor thermal comfort. He received his Ph.D. in Architecture from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2021. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong. He had worked as an architect in mainland China before starting academic research. Dr. Liu has published more than 20 leading peer-reviewed scientific journal publications for the past five years such as in Building and Environment, Sustainable Cities and Society, Energy and Buildings, including two ESI highly citied papers. He is also the recipient of Postgraduate Research Output Award of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2021 and 2023 Green Building Award of HKGBC. For more information, visit his website.

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Conference: Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism and the Institution of the Dalai Lama
2024-11-14 16:00 - 2024-11-15 17:30 | CGIS South S020, Belfer Case Study Room, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
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Reincarnation recognition began in the 13th century as a distinctive practice in Tibetan Buddhism to ensure continuity in spiritual authority across successive lives of religious masters. Over time such recognized reincarnations took on significant temporal power as well, particularly the line of the Dalai Lamas who were instrumental in the formation of the Tibetan Ganden Phodrang government in the 17th century. This conference will look at the history across the region, the esoteric practices of rebirth and divination, and the modern-day geopolitical implications of the continuation of this practice in Tibetan, Himalayan, Mongolian, and Central Asian communities — and indeed across the Buddhist world in Asia and beyond.

Day 1: Thursday, November 14, 20244:00 p.m. – Opening and Introductions Michael Puett, Harvard UniversityJanet Gyatso, Harvard University

5:00 p.m. Reception

Day 2: Friday, November 15, 2024

8:15 – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome

9:15-11:15 a.m. Panel 1: Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism and Beyond Moderator: Michael Szonyi, Harvard UniversityPanelists:Weirong Shen, Tsinghua UniversityBodhisattvas in Saṃsāra: The Avalokiteśvara Cult and the Reincarnation of Tibetan LamasTengyur Rinpoche, Thubten Shedrubling Foundation The History of Reincarnated Lamas in TibetTawni Tidwell, University of Wisconsin–MadisonLife in Suspension with Death: Biocultural Ontologies, Perceptual Cues, and Biomarkers for the Tibetan Tukdam Postmortem Meditative State

Sangseraima Ujeed, University of MichiganThe Ocean Lama: The Dalai Lamas of the Mongols

Nicole Willock, Old Dominion University Authenticity and Authority: Methodological Pathways for Understanding the Tulku Institution

11:15-11:30 a.m. Break

11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Panel 2: Ganden Phodrang, Regents, and Succession

Moderator: Janet Gyatso, Harvard University

Panelists:Martin Mills, University of AberdeenThe Ganden Podrang: Sovereignty and Succession Under the Dalai Lamas

Cameron Warner, Aarhus UniversityTibet’s Regents: A Historical Overview of the Men Tasked with Finding the Dalai Lama

Hon-Shiang Lau, City University of Hong KongChinese Primary-Source Official Records on Using a Golden Urn to Identify a New Dalai Lama

1:00-2:00 p.m. Lunch

2:00-3:30 p.m. Panel 3: The Present Dalai Lama and GeopoliticsModerator: William Kirby, Harvard University

Panelists: Jigme Yeshi, University of CalcuttaCompassion in Praxis – The Life and Legacy of the 14th Dalai Lama

Allen Carlson, Cornell UniversityWho’s Next (And Why It Matters So): Reincarnates (Especially the Dalai Lama Lineage, Particularly the 14th, Tenzin Gyatso) and the Coming Crisis in Tibet-China Relations

Tenzin Dorjee, Columbia UniversityBeijing’s Reincarnation Games: Why the Chinese Communist Party Wants the Dalai Lama to be Reborn

3:30-3:45 p.m. Break

3:45-5:15 p.m. Panel 4: Buddhist World in Asia and BeyondModerator: Michael Puett, Harvard University

Panelists:Lobsang Sangay, Harvard UniversityCo-opting the Sacred: The Intersection of Atheist Governance and Tibetan Buddhist Spiritual Authority

Josh Rogin, The Washington PostProspects of US Tibet Policy in the Next Administration

Dibyesh Anand, University of WestminsterCompeting Notions of Sovereignty: Tibet, China, and the Politicizing of Reincarnation

5:15-5:30 p.m. Conclusion

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Fan Dai — Certainties out of the Uncertain: Subnational Climate Diplomacy Between the U.S. and China
2024-11-20 15:00 - 16:00 | Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
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Speaker: Fan Dai, Director, California-China Climate Institute, University of California, Berkeley; Senior Fellow, Environment and Natural Resources Program and Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Dr. Fan Dai is the director of California-China Climate Institute, and adjunct faculty at Energy and Resource Group, University of California, Berkeley. She is also a Senior Fellow in the Environment and Natural Resources Program and Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research expertise includes market mechanisms for climate change mitigation, climate diplomacy and governance.

Dr. Dai was appointed by former California Governor Jerry Brown as Special Advisor to chair the state’s China Interagency Working Group and served as the liaison on critical economic and environmental initiatives with China. Previously, she served as a senior advisor at the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, where she provided counsel on the state’s international policy and global climate partnerships. At the California-China Climate Institute, she led several critical research projects on subnational climate policy and long-term planning for carbon neutrality. Dr. Dai received her BS in law from Beijing Forestry University, her master of law from Berkeley Law, University of California, and her doctoral degree on environmental policy and economics from State University of New York at Syracuse.

Sponsored by Harvard-China Project, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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The Role of Long-Duration Storage in Decarbonizing China's Power Sector
2025-01-30 15:30 - 16:30 | Pierce Hall Room 301, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
Speaker: Haiyang Jiang, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard-China Project

The increasing integration of renewable energy sources introduces significant long-term uncertainty to power systems, creating challenges for maintaining energy balance over extended periods. Traditionally, coal-fired generation has provided the flexibility needed to address these imbalances. However, as coal-fired generation is phased out, long-duration storage emerges as a promising solution to mitigate the risks of long-term imbalances in renewable-dominated power systems. This talk will explore the critical role of long-duration storage in advancing the decarbonization of China’s power sector.

Dr. Haiyang Jiang is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Harvard-China Project at Harvard University. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2023 and was a visiting student at the Harvard-China Project in 2022. His research focuses on power system modeling and planning, long-duration energy storage, and assessing long-term inadequacy risks in the power sector.

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Beijing’s Multiple Facets from the Qing to the Present (1644-2025)
2025-02-13 10:00 - 17:00 | Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, 121 Bay State Rd, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Speakers:XU Yamin, Department of History, Lemoyne College Eugenio Menegon, Department of History, Boston UniversityDaigengna Duoer, Department of Religion, Boston UniversityCathy Yeh, World Languages and Literatures, Boston UniversityMA Zhao, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Washington University in St. LouisMin Ye, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston UniversityJorge Heine, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

Presentations followed by Q&A and conversations on the history of Beijing, past, present, and future, at the intersection of urban history, politics, religion, literature, and the arts. The meeting is open to faculty, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates.Register at: https://bostonu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bmFCX0ScZP4RU8K?Q_CHL=qr

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China Initiative: Impacts and Implications – Law, Science, and U.S.-China Relations
2025-02-13 12:30 - 13:30 | WCC 2012, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
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Speakers: Patrick Toomey, National Security Project Deputy Director, ACLUGang Chen, Professor, MIT Mechanical EngineeringYasheng Huang, Professor, MIT Sloan SchoolEdgar Chen, Special Advisor, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

The China Initiative, launched under the Trump administration, led to the wrongful prosecution of Chinese American scientists, including MIT Professor Gang Chen. With discussions of its possible revival, this talk will explore its legal and social impact, its effects on the scientific community, and what its return could mean for U.S.-China relations.

Sponsored by China Law Association. For more info, contact Ying Zhou at yzhou@jd25.law.harvard.edu

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Film Screening: This Woman (這個女人)
2025-02-23 14:30 - 16:00 | Museum of Fine Arts, Remis Auditorium, 465 Huntingon Ave, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States
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Directed by Alan Zhang (China, 2023, 90 min.). Mandarin with English subtitles.

In her striking debut feature, filmmaker Alan Zhang explores the life of a 35-year-old woman who, after losing her decade-long job during the COVID-19 pandemic, returns to her hometown from Beijing. As she works to support herself, her parents, and her child, she navigates intimate relationships and embarks on a profound journey of self-discovery. Deftly blurring the line between documentary and fiction, This Woman delves into the role of women in contemporary Chinese society, questioning the expectations imposed on them and their pursuit of freedom. Awarded the Special Jury Prize at Visions du Réel, Zhang—a feminist activist, artist, and filmmaker—delivers a timely and courageous work that invites reflection and dialogue.

Watch the trailer.

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Fu Hualing in Conversation With Bill Alford
2025-02-28 12:20 - 13:20 | Austin Hall Room 308, 1515 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Speaker: Professor Fu Hualing, Dean of the Faculty of Law; Warren Chan Professor in Human Rights and Responsibilities, University of Hong Kong

Discussant: Bill Alford, Jerome A. and Joan L. Cohen Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Fu Hualing is Professor of Law and holder of the Warren Chan Professorship in Human Rights and Responsibilities at the University of Hong Kong. He holds an LL.B. from Southwestern University in China, an M.A. from University of Toronto and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from OsgoodeHall.

Professor Fu’s current research focuses on the rise of human rights lawyering in China and its implications for political and legal reform in China, the politics of anti-corruption enforcement, popular justice (including China’s evolving use of mediation processes), and a critical re-assessment of rule of law reform in China in the past four decades. His other research areas include the constitutional status of Hong Kong, in particular central-local relationships in the Hong Kong context and national security legislation.

Professor Fu has published widely in various books and journals, and as a believer in collaborative approaches to scholarship has co-edited a number of significant studies including Hong Kong’s Constitutional Debate: Conflict over Interpretation (HKU Press 2000); National Security and Fundamental Freedoms: Hong Kong’s Article 23 Under Scrutiny(HKU Press 2005); Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the Challenges of Political Reform in China (HKU Press 2012); Mediation in Contemporary China (Wildy, Simmonds and Hill 2017); Transparency Challenges Facing China (Wildy, Simmonds and Hill 2018); Socialist Law in Socialist East Asia (Cambridge University Press 2018); Authoritarian Legality in Asia: Formation, Development and Transition (Cambridge University Press 2020); The National Security Law of Hong Kong: Restoration and Transformation (HKU Press 2022); and Regime Type and Beyond: The Transformation of Police in Asia (Cambridge University Press 2023).

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Chinese Companies Going Global with Han Kun 汉坤
2025-03-07 12:15 - 13:45 | WCC 1015, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
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As Chinese companies expand globally, they face regulatory scrutiny, geopolitical challenges, and cross-border disputes. Whether you’re a founder, investor, or legal professional, this is a must-attend event to understand the opportunities and challenges for Chinese companies going global. Experts from Han Kun Law Offices—including former partners from White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis—will share insights on navigating Rednote’s impact and managing compliance risks in global expansion.

Lunch will be provided.

Interested in deeper insights? In addition to the lunch talk, you can join a closed-door session with Han Kun partners after the talk. Indicate your interest when filling out the registration form: https://forms.gle/RrTYtxmc1ZvocDf36

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Layered Taiwan: Interwoven Pasts and Multiple Futures
2025-03-27 09:00 - 14:30 | Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, 121 Bay State Rd, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Moderated by Robert Weller, Boston University Department of Anthropology

Program Schedule9:00 AM Morning Opening Reception

9:15 AM Welcoming Remarks from BUCSA Director Robert Hefner9:20 AM Welcoming Remarks by TECO-Boston Education Director Cynthia Huang9:25 AM Opening Remarks by Rob Weller and Daigengna Duoer, Overview of the conference theme & Q&A format9:30 AM Lung-chih Chang, Director, National Museum of Taiwan History, “Representing the Multiple Histories of an Island Nation: The Case of the National Museum of Taiwan History”10:20 AM Coffee Break10:35 AM Scott Simon, Department of Anthropology, University of Ottawa, “Indigenous Peoples and States: Layers of History in Taiwan’s Archipelago”11:25 AM Lunch11:55 AM Catherine Tsai, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, “Becoming Japanese: Naturalization and Memories of the Taiwanese Diaspora in the Yaeyama Islands, 1960- 1972”12:45 PM Coffee Break1:00 PM Daigengna Duoer, Department of Religion, Boston University “Strata of Sovereignty: Buddhist Relic Diplomacy in Cold-War Taiwan”2:00 PM Panel Discussion & Closing RemarksReigster at: https://bostonu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5hkRjs26vCwqmNg

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Trump’s U.S., Xi’s China, and Our Future: An Evening with the Award-Winning Creators of Face-Off: The U.S. vs China
2025-04-01 17:00 - 18:30 | Room S030, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
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Speakers: Jane Perlez, Former Beijing Bureau Chief, The New York Times Rana Mitter, S.T. Lee Chair in U.S.-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School Mia Lobel, Executive Producer, Face-Off: U.S. vs China Frank Zhou ’26, Associate Producer, Face-Off: U.S. vs China

****THE EVENT VENUE HAS CHANGED TO CGIS S030.****

Curious what China’s rise means for you as a young American or international student? Want an inside look at how Pulitzer-winning New York Times reporter and leading producer craft longform reporting into an award-winning podcast? Want to hear one of the world’s leading experts break down what’s next in America’s competition with the world’s second-largest economy? Join a panel and meet-and-greet with top reporters and experts to celebrate Face-Off: The U.S. vs China | Season Two, an award-winning podcast from Airwave Media supported by the Carnegie Corporation and Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.Dumplings will be served.Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoKcNAy8bBu0ybwvkpExt7xxvr_4OWYTGjdl2tuFcm1EI0zQ/viewform.

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Rong Ma — Powering a Just Transition: The Impacts of Place-Based Solar Expansion in Rural China
2025-04-03 15:30 - 16:30 | Pierce Hall Room 301, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
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Speaker: Rong Ma, Associate Professor, China Agricultural University; Alumnus (Visiting Fellow) and Collaborator, Harvard-China Project

This paper examines a solar subsidy program in China designed to alleviate poverty among rural households in the country’s most impoverished regions through solar resource development. The empirical findings indicate a substantial increase in firm entry in treated villages, accompanied by a marked structural transformation characterized by a reduction in self-employment and a shift in land use from farmland to built-up areas. This surge in firm entry appears to be driven primarily by improvements in local electricity availability and reliability, as well as upgrades in local transportation infrastructure. Correspondingly, the analysis identifies a notable rise in local nightlight intensity and a reduction in regional nightlight disparities. Moreover, treated villages experience significant improvements in air quality, largely attributable to decreased pollutant emissions from nearby thermal power plants. By elucidating the impacts of place-based renewable energy policies, this study underscores their potential to foster a more equitable energy transition.

Dr. Rong Ma is an Associate Professor at China Agricultural University, College of Economics and Management. He is also a former Visiting Fellow and Collaborator with the Harvard-China Project. He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from Tsinghua University. His research focuses on environmental economics and energy economics.

Sponsored by the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy, and Environment at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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Reading Sinophone Women Writers
2025-04-04 14:00 - 17:00 | Plimpton Room (133), Barker Center, 12 Quincy St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Speakers: Li Zishu 黎紫書Lu Pin 鹿苹Lin Zhao 林棹Dorothy Tse 謝曉虹Moderators:David Der-wei Wang, Harvard UniversityMingwei Song, Wellesley CollegeDingru Huang, Tufts University

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