Presentations:

Lingang Zhou, Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Affairs, East China Normal University; 2025-26 Visiting Scholar, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies 

Why is China’s Constitution “provisional” and why does it matter?
China’s constitution provides the foundation for the People’s Republic of China’s governing system. However, a deep analysis of the Communist Party’s own logic and language around the formulation of the constitution’s various versions, from 1954 to 1975, 1978 and 1982, suggests that the constitution until today is in an interim, or temporary state. That means there is an inconsistency between theory and practice—a continuing challenge for the Chinese people.

There are two important factors that highlight the provisional nature of the PRC constitution. First, the constitution was originally founded on a hierarchical social structure that was pronounced by Marxist-Leninist class theory: the exploiting classes were intentionally deprived of political rights, while political rights were distributed between workers and peasants unequally. Workers were given more rights than peasants.

But following the Party’s announcement of the completion of socialist transformation in 1956, China’s exploiting classes in theory were eliminated. And then in 2010, the unequal distribution of political rights between workers and peasants was abolished, too.

And yet, despite the fact that these societal foundations of the constitution have been eliminated, the PRC’s constitutional system has not undergone any substantial change. The principle of equality continues to be interpreted hierarchically—meaning equality in the application of law, but inequality in legislation.

This paradox prevents all Chinese citizens from equally expressing their constituent will, and of course also means that none of the PRC constitutions are the product of the equally expressed constituent will of all Chinese people.

The second major evidence that the PRC constitution is provisional lies in the fact that on paper, there continues to be a state of war between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Only after a peace treaty ending this state of war is signed can the PRC constitution truly represent all Chinese people, thus ending its provisional state.

Yixiao Zhou, Associate Professor in Economics and Director of the China Economy Program, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University; 2025-26 Visiting Scholar, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies 

The Impact of Chinese Firms on Global Competition 
Since China’s market-oriented reforms and accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the share of Chinese firms in the global market has expanded significantly in recent decades. In this talk, Yixiao Zhou examines how the increase in China’s global market share has reshaped global competition. She examines how competitive pressure varies between firms of different market power, size, geographic locations, and industry sectors.

Yunli Lou, Founder and Managing Partner, Milestone Capital Partners; 2025-26 Visiting Fellow of Practice, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies 

China’s Path to Energy Security – what has been achieved and what can be learned?
For more than a decade, China has been deliberately building an energy infrastructure and supply chain with a goal to reduce reliance on imports, dramatically increase clean energy production and consumption, and achieve a high degree of energy self-sufficiency. This will only be accomplished through a fundamental transformation of its energy system, moving from a fossil-fuel dominant structure to one led by new energy sources.  

Based on her experience investing in renewable and battery companies in China over the last 20 years, Yunli Lou will present a case study to illustrate the opportunities and challenges for firms in China’s new energy sector.

Discussant: Mark Wu, Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Director, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies