Speaker: Zuoyue Wang, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

How have transnational exchanges, especially with the United States, in science and technology shaped and reshaped modern China in the last century since the May Fourth Movement of 1919? This talk explores key players and events in this history from the Science Society of China during the Republican era, the making of the atomic bomb during the Mao years, the experiences of Chinese American scientists during the Cold War, to the emergence of dissident scientists such as Fang Lizhi and the migration of Chinese students/scientists to the US during the reform era. Revisiting John Fairbank’s impact-response thesis, it argues that we need to examine both how the world changed China and how China changed the world in science and technology.

This event is co-sponsored by the Asia Center Science and Technology Seminar Series