Speaker: Allan Layug, PhD Candidate, University of Queensland; Associate, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
Discussant: Robert Ross, Professor of Political Science, Boston College

How do we conceptualize China’s world order? What are its defining characteristics? Whose ideas matter in conceptualizing it—and why? And how do the different conceptions affect the Chinese world-ordering projects in the 21st century? These are the key questions the lecture aims to address. Specifically, it will lay out the ideational foundations of order from the ancient to the modern Chinese thought, exploring key ideas from Confucius to Sun Yatsen. It will unpack the bones of contention on conceptualization, construction, maintenance, and transformation of world order in the contemporary period, tracing change and continuity in Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Theory, Xi Jinping Thought. It will provide a four-level analysis: (a) analytical level, where Chinese concept of order and its key characteristics are defined and analyzed, (b) logical level, where the reasoning behind such a conception is discussed, (c) theoretical level, where the concept is viewed from different theoretical points of view, and (d) field of debate level, where the parameters, axes, and forms of argument framing the debate in the Chinese world are analyzed. The lecture will conclude on some thoughts about the future trajectory of world ordering the Chinese Way.