June 12, 2020
Dear Young China Watchers,
In light of the current wave of protests against structural racism. We begin this letter with a message from YCW leadership.
“The Young China Watchers global community has been as affected and concerned as everyone else by the protests going on around the world, and we stand in solidarity with all of those involved in the fight against racism, injustice, and inequality. We see the murder of George Floyd as a call for action from society to address long-standing, systemic issues of race and division not only in the United States but around the world.
Against the backdrop of the current protests and calls for immediate action in the US and UK in particular, we are keen to find ways of supporting, amplifying, and highlighting the work of underrepresented voices. While the current focus is on people of colour, we have also been very concerned by the racism that has been stirred up against Asians and have long sought to ensure our community is as inclusive as possible. Our global community commits to combating privilege where we see it in the China field and is working to take specific steps to change the world before us, acknowledging that in the past we have sometimes fallen short in these goals. As a diverse community scattered over ten chapters around the world (with a leadership group and membership base that goes far beyond this), this naturally affects all of us in different ways, but we can all empathize with the sense of exclusion and the anger that lies at the root of the protests.
None of us want to live in a world where your ability to succeed is determined by the colour of your skin or ethnicity, and we are all keen to work through our organization to make the world better. If you would like to help us advance these ideals, we would welcome your engagement and ideas.”
The 2019 Pulse Survey Report is out!
To reflect the views of its members and chart them over time, Young China Watchers carried out its second annual survey of sentiments towards China in 2019—a significant year for China’s development and its growing influence in the world.
The survey finds that young professionals engaged with China are increasingly polarized and negative in their opinions about China’s influence, especially toward its domestic and external policies. In particular, the survey records a 26% swing in net sentiment toward China’s impact on global affairs, from 9% net positive (35% positive versus 26% negative) in 2018 to 15% net negative (26% positive versus 41% negative) in 2019. Respondents are most positive about China’s global economic impact but are less positive about other countries adopting aspects of China’s model.
| Full Report |
Across Our Global Chapters
YCW New York + YCW Washington DC (June 11)
Cultural Timelines of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The first in a series of events co-organized with NüVoices and Chinese Storytellers, this event featured Diana Yeh, City, University of London, Sophia Yan, Telegraph, Yangyang Cheng, Cornell University. It was moderated by Rui Zhong, Wilson Center.
YCW London (June 3)
YCW Climate Series: Opening Event with Barbara Finamore. Our London chapter kicked off their Climate Series with a webinar by Barbara Finamore, Senior Strategic Director for Asia at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
| Replay Webinar |
YCW Singapore + YCW San Francisco (May 30)
The Significance of the Joint Sessions in the Era of COVID-19. UC San Diego Professor Dr Victor Shih joined YCW Global Director Sue Anne Tay for a discussion on the major takeaways from this year’s Two Sessions.
| Replay Webinar |
JOIN THESE VIRTUAL EVENTS FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
Upcoming Events
YCW Beijing (June 18)
A Peek into Chinese Contemporary Arts. Young China Watchers Beijing invites you to participate in their webinar with Professor Wei Ying from the Central Academy of Fine Arts to stroll down the hall of Chinese contemporary arts and to gain perspectives on the history and background of some of the most famous contemporary artworks in China.
| Tickets on Eventbrite |
YCW London (June 20)
Feeding China: How Climate Change and Coronavirus are Challenging the Quest for Food Security. With Doris Lee, Consultant at Good Food Institute Consultancy (GFIC, Beijing), and other speakers to be announced.
| Tickets on Eventbrite |
YCW New York + YCW Washington DC (June 20)
Testing the World: Assessing China’s COVID-19 Diplomacy. With Lucrezia Poggetti, MERICS, Natalia Cote Muñoz, China and Latin America Analyst, Prashanth Parameswaran, Bower Group Asia & Wilson Center, Yunnan Chen, Overseas Development Institute.
| Tickets on Eventbrite |
YCW Singapore (June 24)
China’s Energy Security, Geopolitics and Investments. Amid the backdrop of Covid-19 and turmoil in the energy markets, it is more important than ever before to understand, discuss and debate how China (and by extension Chinese state-owned companies) engage with its overseas political and trading partners. With Professor Zha Daojiong and Monica Sun.
| Tickets on Eventbrite |
YCW New York + YCW Washington DC (June 25)
Navigating China’s Narrowing Information Flow. With Amy Qin, The New York Times, Lotus Ruan, The Citizen Lab, Maria Repnikova, Georgia State University. Moderated by Zhaoyin Feng, BBC World Service.
| Tickets on Eventbrite |
Latest from the YCW Blog
YCW Interviews
Yangyang Cheng is a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University. Her writings have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, MIT Technology Review, ChinaFile, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and other publications. She is a regular columnist at SupChina and has appeared on the Sinica Podcast.
| Read This Piece |
YCW Interviews
Maria Repnikova is an Assistant Professor of Global Communication at Georgia State University. She is a scholar of China’s political communication, including critical journalism, propaganda, and most recently China’s soft power campaigns in Ethiopia.
| Read This Piece |
