Social Science Colloquium Series on China in the World

Presented by the David See-chai Lam Centre and School for International Studies at SFU, the interdisciplinary Social Science Colloquium Series on China in the World invites participants to think about China, particularly Greater China, not as a self-contained entity, but as part of the global world system, not in terms of exceptions, but in terms of intersections.

The rise of China over the past three decades has often been posed as a puzzle requiring explanation. In late 2018, the New York Times ran an extended series on China, partially titled "The Land that Failed to Fail", in which it explored the many ways in which China has defied expectations in its economic, social, and political development. Yet the rise of China can also be taken as an opportunity to critically reconsider narratives of global history that have been centered on the "rise of the West", and to move beyond the "west/rest" divergence which frames arguments of Chinese exceptionalism. 

Past Colloquiums