Advertise on podcast: China Field Notes – with Scott Kennedy

In this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy talks with Eric Zheng, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. After describing his pathway from growing up in Shanghai to working in consulting and the insurance industry, Zheng assesses China’s evolving business climate, including the challenges facing American companies, why China remains an important market and manufacturing base, and how American firms are adapting their global strategies. The discussion concludes by Zheng explaining the value of greater predictability in U.S.-China relations.

In this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy talks with Communications Professor Maria Repnikova of Georgia State University. She explains how China seeks to build influence in Africa through tangible enticements, ideational power, and defensive image-making. Although she points to a variety of areas of success, Repnikova also highlights the ways in which China is encountering obstacles to expanding its influence. She concludes that China is not effectively “exporting” its model of governance to countries in the Global South. The discussion also covers her experiences of carrying out fieldwork in the two countries, where she found both important similarities and differences. Maria Repnikova, an expert on Chinese political communication, is an Associate Professor in Global Communication, and the inaugural William C. Pate Chair in Strategic Communication at Georgia State University. She is the author of Competing for Soft Power: China’s Image-Making in Africa (2026), Chinese Soft Power (2022), and the award-winning Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism (2017), all from Cambridge University Press. . Her writings have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Atlantic, as well as in many academic journals. Dr. Repnikova holds a doctorate in politics from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She is a recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the Wilson Fellowship (2020-2021).

In this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy speaks with historian Michael Szonyi about why fieldwork matters to social historians and trends in U.S.-China relations. Szonyi unpacks the concept of “history from below” and how doing fieldwork in localities helps social historians understand history from the perspective of everyday people, their practices, and community dynamics that are less visible when looking through the lens of the country’s leaders or international politics. Drawing on years of research in places such as Quemoy and Yongtai (Fujian), he describes how local records, such as land deeds and genealogies, complicate familiar national narratives and reveal how ordinary communities experienced major political and geopolitical shifts. Kennedy and Szonyi conclude by discussing the role of historians as public intellectuals, the risks of scholarly decoupling, and why first-hand knowledge of China remains essential for navigating the future of U.S.-China relations. Michael Szonyi is Frank Wen-hsiung Wu Professor of Chinese History and former Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. A social historian of late imperial and modern China, his books include The Art of Being Governed: Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China (2017) and Cold War Island: Quemoy on the Front Line (2008). His most recent works are The China Questions 2: Critical Insights into US-China Relations (co-edited with Adele Carrai and Jennifer Rudolph, 2022) and Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present (co-edited with Tarun Khanna, 2022). He received his B.A. from the University of Toronto and his D.Phil. from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has also studied at National Taiwan University and Xiamen University. He is currently writing a modern history of rural China and a study of a remarkable trove of local documents found in Yongtai County, China. In 2024, he was made an “Honorary Villager of Yongtai.”

On this episode of China Field Notes, host Scott Kennedy talks with Yao Yang, one of China’s most thoughtful and influential economists. Dr. Yao, who spent most of his career at Peking University and recently moved to the Dishuihu Advanced Finance Institute at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, discusses his entry into the economics profession, the sources of China’s growth, why Xiaomi is currently his favorite Chinese company, the challenge of tackling involution, and the state of U.S.-China relations, and his own ongoing research.

In this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy talks with Adam Webb, Co-Director of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. Drawing on Kennedy’s own experience as an HNC student and Webb’s long tenure on the faculty, they discuss what makes the Center unique in the landscape of international higher education institutions and how this dual-language, dual-university model fosters exchange and mutual understanding. Webb also reflects on how the Center has navigated political shifts, the pandemic, and growing skepticism towards engagement, while preserving academic freedom and open dialogue. The conversation concludes with a discussion of shifting national identities in the United States and China, how these dynamics are felt on campus and in the classroom, and the importance of broadening debates beyond the two countries.    Adam K Webb is Co-Director of the Hopkins-Nanjing Centre (HNC), where he also serves as Resident Professor of Political Science. He has been a faculty member since 2008. He previously taught at Princeton and Harvard and was a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research interests cut broadly across political thought, globalization, and critiques of modernity. He is the author of four books, including Beyond the Global Culture War (2006), A Path of Our Own: An Andean Village and Tomorrow’s Economy of Values (2009), Deep Cosmopolis: Rethinking World Politics and Globalisation (2015), and his most recent book, The World’s Constitution: Spheres of Liberty in the Future Global Order (published January 2025) which offers a radically different vision of future world order that could work in a global space while shifting the balance of power from state back to society. He received his AB summa cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard and his MA and PhD in Politics from Princeton.

On this episode of China Field Notes, host Scott Kennedy speaks with Han Shen Lin, China Managing Director for the Asia Group and Associate Professor of Practice in Finance at NYU Shanghai. Lin details his journey from serving in the U.S. Marines to working at Wells Fargo in China to teaching at NYU Shanghai. He explains why the original hopes of financial openness were not borne out and what this means for China’s economy and foreign banks. He also unpacks data from AmCham China’s 2025 Business Climate Survey, offering insight into why business optimism among American companies has waned. Finally, Lin and Kennedy discuss the outlook for a potential Trump-Xi meeting, the need for clear guardrails to stabilize U.S.-China relations, and why continued engagement in China remains vital for business competitiveness and mutual understanding.

On this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy talks with Jessica Teets of Middlebury College about the challenges and benefits of doing fieldwork in China, and what she and her research partners have learned about the complexities of civil society in an authoritarian context and the unintended consequences of governance reforms under Xi Jinping.

On this special episode of China Field Notes, guest host Ilaria Mazzocco interviews the program’s usual host, CSIS Trustee Chair Scott Kennedy, about his latest trip to China. Scott shares insights on the split-screen picture of China’s booming tech sector, including his visit to BYD, and signs of a slowing economy. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the state of U.S.-China relations and shifting dynamics in Hong Kong.

On this episode of China Field Notes, host Scott Kennedy speaks with CNBC's Evelyn Cheng, who has been reporting on China’s economy in Beijing since 2018. She discusses the challenges of being a Western reporter in China, the take-off of China’s EV sector and other tech industries, changing consumer behavior, and the implications of worsening U.S.-China relations for businesses, families, and individuals. Evelyn Cheng is a Senior Correspondent at CNBC.com, covering China’s economy and financial markets from Beijing, where she has been based for the past seven years. She has reported on the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of China’s electric vehicle industry, and interviewed key financial and economic policy officials in the country. She also launched and writes "The China Connection," CNBC’s weekly newsletter on China’s economy, markets, and its relationship with the global landscape. Before moving to Beijing, Cheng reported from CNBC’s global headquarters in New Jersey on investing, bitcoin, and the U.S. stock market. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Urban Design, and Architecture Studies from New York University.

On this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy speaks with Chen Dongxiao, the President of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). He discusses how China's shifting role to the center of global politics and economics has shaped his career, and he offers a frank assessment of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship during the late-Biden and early Trump administrations. The discussion concludes with a strong defense of the value of U.S.-China track-2 dialogue for thinking creatively about the world's most important challenges and offering reforms to global institutions.

On this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy speaks with Tu Xinquan, a leading Chinese expert on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and global economic governance. They review the initial enthusiasm accompanying China’s accession to the WTO two decades ago, the debates on whether China’s behavior conforms with its WTO commitments, and the need for WTO reform to address industrial policy, national security, digital trade, and labor standards.

On this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy speaks with Kent Kedl on his 40-year journey in China from teaching English to consulting for multinational companies. They explore the past and present challenges foreign companies face in China, including understanding its regulations and adapting business strategies to local markets, how scenario planning is critical for navigating uncertainties, discuss his experiences during the pandemic lockdown in Shanghai, and the role of humor in processing new experiences, including in China. Kent Kedl is the founder and managing partner at Blue Ocean Advisors, a risk and strategy advisory firm based in Shanghai. Kent has consulted with multinational and Asia-based corporations on a range of issues, such as geopolitical risk, M&A and organic growth strategy, crisis management and organizational development programs. He was previously the Managing Partner for Control Risks’ Greater China and North Asia practice and, prior to that, was a partner with Technomic Asia, a market strategy consulting firm. Kent has worked as a journalist and is a frequent contributor to Asia-based media outlets. Kent has been working across Asia and living in China for nearly forty years.

On this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy speaks with Yuan Haiying, one of the pioneers of the government affairs profession in China. Yuan explains the origins of the industry, how it has changed and evolved throughout his career, how the field help Chinese and foreign multinational companies navigate current geopolitical challenges, and the profession’s future. Yuan then provides his outlook on the recently concluded Third Plenum economic conference and other opportunities and challenges in China’s economy today. Yuan Haiying founded Yuan Associates in February 2004, and since then he and the firm have become major players in China’s growing government affairs industry. Yuan has thirty years of experience in the Chinese Government, including senior diplomatic postings in Washington D.C., as China’s Agriculture Attaché, and in Rome, as the Alternate Representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He has been involved in negotiations on numerous bilateral and multilateral agreements in the areas of trade, investment, agriculture, forestry, fishery and environmental protection. For his efforts, he received an Outstanding Contribution Certificate from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Outstanding Contribution Awards from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In China, Yuan was the Director of the Ministry of Forestry’s Department of International Cooperation. After retiring from public service, Yuan worked as a Senior Vice President at Edelman Public Relations and as a Vice President at APCO Worldwide. Yuan chaired the Government Affairs Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce and the China Quality Brands Protection Committee (QBPC) of the Chinese Government Cooperation Committee.

On this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy speaks with Michael Laske, a sage veteran auto industry consultant in China. In this in-depth conversation, he explains how over the last three decades China’s domestic auto firms went from being students in joint ventures to achieving global leadership in electric vehicles and batteries. He analyzes why Chinese industrial policy has been more effective in this sector than in others as well as the important value to the West of having their firms in China and Chinese firms in the Western markets. Since 1995, Michael has led the development of AVL List GMBH in China. AVL List is the leading provider of engineering and technology development support, and hardware and software testing solutions necessary for innovation and technology development in mobility sectors, particularly automotive applications. He has witnessed and directly participated in the growth of the automotive sector in China, as China eventually emerged as the largest market and later as a major source of technical innovation and exports. Michael believes that the automotive sector and its global relationships provide important insight into and strongly influence global geopolitical strategy and commercial developments. Michael Laske received an MA and an East Asian Institute Certificate from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs in 1980. Following four years in Taiwan, Michael and his family moved to China in January 1989, where he remains based.

On this episode of China Field Notes, Scott Kennedy speaks with Jack Chang, one of the world’s foremost experts on Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. They discuss the industry in-depth, from the original policies that led to the establishment of companies like TSMC and UMC to disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The conversation then shifts to the current semiconductor landscape, including the challenges of U.S.-China tensions, increasing overseas investments, and debates about the meaning of supply chain resilience. Finally, they discuss future industry trends, including shifts to more advanced nodes and the exploration of alternative semiconductor materials like germanium. Dr. Jack C. Chang recently retired from the Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Chutung, Taiwan, after 34 years of service. Most recently, he was senior strategy executive director for sustainability. During his tenure at ITRI, Chang served as principal investigator of various technology, policy & market research projects from public and private sectors. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the Graduate Institute of Patent of the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Taipei.