CSS Noon Lecture Series - International Relations and Chinese History: The Rise of Qing China

Yuan-kang Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Western Michigan University

Can Chinese history tell us anything about China's rise today? This talk will examine how the Manchus of Qing China rose to preeminence and established regional hegemony in East Asia. By integrating international relations theory with Chinese history, this talk will demonstrate how a rising state expands political interests abroad and establishing rules of the game for the system.

Yuan-kang Wang is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Western Michigan University. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago, and was an International Security Fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies. Wang's research examines the nexus between international relations theory and historical China. He is author of Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics (Columbia University Press, 2011), which examines the influence of Confucian culture on Chinese grand strategy, use of force, and war aims. Wang has published articles on peripheral nationalism in China, nationalist mobilization during Taiwan's democratization, and U.S. extended deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. His current research examines the issue of hegemony management by comparing the two hegemonies of Qing China and the United States.