October Wonky China with Victor Shih

Free admission with happy hour specials on drinks and food.

This month Victor Shih, Director of the 21st Century China Center at UC San Diego, will be speaking about his research on elite Chinese politics. Xi Jinping has ruled China for well over a decade , making him the longest serving official leader of China since Mao. As he contemplates his fourth and fifth terms as China’s leaders, what challenges might he face? Would those challenges and ways to resolve them be similar to those faced by Mao in the latter years of his rule?

Victor Shih, author of Coalitions of the Weak: Elite Politics in China from Mao’s Strategem to the Rise of Xi, will discuss Mao’s strategies of staying in power and their applicability to the Xi period. Also have recent personnel patterns given observers any clues on the types of leadership we will see in the coming decades.