Shanghai: The Story of China’s Most Dynamic City
An online lecture with Professor Michael Dillon, moderated by Professor Kerry Brown.
15 October 2026 14:00 BST
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Shanghai: Turbulent Past and Herald of China’s Future?
Professor Michael Dillon is a historian and biographer specialising in the history, politics and society of China Shanghai has had an extraordinary history. The squalor and sleaze of the early twentieth century have more or less disappeared although pockets of sub-standard housing in the midst of ultra-modern high-rise buildings reflect newer manifestations of inequality. Treaty…
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Succession and Secrecy: Intelligence on Mao Zedong and Kim Il-sung
Dr Nick Miller is a Professor of Intelligence Studies at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina My doctoral research was shaped by my experience working within the US Department of Defense, where I managed portfolios related to China and North Korea. Across both cases, I encountered a persistent problem: the quality of intelligence collection…
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Xi Jinping Thought and the Chinese Party-State: Power, Prosperity and Security
An online panel discussion with Dr Chi Zhang, Dr Olivia Cheung. Dr Victor Shih and Professor Sarah Eaton. Moderated by Professor Ho-fung Hung.
16 April 2026 18.00 – 19:30 BST -
Robert Fortune and the Great Tea Heist
Sean Paterson is a member of the RSAA living in Guangzhou There has been much hand-wringing in the press about how Brits, especially those under thirty, are abandoning tea for coffee. The usual suspects blame Americanisation, but what many don’t realise is that the public are simply switching one Asian drink for another. Coffee is…
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Trump 2.0: US Policy Towards Asia
A two-day online conference hosted in partnership with the FCDOA and the IIAS. 6 & 7 November 2025 13.00-17.00 GMT
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Looting the Silk Road: the re-discovery of Dunhuang
Sean Paterson is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society living in Guangzhou A small town in Gansu is having something of a moment. Dunhuang, famous for its treasure-troves of Buddhist art and hoard of ancient manuscripts, and for the underhanded way that foreign adventurers pilfered huge quantities of both, is back in the limelight….
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China’s road to Central Asia: the re-development of the Hexi Corridor
Sean Paterson is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society living in Guangzhou Hong Kong is often referred to as ‘the gate to China’, and even today, it’s common to hear the broader Pearl River Delta megalopolis referred to in similar terms. Some might say the same of Shanghai. However, those who focus on the…
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Literary and Photographic Legacies of Russia in the Chinese City of Harbin
Julius Kochan, RSAA Travel Awards 2024 Recipient, with guest host Dr Winnie King
25 June 2025, 14.00 BST Online -
Online Religion in Contemporary China
Mengyuan Tian, RSAA Travel Awards 2024 recipient, with guest host Professor Astrid Nordin
9 July 2025, 14.00 BST Online
