Life of the Party in Xi Jinping’s China: Understanding Party-state Relations in Contemporary China
On September 23, 2026, the Center for East Asian Studies and the Asia Policy Program, with support from the Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Clements Center, will host “Life of the Party in Xi Jinping’s China: Understanding Party-state Relations in Contemporary China,” with Timothy Cheek, Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research at the University of British Columbia. Join us at 3:30–5 p.m. in the Robert L. Patton Building (RLP), Room 1.302E, Patton Hall. This lecture is part of the The Paul and Mary Ho Distinguished Lecture Series in China Studies at UT Austin (Fall 2026). There will be a reception immediately following the event.
To understand contemporary Chinese politics there is no avoiding the Chinese Communist Party because all actors in China interact with it, its institutions, and its representatives. You cannot do anything significant in public in China without making your peace with the Party. This talk considers the picture in contemporary China today, asking: What does Xi Jinping and the party leadership think they are doing? What does the smart money among international observers think? What do people in China think—various people from intellectuals and scholars to professionals, urban elites, and ordinary people across the country, and what do they do? Our goal is to understand what is going on—if not secrets of Beijing, then something of the political world and compelling memories that drive elite and popular politics in China today. In this way, taking the Party seriously we can better understand what is going on in China today, appreciate the range of views inside China about their government, and better anticipate China’s actions on the world stage.
Biography
Timothy Cheek is a Professor with the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and Department of History, Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research, and Co-Director of the Centre for Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research (IAR). He has been a professor at UBC since 2002. His research, teaching and translating focus on the recent history of China, especially the role of Chinese intellectuals in the twentieth century and the history of the Chinese Communist Party. He is a 2023 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in the Academy of Arts and Humanities.