It’s that time of the year again:

Beijing finally gets warmer and friendlier, and our students at the Contemporary China Studies Program are relieved that their theses have passed Renmin University’s review process. What’s next? Thesis defenses of course! But this year, we’re doing things differently: Due to the still ongoing COVID-19 situation and the campus lock-down brought on by it, thesis defenses are being organized online through group-video conferences, and our future China scholars complete this last step of their academic degree requirement in a virtual mode from across the world.

Congratulations!

Our first round of defenses this year included 18 theses with topics as diverse as our students, spanning across the entire program curriculum, and covering research on topics from artificial intelligence or foreign direct investment to various aspects of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative or China’s diplomatic relations with key regions of the world. (See a full list of topics below).

Of our 18 defenses in this first round, 13 passed directly with minor revisions, and five passed at the condition of major revisions. We are yet again proud of our students, their research, and their academic achievements.

Congratulations to the first round of students joining our program’s 2020 graduates!


Theses passed in this first round of defenses:

  • How Is Artificial Intelligence Driving Sino-US Competition and the Prospects of Its Development
  • Assessing the Impact of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on China’s Western Regions, Case Study of Sichuan province
  • The Challenges in EU-China Strategic Partnership: A European Perspective
  • Emerging Partnership in Climate Change: China and Europe’s role in the decarbonization process.
  • Sino-Russian Security Cooperation and future perspective of the formal alliance
  • Evaluation of the effectiveness of Russia’s public diplomacy towards China in the field of Chinese outbound tourism to Russia (2012-2019)
  • Identity Politics: Consensus or Crisis – Ethnicity, National Identity and Malaysia Contemporary Politics
  • The Effects of the EU-China Dialogue on Migration and Mobility Support Project upon the Chinese Community in Spain
  • Immigration to China: A New Kind Of Immigration?
  • International Education Exchange: A study of student migration from the Republic of Croatia to the People’s Republic of China
  • Impact of Terrorism in South Asia on The Construction of the BRI
  • China’s Engagement in Afghanistan: A Double Edged-Sword
  • A SWOT Analysis of the Middle Corridor and Sino-Turkish Cooperation Areas
  • Victimization and Retribution: A Study of Japanese Compensation in the Post WWII Era
  • China’s Soft Power in Singapore: Consumption and Interpretation of Chinese-Produced Television and Films
  • China’s Soft Power through Scholarships in Greek-speaking countries
  • “Lilliputian Choice: Macedonia’s Foreign Policy toward China”
  • Military Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics? Tracing PLA Diplomacy from 2002 – present