Modern China Lecture Series resumes on Feb. 11 with author Stephen J. Harnett

A talk by Stephen J. Harnett, author of “The Lost Chance in China and the Rise of Cold War Populism,” will kick off the Modern China Lecture Series’ spring 2026 slate of programs at Cal State San Bernardino.

Harnett’s presentation, free and open to the public, will take place beginning at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 11 in-person in room CE-104 in the James R. Watson and Judy Rodgriuez Watson College of Education. It can also be accessed on Zoom. 

The spring slate of programs are the latest in the series that began in January 2014.

"The six events in this spring slate will feature a range of experts, from the history of U.S.-China relations, to gender history in Taiwan, to disability history of Hong Kong, to modern labor and political history,” said Jeremy Murray, the series organizer and CSUSB professor of history. “We will have a limited number of books to give away at some of these events, and all are welcome to join via the hybrid format, either on Zoom or in CE-104. There may be more events added to the slate, since these themes are very current in an era of great flux in geopolitics and U.S.-China relations."

Harnett is also a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado, Denver, whose areas of expertise include globalization, social justice and civic engagement. His latest book, “The Lost Chance in China and the Rise of Cold War Populism,” released in 2025, is, according the publisher, “a rollicking retelling of the fate of America’s diplomats stationed in China during World War II and the start of the Chinese Civil War, documenting how their efforts to find peace in China clashed with the anti-Communist network of right-wing advocates known as the China Lobby.”

He also is the author of 10 other books, including “A World of Turmoil: The United States, China, and Taiwan in the Long Cold War,” published in 2021, and the coedited “Imagining China: Rhetorics of Nationalism in an Age of Globalization,” published in 2017, along with a number of articles on U.S.-China-Taiwan relations for various periodicals. 

Also scheduled for the spring semester:

• March 18, 2:30 p.m., Fang Yu Hu (history, Cal Poly Pomona), author of "Good Wife, Wise Mother: Educating Han Taiwanese Girls under Japanese Rule." A hybrid event, it will take place in-person in the Watson College of Education room CE-104 and on Zoom.
• March 25, 2:30 p.m., Angelina Chin (history, Pomona College), on “Labor, Colonial Welfare, and Disability: Blind Factory Workers in Hong Kong.” Registration and Zoom link coming soon.
• April 13, 2:30 p.m., William J. Vogt, author of "Foundations of the Chinese Internet: Calculations, Concepts, Culture." A hybrid event, it will take place in-person in the Watson College of Education room CE-104 and on Zoom.
• April 20, 2:30 p.m., Judd Kinzley (history, University of Wisconsin, Madison), author of "Uneasy Allies: Sino-American Relations at the Grassroots, 1937-1949." A hybrid event, it will take place in-person in the Watson College of Education room CE-104 and on Zoom.
• April 27, 2:30 p.m., Dorothy Solinger (political science, UC Irvine), author of "Poverty and Pacification: The Chinese State Abandons the Old Working Class." A hybrid event, it will take place in-person in the Watson College of Education room CE-104 and on Zoom.

The Modern China Lecture Series was initiated to promote awareness of important issues related to China for those on the CSUSB campus and in the community. Since then, it has presented more than 100 lectures, workshops, film screenings and roundtable forums featuring China scholars from UC San Diego, UC Riverside, the Claremont Colleges, UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Columbia, Oxford and other institutions, who have visited the CSUSB campus or joined via video conference to share their expertise and opinions.

Recordings of previous lectures are archived on the CSUSB Modern China Lecture Series channel on YouTube.

The lecture series is supported by Pamela Crosson and the CSUSB Department of History, the CSUSB President’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Board, and Lucy Li and the YOURS (Yotie Oso Undergraduate Retention and Success) AANHPI Student Achievement Program.

For more information, contact Jeremy Murray, CSUSB professor of history, at jmurray@csusb.edu, and visit the Modern China Lecture Series website for information on upcoming events and updates.