”The Role of United States-educated Students in China’s United States Policy during the Republican Period: A Case Study of Wellington Koo”

please join us for a lecture with:

Jin Guangyao, Professor, Department of History, and Director, International Center for Studies of Chinese Civilization, Fudan University

Moderated by:

Eugenia Lean, Director, Weatherhead East Asian Institute; Associate Professor of Chinese history, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University

United States-educated students had an impact on China’s foreign policy-making during the Republican era, especially with respect to China’s United States policy.  Wellington V. K. Koo was an eminent example of this group. In 1912, Koo, with a newly awarded doctorate from Columbia University, returned to China and was appointed President Yuan Shikai’s English interpreter and a secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thus launching his career as a diplomat. He served as ambassador to the United States, Britain, and France, as well as Chinese Representative in the League of Nations and the United Nations. He was also appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by both the Peking and the Guomindang governments. His career encompassed almost all important events of diplomacy during the Republican period. This talk aims to shed light on the roles Koo played in shaping China’s United States policy.

About the Speaker:

Jin Guangyao is a professor in the Department of History, and also the director of the International Center for Studies of Chinese Civilization at Fudan University. Professor Jin was a visiting scholar at Columbia University (1997-1998). Professor Jin’s main research focuses on the history of China’s foreign relations, especially the diplomatic history of Republican China, and recently on the history of contemporary China, especially the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai and the Sent-Down Youth Movement. His academic works includes “A Biography of Wellington Koo”, “A History of the Republic of China”, Volume 10 (co-author), “Educated Youth Tribe: 10000 Shanghai People in Huangshan Mount” (co-author). He also edited “Wellington Koo and Chinese diplomacy ” and “The Diplomacy in the Period of the Northern Warlords” (eds.). He published dozens of papers in Chinese Social Science, Historical Researches and other academic journals.

This is a Weatherhead East Asian Institute Lectures and Panels event.