
Pekingology
China has emerged as one of the 21st century’s most consequential nations, making it more important than ever to understand how the country is governed. True to the name Pekingology, or the study of the political behavior of the People’s Republic of China, this podcast aims to unpack the behavior of the Chinese Communist Party and implications these actions have within China and for U.S.-China relations. Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, is joined by various experts to analyze the activities of the Chinese governing system and how these impact the complex relationships relating to China.
Latest episodes

May 6, 2021 • 35min
Ideology Matters
In this week’s episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by Jason Wu, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, to discuss his work mapping the substance and spectrum of ideology in China.

Apr 22, 2021 • 33min
The Strength of a Weak Organization
In this week’s episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by Jérôme Doyon, a Departmental Lecturer on Contemporary Chinese Studies at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, to discuss his research on the evolving role of the Communist Youth League as a "path to power" within China's elite political networks.

Apr 8, 2021 • 44min
Fragmented Authoritarianism in Xi's China
In this week's episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Jessica Teets, an Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at Middlebury College, to discuss her work on China's evolving governance system.

Mar 25, 2021 • 42min
Provincial Power in a Centralizing China
In this week's episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Yeling Tan, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon and Kyle Jaros, an Associate Professor of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. They discuss the critical -- and surprising -- role that provinces play in China's economic policymaking and development. Despite Xi Jinping's centralizing tendencies, provincial governments are as important as ever.

Mar 11, 2021 • 41min
Ideology and Law in Xi Jinping's China
In this episode, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette talks with Rogier Creemers, an Associate Professor in the Law and Governance of China at Leiden University, about the role ideology plays in China's evolving legal and governance system.

Feb 25, 2021 • 30min
Stock Markets with Authoritarian Characteristics
In this week’s episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by John Yasuda, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University to discuss his research on the development of China's financial and equity markets, and how these intersect with Beijing's political priorities.

Feb 11, 2021 • 43min
Grand Steerage
In this week's episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Andrew Polk of Trivium China and Barry Naughton, the So Kwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs at UC San Diego, to discuss Beijing's evolving theory and praxis towards managing its economic and financial systems.

Jan 28, 2021 • 38min
The New Realities of Party-State Capitalism in China
On this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette explores the evolving nature of Chinese state capitalism with Meg Rithmire, the F. Warren McFarlan Associate Professor at Harvard Business School.

Jan 21, 2021 • 38min
Does Xi Jinping Face a Coup Threat?
In this episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by Yale University's Dan Mattingly to discuss his new working paper, "How the Party Commands the Gun: Coups, Revolts, and the Military in China." In it, Dan leverages a new dataset of over 10,000 appointments in the PLA to explore how Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping, manage the possibility of coups through personnel appointments.

Jan 7, 2021 • 49min
Statistics and State-Building in Mao's China
How did communist ideology affect state-building efforts in the early PRC? How and why does the current CCP leadership view statistics through the lens of politics? In this episode, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Arunabh Ghosh, an associate professor of Modern Chinese History at Harvard University to discuss his new book, Making it Count: Statistics and Statecraft in the Early People's Republic of China.
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