The World Forum on China Studies, co-sponsored by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China and the Shanghai Municipal Government, is a high-end academic event jointly organized by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Municipal Information Office. This is an open international forum dedicated to reflecting on global challenges while fostering an informed understanding of China. Scholars of the China studies community worldwide are gathered biennially to engage in face-to-face communications, sharing their latest achievements in China studies and strengthening the friendly ties between China and the rest of the world.

The World Forum on China Studies, founded in 2004, has so far convened four times. The previous four forums focused primarily on highlighting the traditional Chinese culture for its application to the current-day agenda. “Harmony”, as a core value in Chinese culture, became a key word cutting through all the previous events. In addressing themes like “harmony but not uniformity”, “harmony in peace”, “harmony in cooperation”, and “harmony for common prosperity”, forum participants drew upon the perspectives and productions of China studies for interpreting the contemporary development in China, and for exploring its implications for the international community in the 21st century.

The first four forums made very positive influence within and beyond the academic community. Over one thousand scholars from around the world attended the heated discussions during the forums, with their panoramic viewpoints extensively covered by nearly one hundred major media, both Chinese and overseas. Key-note speakers of the forums have included Wofgang Clement, Hussein Elkamel, Daisaku Ikeda, Justin Yifu Lin, Lawrence Zunyi Liu, Nicholas Platt, David Shambaugh, Tan Chung, Mikhail Titarenko, Patricia Uberoi, Ezra Volgel, Shahid Yusuf, Zheng Yongnian, etc.