Established in January 2011, China Crossroads is a student-run group based in the Boston community.
Our primary missions are:
1) Serving as a platform upon which to exchange perspectives and bridge gaps in understanding China’s development; and
2) Provoking critical and creative thinking and generate collective intelligence on the mutual prosperity of China and the world.
• Why are we starting the group?
The world is increasingly being driven and shaped by developing countries. China, now the second-largest economy in the world, has spearheaded this paradigm shift. At this important moment however, there exist gaps in understanding China’s development among Chinese and non-Chinese in the world. Questions, such as “how we are going to create a sustainable path for China’s development when little reference can be drawn from the history and the rest of the world", are as perplexing to Chinese as those such as “how we should make sense of 'China phenomenon'” are to non-Chinese. Instead of sitting down together and making in-depth conversations, either side attempts to answer their questions based on their own knowledge and views, which leads to divergence towards the understanding of China’s development.
We believe such gaps are undesirable on our way to the mutual prosperity of China and the world. Both groups need to build trustworthy relationship and work closely together to shape our shared future. Thoughts and ideas from both sides are imperatively needed to address the awareness of a rising China and facilitate mutual understanding, especially among students here in the Boston area, who are among prospective future leaders of the world.
The founders are a group of graduate students at MIT born and brought up in China, two of which are from the Technology and Policy program. We have the knowledge and passion to initiate exchange and debate over thoughts and ideas from concerned individuals in the Boston community, and encourage critical thinking on China’s development.
• What are the typical events that we hold?
1) Biweekly Forum. We hold biweekly discussion on a chosen topic on China’s development, in order to exchange and debate over thoughts and ideas within participants. We aim at around a well-balanced group of 15 attendees for each discussion to ensure effective and efficient communication. For example, we held a discussion on social media recently at an Edgerton apartment. We had 12 students from various countries and departments in the forum and gained meaningful insights from different, or even conflicting perspectives. Before the discussion, members had read relevant materials and worked out a discussion outline. We make minutes of biweekly forums available to the public.
2) Participatory Panel Discussion. We hold participatory panel discussion once every two months, with an audience of 50-80 people, in order to exchange, debate over thoughts and ideas among a broader community and expand the impact to a larger scope. Four to five members will constitute a panel expressing their points of views fostered in biweekly forums, while 2-3 non-member guests (such as visiting Chinese officials, professors from universities in the Boston area, or those with strong views about China) on another panel. After each participatory panel discussion, we produce a report and make it available to the public.
• Who are the audience?
We welcome anyone in the Boston community who care about the future development of China, who want to understand the roles China is going to play in the future world, or simply who hold a general interest towards China.