President Richard Nixon using chopsticks during a banquet with Premier Zhou Enlai (L) of the People's Republic of China on Feb. 26, 1972. (White House Photo Office Collection – Nixon Administration/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute’s Asia for Educators (AFE) program is pleased to announce its Asian Topic Discussions series for Spring 2026. An eight-week series, The Historical Background to US-China Relations will look at 150 years of US-China relations through the lens of critical historical issues while also addressing ways to teach this history.
Asian Topic Discussions are live interactive webinars for teachers at all levels who want to enhance their understanding of East Asian history, art, and literature and explore new ways of presenting this material in the classroom.
America’s relationship with China has a long and complex history, but it hasn’t always been so fraught as it is now. A key to understanding current tensions is to know how we got here, and to see how issues like trade, religion, colonialism, nationalism, and domestic pressures matter, both then and now. This series will explore the last century and a half, from the Opium Wars through the Cold War and up to the present, via weekly one-hour webinars hosted by China experts. Each speaker will give a short overview (approximately 30 minutes) on a specific topic and then, in the session's second half-hour, facilitate a conversation about how to teach that topic in part or in whole.
Participants in each webinar are asked to review select materials, usually short presentations from AFE’s Video from Asian Topics, before each session. A list of review materials appears on each of the webinar pages linked to further down on this page.
All sessions are free and held via Zoom on Tuesday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00 pm ET.
The Historical Background to US-China Relations
Spring 2026 Schedule
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27
19th Century: Opium, Missionaries, and War
With John Pomfret, former Washington Post China Bureau Chief
Learn more and register
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10
20th Century: Nationalists, Communists, and US Involvement
With Rana Mitter, Harvard Kennedy School S.T. Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations
Learn more and register
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17
The Cold War and Nixon’s China Trip
With Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science
Learn more and register
TUESDAY, MARCH 3
The One China Policy and Taiwan
With Julian Gewirtz, IGP Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University; former Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs at the White House National Security Council
Learn more and register
TUESDAY, MARCH 17
Chinese Security Issues
With Thomas J. Christensen, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations; Director, China and the World Program, Columbia University
Learn more and register
TUESDAY, MARCH 31
Domestic Pressures Within China
With Xiaobo Lü, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science, Barnard College
Learn more and register
TUESDAY, APRIL 14
Competition, Trade Disputes, Demonization
With Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Institute for Global Politics Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University; Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Learn more and register
TUESDAY, APRIL 28
US Allies: Japan and South Korea and Their Impact on US-China Relations
With Thomas J. Christensen, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations; Director, China and the World Program, Columbia University
Learn more and register
Professional development hours are available for teachers who participate in AFE programs. Click here for more information about Weatherhead’s Asia for Educators program.
