Peter Hessler (Chinese: 何伟)

American writer of narrative nonfiction and the author of four books about China, including his “China Trilogy”: —River Town (Kiriyama Prize), Oracle Bones (National Book Award finalist), and Country Driving—and Other Rivers: A Chinese Education (2024). Most of his subjects reflected two key social dynamics of this era: the mass migration from the countryside to cities, and the tens of millions of Chinese individuals who had known poverty but were now becoming members of the new middle class. Beginning in 2011, three of Hessler’s books were published in editions for mainland China and have been tanslated into fourteen languages. He graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in English and received a Rhodes Scholarship to study English language and literature at Mansfield College, University of Oxford. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2011.

Zhixin Wan

Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Zhixin’s research focuses on the social inclusion of disabled people in China. She previously earned an M.A. in International Journalism from Tsinghua University and a B.A. in English from Jiangxi Normal University.

Ryan Yan

Ph.D. candidate in Psychology at Stanford University. Ryan Holds an MSc in Clinical & Therapeutic Neuroscience and an MSc (Res) in Psychiatry from University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and a B.S. in Applied Psychology from Nanjing University.

Michael A. Szonyi (Chinese: 宋怡明)

Michael Szonyi is Professor of Chinese History and former Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. He is a social historian of late imperial and modern China. His research focuses on the local history of southeast China, from the Ming dynasty to the twenty-first century, using a combination of traditional textual sources and ethnographic-style fieldwork. His books include The Art of Being Governed (Princeton, 2017), Cold War Island, Practicing Kinship, and A Companion to Chinese History. Szonyi received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Xiaorui Zhou

Ph.D. candidate in History at Harvard University. Xiaorui holds a B.A. in history and Middle Eastern studies from National University of Singapore and Sciences Po, an MSt in History and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She works on women’s history during the Second Sino-Japanese War, focusing on wartime relief work and ordinary women’s experiences of upheaval and mobilisation.

Dominic Barton (Chinese: 鲍达民)

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rio Tinto. Dominic spent over 30 years at McKinsey & Company, including 9 years as the Global Managing Partner, and has also held a broad range of public sector leadership positions. He has served as Canada’s Ambassador to China, Chair of Canada’s Advisory Council for Economic Growth, and Chair of the International Advisory Committee to the President of South Korea on National Future and Vision. Barton brings a wealth of global business experience, including deep insight of geopolitics, corporate sustainability and governance.

Brian Wong

HKU-100 Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong and Non-Resident Honorary Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute Center. Brian's research examines the ethics and dynamics of authoritarian regimes and their foreign policies, historical and colonial injustices, and the intersection of geopolitics, political and moral philosophy, and technology. Brian regularly briefs prominent multinational corporations, hedge funds, family offices, and investors on macro risks in emerging markets across Asia and Europe. Brian holds a DPhil in Politics, an MPhil in Political Theory (Distinction), and an MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (First) from the University of Oxford as a Kowk Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar.

Charlie Wang

J.D. candidate at Yale Law School. Charlie previously earned an MSc in Social Data Science from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, an MPhil in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge, and a B.S. in International Economics from Georgetown University. He was also a 2022 Schwarzman Scholar in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University. Charlie's research interests center on U.S.–China technology competition, with a focus on how geopolitics, economic interdependence, and legal frameworks shape the governance of emerging technologies.

Jake Sullivan

Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Senior Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. He was the 28th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2021 to January 2025. In the Obama Administration, he served as National Security Advisor to then-Vice President Biden, Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He holds a B.A. in political science and international studies from Yale College; an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Duo Yi

Ph.D. student at Harvard Kennedy School. Before Harvard, Duo received an M.Phil in Evidience-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation at University of Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, and an LL.B. in International Relations from Peking University. Duo's research focuses on public opinion, China’s foreign policy, and U.S.–China relations.

Charlie Wang

J.D. candidate at Yale Law School. Charlie previously earned an MSc in Social Data Science from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, an MPhil in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge, and a B.S. in International Economics from Georgetown University. He was also a 2022 Schwarzman Scholar in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University. Charlie's research interests center on U.S.–China technology competition, with a focus on how geopolitics, economic interdependence, and legal frameworks shape the governance of emerging technologies.