The Cornell Contemporary China Initiative (CCCI), housed in the East Asia Program, will host its last speaker of the fall semester Nov. 16, at 4:30 p.m. in Kaufmann Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Basile Zimmermann, assistant professor of Chinese studies at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, will speak on “Waves and Forms: Electronic Music Devices and Computer Encodings in China.” The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology Studies.

CCCI, which was inaugurated last year, has brought scholarship and media on China to Cornell through a weekly lecture series and makes them available via CornellCast. A one-credit undergraduate course is keyed to the lecture series.

In its two-semester run, the CCCI Lecture Series has invited speakers including professors, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, lawyers, journalists, authors and musicians to give public talks on interdisciplinary issues about contemporary Chinese history, arts, economy, politics and society.

“Our goal is to draw together researchers and students from across all colleges at Cornell who have a serious interest in aspects of contemporary Chinese society, economy, politics and culture, including specialists in areas traditionally not represented in such discussions, to see what sorts of new insights and research agendas might emerge," said Robin McNeal, associate professor in Asian studies and director of the East Asia Program. "The scope and scale of social change in China right now is unprecedented in human history, and students and scholars representing a wide range of disciplines and interests have a lot to share with and learn from each other.”

CCCI has facilitated the creation of two new courses and is developing five more, set to debut within the next two years. It plans to launch an inaugural student symposium in April 2016 to serve as a platform for undergraduate and graduate students and critical discussion about the field of contemporary China studies.

The CCCI Lectures Series will continue to run on Monday afternoons next semester, with speakers such as Leta Hong-Fincher (March 7), whose research on China’s “leftover women” has been featured in major news outlets, and Wu Man (April 11), a world-renowned Chinese pipa musician who will give a CCCI talk after her performance for the Cornell Concert Series.

All CCCI events are free, open to the public and sponsored by the East Asia Program and an internationalization grant administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Nguyet Tong, M.A. ’14, is coordinator of the Contemporary China Initiative.