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Explore our most popular research, commentary, and events.
From Harvard Square to Hanoi, the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia addresses some of the region’s most intractable public policy challenges. From timely research to analysis on major regional events, this semester, we continued our work to deepen understanding of the region, explore possibilities for innovation, and advance important initiatives that will affect millions of lives in Asia.
We encourage you to explore a selection of our most popular events and insights from the past semester below. Looking to 2024, we invite you to join us for our public discussion series starting again in January. You can find our latest programs and insights here as well as upcoming events online here.
Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order
By Börje Ljunggren and Dwight Perkins, June 2023
This book focuses on how the country’s governance shapes its politics, economy, social development, and relations with the outside world, as well as on the reforms required if Vietnam is to become a sustainable and modern high-income nation in the coming decades.
China’s Most Generous: Examining Trends in Contemporary Chinese Philanthropy (2020 Update)
Edward Cunningham and Yunxin Li, August 2023
This report on elite philanthropy presents the latest findings from the Harvard Kennedy School Rajawali Foundation Institute’s China Philanthropy Project and provides insight into current trends among China’s major donors and recipients.
Institutional Change and Adaptive Efficiency: A Study of China’s Hukou System Evolution
By Tony Saich and Kunling Zhang, December 2023
This book reframes the approach of neo-institutional economics to analyze institutions’ role and evolution, focusing on the interaction between the household registration (hukou) system evolution and economic transformation.
Semiconductors and Geopolitics Symposium: The Future of the Global Semiconductor Industry
September 2023
Featuring Edward Cunningham, director of the China programs at the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia; Tony Saich, director of the Rajawali Foundation Institue for Asia; and Joseph Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus
Book Talk: Vietnam — Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order
September 2023
Featuring Börje Ljunggren, associate at Harvard University’s Asia Center; Fredrik Logevall, Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Professor of History; Xuan Thanh Nguyen, Vietnam Program Fellow, Rajawali Institute Foundation for Asia; and Dwight Perkins, Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, Harvard University
Book Talk – The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy
October 2023
Featuring Tony Saich, director of the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia, and author Suisheng Zhao
AAPI Economic Prosperity: Building Strong Communities and Thriving Small Businesses Panel
October 2023
Featuring Jason Doo, chef and owner of Wusong Road; and Qingjian Shi, first-ever Director of the Asian Business Empowerment Council with the Boston Foundation
During his historic visit to Hanoi, President Biden helped deliver a trove of research uncovered by the Rajawali Institute’s Unseens Legacies of the Vietnam War team that documents the possible fate of hundreds of Vietnamese soldiers who went missing in action during the Vietnam War. Read more here.
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The second day of Fifty Years On: New Perspectives on the Vietnam Wars continued the conversations from Day One, exploring the wars’ lasting global and human impact. Building on the first day’s scholarship and personal reflections, Day Two featured three panels and a final roundtable. A first article covers Day One.
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The first day of the Fifty Years On: New Perspectives on the Vietnam Wars conference presented new scholarship and firsthand reflections that expanded how the Vietnam Wars are remembered and studied. Scholars, veterans, and practitioners examined the conflict from multiple perspectives, centering Vietnamese and other international voices often missing from traditional narratives. A second article covers Day Two.
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Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, the panel “Vietnamese Diaspora: The Ongoing Journey of Conflict and Reconciliation,” highlighted personal and intergenerational experiences of loss, resilience, and renewal, offering insight into how the Vietnam Wars continue to shape Vietnamese communities today.