China Focus is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s China Focus Essay Contest jointly hosted by China Focus at The Carter Center, Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China, the 1990 Institute, The Carter Center, and the 21st Century China Center. The contest accepted both Chinese and English submissions. The two winners of the contest were awarded $1,000 and the four runner-up participants were awarded $500.
Contest participants had a choice between two prompts.
Topic 1: China has positioned itself as a potential mediator in conflicts like the Russo-Ukrainian War and the conflicts in the Middle-East. How would you define China’s track record in its mediation? Evaluate Chinese success so far and the geopolitical implications and potential obstacles surrounding China’s newfound role as an international mediator.
Topic 2: The U.S. and China have had an ongoing exchange of students and migrants for years as a product of increasingly globalized education and labor markets. How does the flow of U.S.-Chinese populations influence U.S.-China relations? To what extent can these population flows and ensuing people-to-people ties help to stabilize the relationship?
Award winners granted China Focus and co-sponsors the right to publish their essays on their respective platforms or in their publications. Read the winning essays below.
Winning Essays (English)
Jimmy Carter Prize Winner: Unable or Unwilling? The Self-Imposed Limits of Chinese Conflict Mediation by Leonardo Bruni
1990 Institute Prize Runner-Up: Kingdom in the Middle: China as an International Mediator by Payton Morlock
1990 Institute Prize Runner-Up: The Future of U.S.-China Educational Exchange by Mustapha Dukuly
Winning Essays (Chinese)
1990 Institute Prize Winner: 重建中美人文交流–一个亲历者的思考 by LIN Jiawen (林佳文)
Jimmy Carter Prize Runner-Up: 积极有为且有所不为–中国作为中东冲突潜在“调停者” by LI Sining (李思凝)
Jimmy Carter Prize Runner-Up: 参与冲突调停的中国–积极而有限的调停者角色 by XIE Yuchuan (谢玉川)