Big Data China

Big Data China is a collaboration between the CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics and the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI). The initiative aims to reduce the gap between academia and Washington by identifying and highlighting the policy implications of cutting-edge scholarly work on China.

Big Data China bridges the gap between cutting-edge quantitative academic research and the Washington policy community. Critical, data-backed trends on China’s economy and society that are important to the country’s trajectory, the United States, and the rest of the world should inform the thinking of policymakers and stakeholders. Yet sophisticated methodologies and academic terminology make scholarly work inaccessible to outsiders, including decisionmakers in Washington. Through regular multimedia features, written analysis, and public events, Big Data China identifies, analyzes, and introduces top scholarly research on China and then teases out the most relevant findings for today’s policy issues.

Visit the Big Data China website for regularly updated content.

This project is made possible by generous funding from Stanford University.

All Big Data China Content

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The Big Data China 2nd Annual Conference: A Recap

Scott Kennedy and Matt Barocas summarize the keynote and panels of our second annual Big Data China conference. The recap also includes transcripts and important video excerpts.

Commentary by Scott Kennedy and Matthew Barocas — January 2, 2024

Chinese State Media Abroad: More Effective than Expected

Over the past two decades, China has become an increasingly active and important international actor. The country is a global power on the diplomatic stage and increasing numbers of Chinese citizens, businesses, and government officials are shaping China’s image abroad. However, Chinese leaders may be discovering that global influence does not always correlate with popularity….

Commentary — March 16, 2023

Can Chinese Firms Be Truly Private?

As China’s economy moved away from state planning and policymakers introduced market reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, many observers expected that in addition to promoting the growth of the Chinese economy, privatization would also have substantial political implications.

Commentary by Scott Kennedy and Ilaria Mazzocco — February 7, 2023

Governance by Data: How China’s Party-State Keeps Its Pulse on the People 

The 20th Party Congress in Beijing in November highlighted just how much power Xi Jinping and his closest allies have concentrated in their hands. Control is more centralized than ever, and surveillance is ubiquitous in China. While these trends have consolidated the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) power and further reduced public opposition, such a system…

Commentary by Ilaria Mazzocco — December 21, 2022

How U.S.-China Tensions Have Hurt American Science

There is a growing concern in Washington that the United States government, its companies, and universities have helped drive the rapid growth of China’s high-tech sector to the detriment of America’s overall national interest. Accusations of intellectual property (IP) theft and state-sponsored industrial espionage by China have loomed large in the bilateral relationship. These concerns…

Commentary by Ilaria Mazzocco and Qin (Maya) Mei — December 9, 2022

The China Shock: Reevaluating the Debate

As the U.S.- China relationship continues to deteriorate, the role of trade has come under increasing scrutiny. Commercial exchanges between the two countries used to be the ballast of the relationship. Trade was understood to benefit both countries economically and helped reduce tensions on political and strategic issues. Over the past decade, this has changed…

Commentary by Scott Kennedy and Ilaria Mazzocco — October 14, 2022

Doing Fieldwork in China: Evolution and Prospects

Field research over the last four decades has been critical to increasing the world’s understanding of China. There are many other research methods including careful reading of documents and the media, surveys, databases, scraping websites, satellite imagery, but field research provides unique learning opportunities. One would be hard-pressed to legitimately call someone who rarely if…

Commentary by Scott Kennedy and Ilaria Mazzocco — August 29, 2022

The AI-Surveillance Symbiosis in China: A Big Data China Event

The CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics and the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) launch the third feature of the new collaboration, Big Data China, on July 27 at 12 p.m. EST. 

Transcript — August 18, 2022

Why “Big Data China” Is Needed More Than Ever

Scott Kennedy, Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at CSIS, and Scott Rozelle, Co-Director of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, discuss Big Data China, a new project aimed at bridging the gap between cutting-edge academic research on China and the Washington policy community.

Commentary — August 12, 2022