2021 Berggruen China Annual Report

While international borders remain largely closed in 2021 and our life has been subject to unpredictable lockdowns and social distancing policies, we managed to continue our programming activities and launch several new projects.

Here are the fun ways to “read” our 2021 annual report:

Option 1, watch this video,2 minutes for a whole year’s activities

Option 2, download the full text reports: 

English

https://www.berggruen.org/work/berggruen-china-center/2021-annual-report/

中文

https://www.berggruen.org.cn/common/2021%20BICC%20Annual%20Report%20CN.pdf

Option 3, read this great summary below

Frontier Sciences, 

Technologies，and Philosophy

Symbiosis in Life Sciences and the Notion of 

Gong Sheng in Eastern Philosophies

To learn more about the project：

https://berggruen.org.cn/activity/54

The project explores the intellectual connotations and contemporary value of symbiosis and co-existence from various fields, including philosophy, sociology, economics, and global governance. We held two workshops in 2021, entitled "Symbiosis: Perspectives of Life Science and Philosophy" and “Symbiosis and Gong Sheng: Conceptions, Meanings, and Construction.”

Science Fiction and 

Philosophy—An Encounter in the Future

Go to this page for more details of 2021 workshop:

https://www.berggruen.org/activity/science-fiction-and-philosophy-an-encounter-in-the-future/

Since its birth, science fiction is a philosophical proposition of the times. What used to remain only at the philosophical level becomes realistic, palpable, and concrete under the pen. This project taps into the philosophical thinking in science fiction narratives to help us better understand human beings in the midst of change.

Frontier Technologies and Society

Imagining Futures

Read the project report to know more about the first workshop in 2021:

https://www.berggruen.org/activity/imagining-futures/

The project invites scientists, philosophers, social science experts, writers, and artists to imagine futures and project scenarios of human society over the next thirty years. We hope to promote evidence-based and future-oriented philosophical and ethical thinking.

Forum on the Ethics of 

Artificial Intelligence from a Global Perspective

Go to this page for more details of 2021 forum:

https://www.berggruen.org/activity/ethics-in-digital-governance-forum-on-the-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-from-a-global-perspective/

The Center co-hosts the forum with the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence at the association's annual Global Artificial Intelligence Technology Conference. The forum aims to stimulate in-depth discussions on ethical and philosophical issues brought by the development of AI technology among developers, industry leaders, policy researchers, and philosophers.

Transformation of Governance

What is Tianxia?

Go to this page for more details of the 2021 conference:

https://www.berggruen.org/activity/tianxia-in-comparative-perspective-alternative-models-of-geopolitical-order/

Tianxia (All-under-Heaven) is a worldview with roots in Chinese philosophy and history

that proposes inclusiveness, mutuality, interdependence, and relationality in global

affairs. The second international conference was held in April 2021, and broadened

the discussion to “Tianxia in Comparative Perspective: Alternative Models of

Geopolitical Order.”

Global Thinkers Series

Understanding the Sinic Civilization in World History

Tap the poster to watch the video.

Held on August 19, the second event of the Series invited Professor Wang Gungwu,

historian and sinologist, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, for a

conversation on“Understanding the Sinic Civilization in World History.”

Berggruen Seminar Series

Four events were held in 2021 focusing on topics including “Heritable Human Genome Editing: The Consensus of the International Science Community,” “Is Technology a Smart Drug?” “Challenges Posed by Big Data on the Foundation of Scientific Thinking,” and “A Probabilistic World View via Applied Mathematics.”

Go to this page for more details of these discussions: 

https://www.berggruen.org/activity/ 

Books Published in 2021

All under Heaven: The Tianxia System for a Possible World Order (English version) by the Center’s senior fellow Zhao Tingyang was published in June 2021 by the University of California Press

Intelligence and Wisdom: AI Meets Chinese Philosophers (abridged English version) was published in September 2021 by Springer. 

Out of the Anthropocene:

Philosophical Musings on the

Relationship between Humanity

and Nature (Chinese version) was published in November by CITIC Press

Social Robots: Boundaries, Potential, Challenges (Chinese translation) was published as the first book of the Berggruen translation series in November by Peking University Press

Since its launch in 2020, Ruiⁿ  has published 93 articles covering reviews of ideas, academic observations, and commentaries, focusing on six themes: Philosophy and Ideas, Art and Technology, Digital Society, Ecological Crisis, Geopolitics, and Science and Humanity.

2021-2022 Berggruen Fellows

The Center welcomed 

a new cohort of Fellows (in alphabetical order):

Chen Haidan

Bioethicist

Chen Xiaoping

AI Engineer

Ge Jianqiao

Brain Scientist

Li Chenjian

Physician Scientist

Liu Xiaoli

Philosopher

Zhang Xianglong

Philosopher

Team

The Center bid farewell to its first employee — Shelley Hu, who has embarked on a PhD program in environmental economics. We welcomed Sun Xinwei, our new program coordinator, to the team.

Team members (in hair length order)

Tian Xinyuan

Senior Program Coordinator

Jennifer Bourne

Associate Director

Sun Xinwei

Program Coordinator

Song Bing

Co-Director

Xiang Qun

Office Manager

Li Xiaojiao

Associate Director

Zhan Yiwen

Researcher 

Liu Zhe

Co-Director

Li He

Chief Content Officer

The fantastic team of interns

Sun Yimeng

Intern

Lan Tianmeng

Intern

Jin Young Lim

Intern

Li Zhilin

Intern

We wish you all a healthy and active winter ahead. 

Look forward to a roaring year of the Tiger in 2022!

The Berggruen Research Center,

 Peking University

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我们生活在一个充满伟大变革的时代。通过搭建全球对话平台、推动跨文化交流、促进学术与思想创新、打造新型治理政策，博古睿研究院致力于增进人类对这个变革时代的深度理解，培养和发展新的思想和理念，助力全球各机构、政策制定者以及公众应对影响人类的深刻变化。