Professor Prasenjit Duara appears in episode of “Mapping Global China Conversations”

In an episode of Mapping Global China Conversations, Professor Maria Adele Carrai spoke with renowned historian Professor Prasenjit Duara, Oscar Tang Chair of East Asian Studies and director of APSI (on leave, FA25), about the deeper logics behind China’s global rise. 

Over the course of a conversation that ranged from civilizational discourse and ecological civilization to digital infrastructure and financialization, Professor Duara offered valuable perspective on how China’s growing influence both mirrors and diverges from past empires. 

Drawing on decades of comparative insight and critical reflection, he explored how power today operates through technology, narratives of shared destiny, and moral claims of transcendence.

Topics of discussion included:

• Global China through a Historian’s Lens – How do deep civilizational narratives shape contemporary Chinese policy?
• Civilizational Discourse or Soft Power? – Rhetoric, cultural diplomacy, and the failure of the Confucius Institute model.
• Ecological Civilization – Genuine ethical commitment or instrumental global branding?
• From Soft Power to Digital Power – Can TikTok, Huawei, and smart infrastructure become tools of ideological influence?
• Debt, Infrastructure, and Control – Is China’s financial model a new kind of empire or a realist adaptation to global constraints?
• A New Mode of Hegemony – How does technological dependence challenge traditional ideas of sovereignty?

Watch the full interview:

About the project

The Mapping Global China project provides maps, datasets, and research on Chinese overseas engagement, including but not limited to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Its goal is to provide the public with a more comprehensive understanding of Global China’s past, present and future alongside its geopolitical, normative, economic and environmental impact. Our website contains the most comprehensive dataset of China-financed projects to date.

Using Geographic Information System Mapping, the map aims to better understand Global China and its economic, legal, environmental, and political impacts. It relies on collected project information from Reconnecting Asia Project Database, AIDDATA GeoQuery, Boston University Global China Dataset, the Australian Strategic Policy/International Cyber Policy Center, and projects collected by NYU Shanghai in collaboration with SIGNAL.