As part of an overall strategic review, the Rockefeller Foundation asked the National Committee to help it look at how China’s emergence affects the foundation’s strategies and goals.

The China Project is an ongoing series of seminars and discussions begun in 2005 with the aim of providing the Foundation staff an opportunity to examine the global and regional impacts of China’s rise and its implications for Foundation programming around the world. The focus is on issues the Foundation staff identified as important to their programmatic goals.

The Project’s first session was a day-long series of discussions at the Foundation’s headquarters in April, 2005, exploring the evolution of China into the world’s fastest growing economy, and the political, social as well as economic challenges it faces along the way. It was followed by a second session in July of that year, concentrating on the impact of China’s rise internationally and particularly on developing countries. The third session, in September, examined issues relating to China’s science, technology, and innovation.

In addition to the three major seminars, The China Project has also featured occasional lunch or dinner sessions on a range of topics. The most recent activity was assisting the Foundation in editing and producing Current Status of and Future Prospects for Sino-African Cooperation, a report on Chinese attitudes toward Africa.