Co-hosted by Royal Asiatic Society, Beijing (RASBJ), Yale Club of Beijing, and Yale Center Beijing. This talk is part of the Greenberg Distinguished Colloquium.
Event Time
Eastern Standard Time
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
6:00-7:15
Beijing Time
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
19:00-20:15
Registration
18:30-19:00
Presentation and Q&A
19:00-20:15
Location
Yale Center Beijing
36th Floor Tower B of IFC Building 8 Jianguomenwai Avenue Chaoyang District, Beijing (Yong'anli Subway Station, Exit C)
Registration and Fees
· In-Person Participation
Please click “HERE” to register. Please send an email to yalecenterbeijing@yale.edu if there are any problems.
Ticket (In-Person): RMB 200 for RASBJ members, and members of Yale community; RMB 300 for regular admission.
*The registration fee is non-refundable. Unless due to a force majeure reason, Yale Center Beijing will not refund any part of the registration fee if a participant fails to attend the event.
Walk-ins will not be accepted.
The event will be in English.
Note: Seats are available on a first-come-first-served basis.
· Online Participation
Please click “HERE” to register. Please send an email to yalecenterbeijing@yale.edu if there are any problems.
Ticket (Online): RMB 50 for members of Yale community
*Registration is required to obtain ZOOM access details, which will be sent directly to the registered email address or phone number provided. Please enter the Zoom room 15 minutes before the starting time. Once the Zoom room reaches full capacity, latecomers will not be able to join the event.
The Event
As today’s world grows increasingly fragile and unpredictable, what lessons can the history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—a time that carries eerie parallels with our own—offer for understanding the looming threat of the next Great Power war and the urgent interventions necessary to prevent it in the twenty-first century?
On February 10, Odd Arne Westad, Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University, will join Ambassador Nick Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, to discuss Westad’s forthcoming book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History, to be published on March 3.
The Speaker (Onsite)
Odd Arne Westad
Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs, Yale University
Odd Arne Westad is a Norwegian scholar of modern international and global history, with a specialization in the history of Eastern Asia since the 18th century. He is the author of The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times, which won the Bancroft Prize, and Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750, which was named to two Top 100 book lists in 2012.
Westad joined the faculty at Yale after teaching at the London School of Economics and Harvard University. He is interested in the histories of modern empires and the global effects of imperialism, with a focus on China's transformation since the 1980s. Some of his work is concerned with historical parallels to the present. His most recent book (with Chen Jian) is The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform (2024), and his new book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History, will be published in March 2026.
The Moderator (Online)
Nicholas Burns
Former Ambassador of the U.S. to China
Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Nicholas Burns is the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is the Founder and Faculty Chair of the Future of Diplomacy Project and a Faculty Affiliate at Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.
Burns worked in the United States government for over three decades, serving six presidents and nine secretaries of state. During his tenure as the U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2021 to 2025, Burns helped to stabilise U.S.-China relations amid tensions arising from military, technology and economic competition and human rights issues.
Greenberg Distinguished Colloquium
Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Maurice R. Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Starr Insurance Companies, and a member of Yale Center Beijing’s Advisory Committee, Yale Center Beijing is pleased to host the Greenberg Distinguished Colloquium, which convenes thought leaders from all sectors who, in the spirit of Mr. Greenberg, play pivotal roles in building bridges among China, the U.S., and the rest of the world.