From panda huggers to China bashers? Assessing perceptions of China among strategic Italian publics
28.03.2022 - 28.03.2022
11:00-12:30 (Paris time)
Venue:
Online
EURICS
Abstract: The Italy-China Competence & Sentiment Observatory (ICCSO) is a research observatory established by the TOChina Centre of the University of Torino in partnership with the University of Insubria. The aim of the Observatory is to conduct data-driven research on the perceptions that interested and strategic publics across Italy and China have of the respective countries. This public lecture will discuss findings from two research projects currently pursued by the ICCSO: an analysis of the shifting attitudes on China in the current Italian Parliament (2018-2022), and preliminary results from a survey of Italian university students and their perception of China, exactly three years after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative between Rome and Beijing.
Speaker: Dr. Giovanni ANDORNINO (University of Turin/T.Wai and EURICS fellow).
Discussant: Prof. ZHANG Jian (Peking University).
Biographies:
Dr. Giovanni B. Andornino is a tenured Assistant Professor of International Relations of East Asia in the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society of the University of Turin. His research interests cover China’s domestic politics and foreign policy, China’s relations with Italy and the wider Euro-Mediterranean region, and the development of the philanthropic sector in China. Giovanni is Vice President of the Torino World Affairs Institute, Editor of the OrizzonteCina journal and Director of the ChinaMed Business Program at Peking University (Beijing, P.R.China). He has been serving as Founding General Secretary of the China-Italy Philanthropy Forum since 2019.
Professor Zhang Jian is a political scientist affiliated to the School of Government of Peking University, Beijing, China. His research focuses on comparative politics and Chinese politics. Among his compelling works, "The Domestic Sources of China’s More Assertive Foreign Policy”, International Politics, 2014 Vol. 51, No. 3, and “A Dynamic Analysis of the Hong Kong Social Political Awakening: Class, Particpation, and Identity”, Hong Kong: Twenty-First Century Bimonthly, No. 147, Feb. 2015.
Image credits: Adobe stock #261953198 by tashatuvango
