Late last January, I stopped by the U. Penn bookstore, & happened to notice an issue of Foreign Affairs on the magazine rack, with a leader ‘How China is Ruled’…. and thought I really ought to check that out. My curiosity turned to alarm, however, when I realized that the article’s author was none other than Professor David M. Lampton, of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Just the previous day I had been in a session with Prof. Lampton and his SAIS team discussing China’s energy and environmental situation – and I had had no inkling about the Foreign Affairs piece! Luckily for me (…and like all good interviewers) he spent more time with questions about my own work & views, and this oversight never came up. But three things did happen:

1. I quickly decided I’d better renew my subscription to Foreign Affairs, which I had unfortunately let lapse;

2. I went out and purchased his new book Following the Leader: Ruling China, From Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping, the basis for the Foreign Affairs article. Professor Lampton has more than four decades of experience in China, and this book – the latest in a dozen he has written about the country – consolidates scholarship from a very distinguished career (just check out his Wikipedia page!). It’s a fascinating overview, based upon more than 550 interviews conducted at all levels of the Chinese government (including Taiwan and Hong Kong) during those decades. The book discusses the successes achieved since Deng Xiaoping took over in 1977, as well as the problems facing current leaders in a country increasingly difficult to govern….. and I now have an autographed copy!

3. But these are merely a buildup to the real story – for shortly thereafter I was extremely pleased to receive an invitation from SAIS to join their team…. & I’ll be heading over to China to become ‘Resident Professor’ at the Hopkins Nanjing Center (HNC) in Nanjing in late September. SAIS is starting up a new Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE) program there, similar to the one already established in their DC headquarters and Bologna, Italy campus – and I’ll be heading up that new effort. Given the crucial importance of China’s energy/environmental situation, I’m sure you recognize that this will put me right in the middle of one of the most critical challenges facing the world today – and I am both very, very honored and extremely excited about this new opportunity! I started at Johns Hopkins just a few days ago – on July 1st – and you know there will be many more postings over coming months & years about my new SAIS and Chinese colleagues, as well as this amazing new job – so please stay tuned!