| | | | Dear Friends, Greetings and best wishes for the new year! Thank you for your continued support. A charitable donation of any amount will allow us to continue to uplift youth voices. Pass along this newsletter to family and friends. Find past issues here and subscribe here for our newsletter and general mailing list. |
| |  |
|
| At our 2025 Youth Symposium, these trailblazers shared their personal and professional journeys, including the challenges, setbacks, and unconventional paths that shaped who they are today. The recording is on our YouTube channel.
L to R: Caroline Pan, Andrew Chau, Mina Fedor, Steven Kan, Julie Su, and Abigail Hing Wen. See Spotlight for details. |
| | | RECORDING AVAILABLE — WATCH THE INSPIRING YOUTH SYMPOSIUM KEYNOTE PANEL - The dynamic speakers on our Trailblazers Panel, “Stories Beyond the Script,” shared intimate, inspiring stories on how they defined success on their own terms. Click here to view the recording on YouTube.
- From navigating identity to breaking barriers in their fields, the panelists’ personal journeys empower youth to dream boldly, embrace authenticity, and chart their own course.
- Speakers: Andrew Chau (Boba Guys Co-founder/CEO), Mina Fedor (AAPI Youth Rising Founder), Steven Kan (Alphabet Other Bets Director), Julie Su (former Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor), Abigail Hing Wen (NY Times best-selling author). Moderator: Caroline Pan (1990 Institute Vice Chair).
RECORDING AVAILABLE — VIEW OUR WEBINAR ON THE AI BOOM - At the heart of the global shift in artificial intelligence (AI) is the U.S.-China relationship, where many are seeing the future of tech as an existential race that needs to be won.
- Watch the recording of "Understanding the AI Boom" to look beyond the headlines and build a deeper understanding of the global forces shaping our digital and physical world today.
- Visit our Reference LIbrary for more resources.
- Speakers: Graham Webster is a research scholar at Stanford University, where he leads the DigiChina Project. Zeyi Yang is a senior writer at WIRED, covering technology and business in China. Moderator: Clay Dube was the director of the University of Southern California U.S.-China Institute from 2006 to 2024.
COLLEGE ESSAY CONTEST — READ WINNING ESSAYS Robotic Might, Aerospace Fright: China’s Uneven March to Tech Sovereignty
— Abstract — by Pablo Dufour, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),
Master of Science in International Relations, 2025 This essay critically assesses China’s progress under the Made in China 2025 (MIC2025) initiative through the comparative lens of two strategic sectors: robotics and aerospace. It argues that while China has achieved remarkable gains in robotics by leveraging state support, regional industrial clusters, and targeted international outreach to dominate mid-tier global markets, the aerospace sector remains encumbered by structural dependencies and institutional fragmentation. In robotics, China has redefined global competitiveness by prioritizing scalable and affordable technologies over high-end precision, transforming a dependency into decentralized industrial power. Conversely, the C919 jet program illustrates the limitations of China’s ambition in aerospace, where reliance on foreign components and certification hurdles exposes a deeper incapacity to achieve technological sovereignty. The essay concludes that MIC2025’s outcomes reflect not merely sectoral divergence but broader systemic challenges in governance, innovation coordination, and geopolitical friction. As China prepares for its next technological leap, success will depend less on central planning and more on cultivating adaptive and mission-driven ecosystems that bridge public and private innovation. Ultimately, MIC2025 emerges neither as a triumph nor a failure, but as a recalibration of what technological leadership looks like in an era of decoupling and dual-use competition. Read the entire first-place essay on our website.
|
| |
|
|  | View the recording of our November webinar as we explored the complex landscape of technology on a global scale, focusing on how developments in China impact the future of AI. |
| | |
|
| Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) News Asian American Leaders Hail Governor Hochul’s Signing of the AANHPI Education Equity Act | Stop AAPI Hate - The Act is a landmark step in bringing an AANHPI curriculum to New York State’s public schools and establishes the AANHPI History Advisory Committee.
- The AANHPI Education Equity Act is about telling the complete American story,” said Assemblymember Grace Lee.
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani appoints 1st deputy mayor for economic justice | CBS New York 'Rosemead' tells a tragic — and true — story | NPR - The story of Rosemead is about a teenager with mental illness just as much as it is the Asian American community, in a rare thematic combination that showcases the challenges facing both.
Origami folds let paper support 9,000 times its weight, teen finds | Science News Explores - Miles Wu, a NYC 8th grader, researched the strength of origami to design pop-up emergency shelters.
- He won the $25,000 top prize in the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.
Among the Stars: How Toshiko Takaezu Brought the Abstract Expressionist Ethos to Ceramics | New City Art - American ceramic sculptor Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011) is the subject of a nationally touring retrospective that was recently exhibited in Madison, Wisconsin.
U.S.-China Relations & China News 2025 Trade Year In Review: Mexico, China, Deficits, Tariffs, AI, Gold | Forbes DeepSeek proposes shift in AI model development with 'mHC' architecture to upgrade ResNet | South China Morning Post via Yahoo News - DeepSeek's latest technical paper is a potential game changer in artificial intelligence models.
- The Chinese AI start-up trains powerful models with limited computing resources.
Trump administration moves to overhaul how H-1B visas are granted, ending lottery system | AP News - On December 22, the Dept. of Homeland Security said it was replacing its longstanding lottery system with a new approach that will prioritize skilled, higher-paid foreign workers.
Tesla loses title as world's biggest electric vehicle maker as sales fall for second year in a row | AP News - In 2025, Chinese rival BYD, which sold 2.26 million vehicles in 2025, is now the biggest EV maker, while Tesla sold 1.64 million vehicles, down 9% from a year earlier.
- A customer revolt over Elon Musk’s politics, expiring U.S. tax breaks, and stiff overseas competition pushed Tesla sales down for a second year in a row.
Ten years after it ended its ‘one-child’ policy, China’s push for more babies isn’t winning its citizens over | CNN - January 1 marked ten years since China scrapped its notorious “one-child” policy, which threatened to derail the growth of the world’s second-largest economy.
- China has a gender imbalance and a generation of siblingless children responsible for caring for elderly parents.
- Read more about population changes in China in “The shrinking giant: China’s youth in a graying nation,” an exclusive essay in our May 2025 newsletter.
|
| | | |
|
| | - THE CARTER CENTER — The Jimmy Carter Forum on U.S.-China Relations will be held on January 29 and 30. This year, the theme is Women in U.S.-China relations and includes keynotes, panels, and round tables. View the schedule and complete list of speakers and events and register here.
|
| | Dim Sum - A Little Bit of Heart |
|  | |
|
|
|
| | | | 1990 Institute
P.O. Box 383 | San Francisco, California 94104
contact@1990institute.org www.1990institute.org Copyright 2026 The 1990 Institute. All rights reserved. |
| | | |
|
| |
|
|
