Agenda

Conference
Ideals of Empire: Beijing, Washington, Rome

John Delury
Yonsei University & LUISS

Introduction
Beatrice Gallelli
Ca’ Foscari University

February 17, 2025, h 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Sala A, Palazzo Vendramin ai Carmini, Venezia

Since Chinese leader Xi Jinping introduced the paradigm of “new type of great power relations” and the first-term Trump administration defined the PRC as a “great power competitor,” US-China relations have been largely defined in terms of the category of “great powers”—in Chinese, daguo 大国. But the global hegemony enjoyed by the United States since defeating the Soviet Union to end the Cold War is arguably closer to an imperial form of power. Meanwhile, as China has steadily risen in economic, military, and diplomatic strength, there are calls to aspire to something beyond a mere “great power,” namely, to revive China’s traditional role as the imperial center of the world order, or tianxia 天下. In his lecture, Professor Delury will draw upon his current book project on Confucian ideals of empire during the early modern period in order to shed light on the contemporary clash between two imperial powers, both of which vociferously deny being empires. Having been based in Rome since 2023, Dr. Delury will also share reflections on how the ideal of empire embodied by ancient Rome shapes our understanding of the US and China as empires.