About the Seminar

There are more than 120 million Chinese gamers, and nearly every one of them plays online games. Online games are a primary source of entertainment in China, and Chinese online game operators are the companies that enable the fun. These companies have built expertise in a unique market and have set their sights on global expansion.

Come hear Lisa Cosmas Hanson, Managing Partner of Niko Partners, The Leader in Asian Video Game Market Intelligence^TM, discuss the innovation, excellence and possible points of weakness of the leading Chinese online game operators as they embark upon the quest of taking their talents to the rest of the world.

The seminar will address the following questions:

• Who are the leading Chinese online game operators?
• What was their impetus for growth and innovation?
• In what ways are these companies leading their global competitors?
• In what ways are these companies lagging their global competitors?
• What is the history and potential future for foreign game companies in China's online games market and for Chinese companies overseas?

About the speaker

Lisa Cosmas Hanson is the managing partner and founder of Niko Partners, The Leader in Asian Video Game Market Intelligence^TM. Her responsibility includes client relations, research and analysis, business development, operations and partnerships. Lisa founded Niko Partners in 2000 and has since developed expertise on the Chinese and Southeast Asian online games industries that has benefited Niko's clients, companies that are global leaders in game publishing, game services, hardware and investments.

Lisa has spent 17 years honing her experience in management positions and in the roles of Asian and specifically Chinese market research analyst, Asian and Chinese market entry consultant, Japanese equities analyst, and U.S.-Japan economic policy analyst. She has been a well-regarded speaker on global technology markets for many years.

Lisa has lived and worked in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Tokyo and London, and makes frequent trips to Shanghai and Beijing for Niko Partners. Her past U.S.-based international business roles included extensive travel throughout Asia and Europe. Lisa speaks Japanese and is studying Mandarin. She earned an MA in international economic policy from American University in Washington, D.C., and a BA in political science and international affairs from the University of California, Los Angeles. She believes in peace through intercultural understanding, hence she volunteers her time for AFS Intercultural Programs, a leading global student exchange program organization.

Europe dominated the 19th century. The 20th century saw the rise of the United States. Will the 21st century be "the Chinese Century"? Using a series of Harvard Business School Cases, this lecture will explore production, consumption, and education for China's new middle class, and think about China's future, in the light of its past.

William C. Kirby is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and Chairman of the Harvard China Fund.

A historian of modern China, Professor Kirby's work examines China's business, economic, and political development in an international context. He has written on the evolution of modern Chinese business (state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; the history of freedom in China; the international socialist economy of the 1950s; relations across the Taiwan Strait; and China's relations with Europe and America. His current projects include case studies of contemporary Chinese businesses and a comparative study of higher education in China, Europe, and the United States.

This talk is co-sponsored with the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS).

Lyushun Shen earned his doctorate in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. He started his career at the School of Law, University of Maryland before deciding to become a professional diplomat.  He has enjoyed a distinguished career serving Taiwan in its overseas missions in America and Europe, including in Washington D.C., Kansas City, Geneva and Brussels.  Prior to his current appointment he was Taiwan’s representative to the European Union. His publications include:  “The Republic of China’s Perspective on the US Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988” (The Chinese Yearbook of International Law and Affairs, 1989), The Issue of US Arms Sales and Peking’s Policy toward Taiwan (Taipei, 1986), “Is Peking’s Claim over Taiwan Internationally Recognized?” Monograph Series of the Asia and World Forum (Taipei, 1984), “The Washington-Peking Controversy over US Arms Sales to Taiwan: Diplomacy of Ambiguity and Escalation” (The Chinese Yearbook of International Law and Affairs, 1982), and “The Taiwan Issue in Peking’s Foreign Policy during the 1970’s, A Systematic Review” (The Chinese Yearbook of International Law and Affairs, 1981).

In this special event, Vice Foreign Minister Shen will reflect on the century-long relationship between the Republic of China and the United States, and address the future prospects and challenges of this relationship.