Drawn from a variety of open sources, this collection focuses on strategic and security issues. USCI video presentations are listed at the bottom.

John E. Wills, Jr., a longtime leader of China studies at USC and the Chinese history field, passed away on January 13.

Our annual special issue of Talking Points -- click to see our Year of the Rooster stamp collection and our calendar of lunar new year celebrations.

This issue of Talking Points wishes you a Happy New Year and takes note of some of the noted Chinese who passed away this year and some talented Americans who contributed to greater understanding of China. And we note the passing of George Michael, the British musician who helped expand China's cultural universe in the 1980s.

Duncan Clark discusses his new book that chronicles Jack Ma's rise from an English teacher to the founder of one of the world's biggest companies, Alibaba.

The first televised presidential debates took place in 1960 and U.S. policies toward China and Taiwan were an important part of the discussion. The USC U.S.-China Institute has reviewed transcripts over the past fifty years and shares excerpts here.

The famed 60 Minutes journalist passed away May 19. Safer, a Canadian, and posed as a tourist in 1967 to gain entry. His report for CBS, Morley Safer's Red China Diary, was broadcast in 1967. He spoke with USCI about the experience for Assignment:China.

Christopher Rea and Henry Jenkins explore comic convergences on the silver screen, focusing on filmmakers who embraced a vaudevillian aesthetic of visceral comedy and variety entertainment.