The National School of Development at Peking University will host the 61st session of its Chengze Forum on September 19, 2026, featuring a special reading event focused on social dynamics, learning, and leadership in the era of artificial intelligence. As the autumn semester brings new faces to the campus, society is confronting rapid transformations, with AI's accelerating advancements reaching across an expanding range of industries. Intelligence is no longer just a progressive trend—it has become an established reality. The forum will explore how to understand the AI-driven era, how to train our cognitive and social faculties in response to AI, how to interact with machine intelligence such as humanoid robots, and how to cultivate a new form of leadership that fosters human-machine collaboration.

The event is jointly organized by the National School of Development at Peking University, China Translation & Publishing House, CITIC Press Group, Enterprise Management Publishing House, and China Machine Press, with support from the school's communication, undergraduate, MBA, EMBA, and DPS doctoral centers. Scheduled from 2:30 PM to 6:00 PM on September 19, 2026, the forum will take place at the Chengze Study Room, Building B100, Chengze Garden, on the Peking University campus. The proceedings will be conducted in Chinese, with some international guests speaking in English without simultaneous interpretation. Interested attendees can register for the offline event by scanning the QR code provided.

Where to Begin

The agenda opens with remarks from Wang Xianqing, Director of the Communication Center at the National School of Development, who will serve as the host. The first session, running from 2:35 to 3:05 PM, will feature Samantha Rockey, Associate Fellow and Strategic Leadership Program Tutor at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and co-author of "The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Teams," who will discuss how to understand the social brain. From 3:05 to 3:35 PM, Li Xiangming, Professor at Northeastern University in the United States, will address the industrial applications and multi-dimensional impacts of humanoid robots. The next segment, from 3:35 to 4:05 PM, will be led by Shen Xiaobin, Founder of Beijing Zhixing Taolue Management Consulting Co., Ltd. and author of "Decoding Leadership in the AI Era," focusing on leadership principles and practices for the age of AI. Following that, from 4:05 to 4:35 PM, Liu Lan, former Associate Teaching Professor at Peking University HSBC Business School and author of "Reverse Learning" and "How to Learn," will present on effective approaches to learning in the AI era.

Key Takeaways and Dialogue

A thematic dialogue and audience Q&A session will run from 4:35 to 5:55 PM, moderated by Wang Jinjie, Assistant Researcher at the National School of Development and the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, Secretary-General of the Cross-Cultural Leadership Forum, and co-translator of "The Five Levels of Leadership." The panel will bring together Samantha Rockey, Li Xiangming, Shen Xiaobin, and Liu Lan for an in-depth exchange. The forum will conclude with closing remarks from Wang Xianqing from 5:55 to 6:00 PM.

About the Organizers

The Chengze Forum is a public platform organized by the National School of Development, designed to address new economic and management topics through rational, open discussions, often tied to the release of major reports or publications. It aims to facilitate knowledge dissemination and public debate. The National School of Development, rooted in economics, was founded by Justin Yifu Lin and five other scholars in 1994 as the China Center for Economic Research, and was renamed in 2008. Committed to integrating teaching, research, and think tank functions, it has produced leading talents across government, business, and academia, and is recognized as one of the country's first high-end think tanks. The publishing partners include China Translation & Publishing House, a national-level institution established in 1973 under China Publishing Group; CITIC Press Group, which became the first A-share listed publishing company in 2019; Enterprise Management Publishing House, a central cultural enterprise under SASAC; and China Machine Press, founded in 1950 as the first science and technology publisher in the new China, serving as a comprehensive publishing entity with a reputation for high production volume and quality.