Drew Faust descends the stairs of the Great Hall of the People with Harvard delegation members.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Harvard in Beijing

March 26, 2015 4 min read

During a historic visit to Beijing, Harvard President Drew Faust delivered the Tsinghua Global Vision Lecture, “Universities and the Challenge of Global Climate Change,” to faculty and students at Tsinghua University. Faust argued that universities have a unique and critical role to play in combating climate change.

Faust’s speech marked the culmination of a series of events in Beijing at which climate change was a central topic. At a Your Harvard gathering of alumni, faculty, and friends, she listened as Ali Malkawi, professor of architectural technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and founding director of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities, explained his efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of large human-made structures and systems, from individual buildings to whole cities.

During a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, Faust and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed governmental and academic efforts to address the threat of climate change. Faust used the opportunity to highlight the important work being undertaken by faculty and students at Harvard and at institutions across the globe such as Tsinghua to develop substantive technological and policy solutions to this global challenge and to urge continued faculty collaborations.

(Previous Harvard Gazette article.)

Harvard President Drew Faust meets with Xi Jinping, President of China inside the The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China as a Harvard delegation looks on. Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

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Harvard President Drew Faust is flanked by faculty and friends after speaking at a Your Harvard alumni event in Beijing.

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During the Your Harvard alumni event in Beijing, Kerry Logistics Chairman George Yeo, M.B.A. ‘85 (from left), David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of Science Xiaowei Zhuang, and Professor of Architectural Technology Ali Malkawi discuss how to visualize the invisible, from the microscopic natural world to large, human-made structures and systems like building and cities.

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Xiaowei Zhuang and Ali Malkawi hold an interactive discussion during the Your Harvard event.

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Drew Faust speaks at the Your Harvard alumni event in Beijing.

Drew Faust meets with Xi Jinping inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

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Drew Faust discusses governmental and academic efforts to address the threat of climate change with Xi Jinping.

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Drew Faust (right) talks with Harvard delegation members Krishna G. Palepu (from left), the Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration; Julio Frenk, dean, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health; and Mohsen Mostafavi, professor of architecture and dean of the Graduate School of Design, before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Chinese monks perform an offering ritual inside the Yonghe Temple (Palace of Peace and Harmony) in Beijing.

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More than 250 Tsinghua University students attend Drew Faust’s Tsinghua Global Vision Lecture, “Universities and the Challenge of Global Climate Change,” at Tsinghua University.

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Tsinghua Professor Yigong Shi and Drew Faust during the Tsinghua Global Vision Lecture.

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Tsinghua University students share a moment while using smart phones to record Drew Faust’s lecture.

Chen Xu (left), party secretary of Tsinghua University, and William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics and Professor of Physics Shing-Tung Yau listen to the Tsinghua Global Vision Lecture, “Universities and the Challenge of Global Climate Change” at Tsinghua University.