NOVA Inside China’s Tech Boom

In the span of just a few decades, China has transformed into a science and technology superpower. But how did it get here and where is it headed? 

Inside China’s Tech Boom, a new film from the PBS science series NOVA, examines China’s rising tech sector. How is China evolving from manufacturing powerhouse to global innovator? How are its Western rivals responding? And what does its rise mean for the future of the global economy?

Join the Asia Society and NOVA for a special screening and panel discussion featuring producers, filmmakers, and experts from Inside China’s Tech Boom as they discuss the film and how recent events are impacting the Chinese tech sector. 

Inside China’s Tech Boom premieres Wednesday, November 8 at 9PM ET/8PM CT on PBS and will be available for streaming at pbs.org/nova, NOVA on YouTube, and the PBS App.

Speakers: 

David Borenstein has produced and directed TV for PBS, BBC, ARTE, and many more international broadcasters. His feature documentary DREAM EMPIRE, funded by Sundance, toured the festival circuit in forty countries. His documentary shorts have been featured multiple times on NYTimes Op-Docs. He also was a radio documentary producer at BBC World Service, where his pieces reach an average of 100 million listeners. A fluent Chinese speaker and long-time resident of China, he is an alumnus of the US State Department’s Fulbright Program in China.

Kaiser Kuo is the host of the Sinica Podcast, the leading English-language podcast on current affairs in China, which he co-founded in 2010. He was the founding lead guitarist of the seminal Chinese heavy metal band Tang Dynasty and continued to be active in rock music in China until 2016. After several years as a reporter covering tech in China in the 2000s, he joined Baidu, China's leading search engine, as director of international communications. Since 2016, when The China Project acquired the Sinica Podcast, he has served as Head of Podcasts and edits and produces several podcasts under The China Project. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Rui Ma has nearly two decades of experience in technology and finance, spanning seed stage to pre-IPO investing spread evenly between the US and China. She is the Consulting Editor of Tech Buzz China, which she founded in 2018 to educate and advise investors, funds and entrepreneurs on Chinese tech companies’ products, strategies and trends.

Chris Schmidt (moderator) is an award-winning producer and director of documentaries and factual television. Along with Co-Executive Producer Julia Cort, Chris oversees NOVA’s development team, creating new multi-hour projects in collaboration with U.S. filmmakers and international co-producers as well as NOVA’s rich digital content. His work has received the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award, the AAAS Gold Kavli Science Journalism Award, the Cine Golden Eagle, and many nominations for the News and Documentary Emmy Award.

Funding for Inside China’s Tech Boom is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Viking Cruises, the NOVA Science Trust with support from Anna and Neil Rasmussen, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers. Additional funding is provided by the George D. Smith Fund, Inc.