The purpose of “China in World Affairs” is to help students develop a nuanced understanding of China’s dramatically changing roles in world affairs.  Until mid-2012, the economy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was growing faster than that of any major country; China led the world in this category after 1979.  The PRC now has the world’s second-largest economy, just after the United States and one step ahead of Japan.  If current trends continue, China will surpass the U.S. economically in the late 2020s.  But as this course will explore, the PRC’s “rise” in international power terms could stall as a consequence of excessive reliance on debt to fuel growth, environmental degradation, population aging, repressive politics, and more.