Fellowship Experience

Leadership in a Time of Transformation

Over the past four decades, China has experienced a social and economic transformation on a scale and at a speed unlike anything witnessed in modern history.

As a country that has risen to become the world’s second-largest economy – lifting hundreds of millions from poverty – China’s enterprises now shape global markets, technologies, and ideas.

With this growth, however, comes unprecedented complexity. Domestically, widening economic inequality, an aging population and technological disruption are reshaping society. At the same time, China’s evolving role in the world and the shifting global landscape require new leadership paradigms.

Navigating this requires private-sector leaders who can wrestle with difficult tradeoffs, ground their decisions in fundamental questions of values and purpose, and engage the world with clarity and responsibility.

The China Fellowship was created to support precisely this kind of leadership.

Our Purpose

Launched in 2013, the China Fellowship Program (CFP) aims to energize a new generation of private sector business leaders in China to build a sustainable and prosperous “good society” in a shifting global landscape. 

The Fellowship is designed for leaders who have achieved significant professional success and are at an inflection point — ready to reflect more deeply on the responsibilities of leadership and translate that reflection into long-term societal contribution.

With eight classes convened to date, the Fellowship now comprises a carefully selected group of 157 accomplished, entrepreneurial private-sector leaders (46% women) from 13 sectors across Greater China. Collectively, these leaders oversee enterprises generating more than US$300 billion in annual revenue and employ millions of people.

The China Fellowship Program is completely non-political in nature. This program is made possible thanks to a generous gift from David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Leadership Fund, along with the gracious additional support from China Fellows Classes 1–3. 

Seminar Experience

Across four multi-day seminars over two years (approximately 25 days in total), Fellows engage deeply with foundational texts from across history and cultures — philosophy, literature, statesmanship, moral reasoning. Led by specially trained Aspen Institute moderators, the four seminars are:

• The Challenge of Leadership: A six-day seminar focusing on the qualities of leadership necessary to master the forces of change. Fellows discuss their own leadership challenges and develop criteria for effective, enlightened leadership. 
• The Aspen Seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society: A seven-day seminar that gives the Fellows the opportunity to explore the concept of a “good society” and their leadership role in making it a reality. 
• Leading in a Global Context: A six-day seminar exploring the challenges of leading in an increasingly complex and intertwined world. This seminar is offered in a variety of locations  around the world and taken with other Fellows from across the Aspen Global Leadership Network. 
• The Promise of Leadership: A six-day seminar in which Fellows reflect deeply on their journey from success to significance, integrating lessons learned and charting their path toward lasting impact. 

The experience is demanding and often vulnerable. Many Fellows describe it as the first sustained space they have had in years to think, yielding real personal transformation. They emerge with:

• Greater clarity about their values
• Stronger grounding in difficult decisions
• A trusted circle of peers
• A renewed sense of direction

But reflection is not the end. It is the beginning of meaningful action.