The Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne invites researchers, policy makers and advisers, educators, and specialists working in any area of China studies to spend a cool summer/winter in Melbourne, the recognised capital of culture in Australia and a designated UNESCO “city of literature”, to explore the many challenging questions posed by the ongoing and rapid changes that have occurred in China’s economy, politics, culture, and society in the 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. In traditional Chinese chronological systems the 60-year time unit is one of the key ways of classifying and dividing temporal periods from human lives to historical eras. The 60 years since 1949 provide an excellent framework for examining and analysing China’s development, especially in relation to the country’s future direction. Despite the profound and accelerating changes taking place in the PRC over the last 30 years of structural reforms, all of the major transformations in Chinese society since the founding of the PRC 60 years ago need to be examined if we are to have a full understanding of the serious challenges that China is currently facing.