first, ‘peaceful rise’ was the theme of a keynote speech to a regional policy forum created by the chinese government, aptly named the bo’ao forum for asia, then it was an emphatic point made by china’s premier wen jiabao in a speech at harvard university, and still later it was a key feature in china’s president hu jintao’s talk at a gathering to mark the 110th anniversary of mao zedong’s birth. the phrase ‘peaceful rise’ (heping jueqi) has caught the imagination both inside china and abroad partly because all three events took place within a short two-month period beginning at the end of 2003. the chinese leadership seems to have a well-coordinated campaign to officially present the notion to the country and the world.