Chinese urban history has become a dynamic field of study in recent years. This roundtable will address the theoretical issues and practical problems confronting scholars today. What goals should be set for the study of Chinese urban history? How has the development of Chinese cities over the past hundred years affected regional divisions in Chinese economic and social life and China’s connections to the outside world? What characteristics do Chinese cities share based on the divergent experiences of individual cities? What approaches, paradigms and methodologies are being adopted by scholars in studying Chinese cities? How can we best tap into Chinese archival and other primary sources to support the study of Chinese urban history? This roundtable discussion will bring together prominent scholars from the United States and East Asia, who have worked on individual Chinese cities in different historical periods, to explore these and other questions. More than a state-of-the-field review, the roundtable will produce a blueprint for future work on comparative studies in Chinese urban history.