In the mid-1980s, Deng Xiaoping said, “The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths,” an observation that led China on a path to later dominate global mineral processing. Join us in a conversation with Cory Combs (Trivium China) and Jessica DiCarlo (University of Utah) to explore how China is shaking up the governance of its domestic rare earth production in response to the global demand for clean energy technologies. Rare earth production, once seen as a cheap and polluting industry by Chinese policymakers, is now reframed as crucial for sustainable development. Over tea we will talk about policies and local-center tensions around this acceleration in China’s domestic rare earth development.