November 22, 2009
Xinhua covers Michigan Law professor and CCS faculty associate Nicholas Howson's speech at the annual conference of the Chinese Finance Association
我们需要改变企业治理结构，加强监管，让企业以长期健康发展为目的，摒弃追逐短期利润的恶习。
"美法律专家呼吁改革华尔街金融业 "
news.xinhuanet.com
11/15/2009
Posted by zzhu at 06:27 PM
November 12, 2009
Ken Lieberthal previews President Obama's first trip to China - PLUS your chance to comment!
As President Barack Obama prepares to embark on his first trip to China from November 15 to November 18, 2009, Kenneth Lieberthal, Professor Emeritus and director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, took questions about the president's trip in a recent edition of the Brookings Scouting Report.
After reading the complete transcript, you are invited to contribute comments here.
Posted by zzhu at 10:38 PM
November 11, 2009
Michigan eyes China as top export market
Please click on graphics to read the Detroit News article.
Posted by zzhu at 02:13 PM
November 10, 2009
Ken Lieberthal discusses China and the environment on the Diane Rehm Show
10am, Thursday, November 5, 2009
China, Coal, and Climate Change
Guest host: Susan Page
China has become the world's leading producer of greenhouse gasses – in large part from burning coal. An update on collaborative efforts between the U.S. and China to reduce coal plant emissions and why they could be key to addressing global climate change.
Guests:
Kenneth Lieberthal, Director, John L. Thornton China Center, The Brookings Institution; Former senior director for Asia at the National Security Council.
Orville Schell, Director, Center on U.S. - China Relations, Asia Society
Bruce Stokes, National Journal, international economics columnist German Marshall Fund, fellow
Posted by zzhu at 04:42 PM
November 04, 2009
CCS faculty associate Bright Sheng's work celebrated in Chinese festival at Carnegie Hall
"Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture" will feature work by Bright Sheng, Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor of Composition and CCS faculty associate.
Bright Sheng's personal and professional experiences are in the spotlight as part of the Carnegie Hall festival's focus on modern Chinese composers and in a recent Wall Street Journal article on the first group of Chinese composers to emerge from the ashes of the Cultural Revolution.
Posted by zzhu at 08:27 AM
CCS and Confucius Institute arts offerings featured on annarbor.com
Prominent Chinese-American community activist and friend of CCS Frances Wang discusses upcoming Chinese music concert and art talks on annarbor.com.
Posted by zzhu at 06:44 AM
October 30, 2009
Grand Opening - Confucius Institute Events - November 5, 2009
Come and celebrate the grand opening of the Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan, featuring an inaugural lecture entitled "De-familiarizing the Exotic: Appreciating the Arts of China in the 21st Century" by Martin Powers, Sally Michelson Davidson Professor of Chinese Arts and Cultures and CCS faculty associate, as well as an evening of musical performance by the pipa virtuoso Yang Wei and members of the Chinese Ensemble of Renmin University of China.
Please click on poster for additional information.
Posted by zzhu at 12:21 AM
October 23, 2009
Linda Lim explains the tire tariff
Linda Lim, Strategy Professor, U-M Ross School of Business and CCS faculty associate, sits down for an interview on implications of the new tariff imposed on Chinese tires.
Posted by zzhu at 12:14 AM
October 08, 2009
CCS Alumnus Nicholas Lardy and Professor Emeritus Kenneth Lieberthal talk about new tariffs on Chinese tires
"Why Obama is taxing Chinese tires"
by Nina Easton, CNNMoney.com
10/08/2009
"U.S.-China leadership can take air out of tire spat"
by Paul Eckert, Reuters
09/14/2009
Posted by zzhu at 01:43 PM
Kenneth Lieberthal discusses China's emergence during global economic crisis
China is very likely to be the second-most-powerful country — if it isn't now, then within a decade.
"Amid the global economic crisis, China rises"
by Joe McDonald, The Associated Press
10/08/2009
Posted by zzhu at 01:35 PM
September 30, 2009
U-M researcher develops tool to disable Green Dam Youth Censorware functionality
A security researcher at the University of Michigan has released a tool that helps Chinese computers users disable the censorship functionality of the controversial Green Dam Youth Software.The Dam Burst utility, created by researcher Jon Oberheide, works by by injecting code into a running application and removing the Green Dam hooks that enable it to monitor and block user activity.
"Hacker ships tool to circumvent China's Green Dam filter"
by Ryan Naraine, ZDNet News
09/29/2009
Posted by zzhu at 06:13 PM
September 24, 2009
Kenneth Lieberthal, Professor Emeritus, is primary author of report critical of Bush's emphasis on daily intelligence brief
Under President George W. Bush, the President's Daily Brief -- the highly classified intelligence paper delivered each morning to the White House -- rose to "an unprecedented level of importance," with negative consequences for the intelligence community, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution.
"Study Faults Bush's Emphasis On Daily Intelligence Brief"
by Walter Pincus, The Washington Post
09/15/2009
Posted by zzhu at 10:35 PM
September 17, 2009
CCS Blog Tribute to Ken Lieberthal
Professor Kenneth Lieberthal retired from the University of Michigan in July this year and is now the Director of the John Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. Not only has Professor Lieberthal been one of the most respected China scholars in the world, but he has also contributed so much to public service as well as to the success of CCS. Readers of the CCS Blog have enjoyed reading or listening to his commentary on various China-related issues and news items in the past year. In order to celebrate all that he has given to CCS and to the study of China, we present "The Best of Ken Lieberthal," bringing together some past blog entries featuring Professor Lieberthal's commentary.
Thanks for being a big part of the CCS Blog, Ken! We look forward to many more blog entries on your work in the future.
• Appearance on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, July 27, 2009
• Presidential Advisers' panel discussion - "The White House and U.S. Policy Toward China: Views from the Inside", May 1, 2009
• Climate change testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 4, 2009
• China at G20 summit and the Hu-Obama meeting, April 2, 2009
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Visits China, February 22, 2009
• 2009 William K. McInally Memorial Lecture, January 28, 2009
• Guest appearance on Phoenix TV, Inauguration Day, 2009
• Assessing Timothy Geithner's leadership potential in dealing with China, December 19, 2008
• On Hua Guofeng, August 21, 2008
Posted by zzhu at 06:08 PM
September 01, 2009
Bruce Belzowski discusses the rise of China's auto industry
"They're really testing the waters on how to be global companies."
"Red light, green light: China's automotive industry continues to grow, with potential stateside effects"
by Lisa Rummler, ModernMetals.com
09/01/2009
Posted by zzhu at 06:05 PM
August 31, 2009
U-M auto expert Bruce Belzowski discusses Buick's enduring popularity in China
"It was a status symbol and it stayed that way."
"Buick remains popular with China's upper-middle class"
by Jewel Gopwani and Marcin Szczepanski, Detroit Free Press
08/30/2009
Posted by zzhu at 10:07 AM
August 17, 2009
Kenneth Lieberthal discusses collision of Chinese domestic politics and international business demands
"They've always looked in the past to what's good for China, and they still do. But for the first time, added to that is the consideration that they're in the position of being rule-makers, not just rule-takers."
"China Warms to New Credo: Business First"
by Michael Wines, The New York Times
08/13/2009
Posted by zzhu at 09:35 PM
CCS Director and Professor of Political Science Mary Gallagher talks to the New York Times about Chinese workers who protest privatization of steel mill
"Bowing to Protests, China Halts Privatization of Steel Mill"
by Keith Bradsher, The New York Times
08/16/2009
Posted by zzhu at 09:24 PM
August 13, 2009
Michigan Law Professor and CCS Faculty Associate Nicholas Howson comments on Rio Tinto spying charges
"My sense is that this is the state security bureau running a little amok."
"4 on Rio Tinto's China Staff Won't Face Spying Charge"
by David Barboza, The New York Times
08/12/2009
Posted by zzhu at 12:36 PM
July 29, 2009
Linda Lim discusses China's currency experiment
"They need a more deeply liquid and diversified capital market, they still need to reform their financial sector, and have more transparency in accounting."
"China takes baby step to reduce dependence on dollar"
by Jeremy Kutner, The Christian Science Monitor
07/28/2009
Posted by zzhu at 11:16 AM
July 28, 2009
Kenneth Lieberthal appears on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer to talk about the new US-China strategic and economic dialogue
Please click below to watch entire news segment.
Posted by zzhu at 09:44 AM
July 07, 2009
A Morning in Caochangdi (草场地), Beijing
On a gorgeous day in late May, 2009, a group of U-M faculty and staff led by Provost Teresa Sullivan had the pleasure of visiting Caochangdi, one of Beijing’s 300 urban villages where architecture and urban planning students participating in the Michigan Architecture China studio worked and lived during Spring/Summer 2009. First launched about five years ago by Assistant Professor of Architecture and CCS faculty associate Robert Adams, the China studio program is housed in the laboratory space of B.A.S.E. (Beijing Architecture Studio Enterprise) and provides participants an immersive experience intersecting art, architecture and urbanism.
At BASE, members of the group enjoyed meeting many talented and enthusiastic undergraduate and graduate architecture and urban planning students, Professor Adams, as well as the founders of BASE, Centennial Professor of Practice Mary-Ann Ray and Robert Mangurian. After providing an extensive tour of the studio space and a highly informative and fun introduction to the wide range of work taking place there, Professors Ray and Mangurian took the group across the street to the residence and studio of their good friend Ai Weiwei, the pre-eminent Chinese artist and provocateur. Ai was the first among Chinese artists and gallerists to make the move to Caochangdi by designing a compound there for himself, a few friends and a gallery. Nine years later, Caochangdi has become a high-profile hotbed of artistic experimentation. Still buoyed by the creative spirit of BASE, the Michigan group quickly “invaded” Ai’s compound, interacting with Ai and exploring his home and artwork.
The U-M group bid a reluctant goodbye to Caochangdi after additional stops at a migrant workers village, Galerie Urs Meile and a private home also designed by Ai Weiwei.
Pictures from BASE:
Mary Ann Ray, Robert Adams, Ai Weiwei and Robert Mangurian
Mary Gallagher, CCS Director, introduces members of the U-M group to Ai Weiwei
A BASE participant interacts with work by Ai Weiwei
Posted by zzhu at 12:29 AM
June 23, 2009
Artist donates original sketches to CCS office space
Dr. Ren Wendong, Dean of School of Arts & Design, Dalian Polytechnic University, generously donated to the Center for Chinese Studies six of his original sketches of University of Michigan landmarks. A donation ceremony took place Monday, June 22, 2009, at the U-M Institute for the Humanities Gallery, which, along with CCS, co-sponsored an exhibition of Dr. Ren's ink paintings.
Mary Gallagher, CCS director, presents Dr. Ren with a certificate recognizing his gifts
Dr. Ren and his artwork
Dr. Ren and CCS staffer Anna Moyer discuss his paintings
Posted by zzhu at 05:12 PM
June 15, 2009
U-M professor finds flaws in Chinese software filter
Update: Professor Halderman's paper with "Addendum 1: Green Dam Quietly Patched; Still Vulnerable — June 18, 2009" can be found here.
"What we found was only the tip of the iceberg."
"Experts Say Chinese Filter Would Make PCs Vulnerable"
by Andrew Jacobs, The New York Times
06/12/2009
Posted by zzhu at 09:44 AM
June 07, 2009
Chinese Studies faculty and alumna address US-China cooperation on climate change in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Prepared testimonies by Elizabeth Economy and Kenneth Lieberthal on challenges and opportunities for US-China cooperation on climate change, June 4, 2009. Click below to watch video.
Text of testimony by Elizabeth Economy (PhD, Political Science, 1994), C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Text of testimony by Kenneth Lieberthal, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Political Science, Distinguished Fellow at the William Davidson Institute, William Davidson Professor of Business Administration
Posted by zzhu at 04:54 PM
June 04, 2009
Kenneth Liberthal appears on CCTV News Weekly
Transcript (in Chinese) of CCTV 《新闻周刊》美国智库访谈系列之《李侃如：全球性问题、清洁能源问题和气候变化问题----中美关系的新三大核心问题》 can be found here.
Posted by zzhu at 11:41 AM
May 30, 2009
The "Mad" World of MA Yansong
While in Beijing, the CCS Blogger had exclusive access to MAD, one of the most exciting architecture firms in the world and one of the very few private architecture firms in China. MAD was founded by MA Yansong (马岩松), whose best-known building is perhaps the construction project nicknamed the "Marilyn Monroe Building" in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
Front door - check out the firm name in faint lettering
Sitting area with MAD-designed furniture
Closer look of the foot rest
Two views of the "Marilyn Monroe Building" are on the right
Posted by zzhu at 11:43 AM
Capturing the CCTV Tower in a Taxi
Shuttling in between meetings and events, the CCS Blogger took a few "drive-by" shots of the famed CCTV Tower.
Just in case you missed it, here's what happened.
Posted by zzhu at 11:17 AM
May 29, 2009
Where in China is the CCS Blogger?
E-mail your answers to Chinese.Studies@umich.edu. The first three individuals who guess all four places correctly will win a special DVD as well as public recognition for knowing China so well.
1. Where is this? Bonus point for knowing the name of the particular area in the city.
2. Name the temple where this statue can be found:
3. In what city did CCSB take this picture?
Another angle:
4. Where can one find this building?
Posted by zzhu at 12:43 PM
May 18, 2009
Not as scary as it looks...
CCS blogger (CCSB) goes to Hong Kong via Tokyo, but first everyone must sit through quarantine inspection. Thankfully, this did not happen to CCSB.
Everyone, sit up straight for the thermal camera.
This man was in charge of collecting health disclosure forms in CCSB's section of the plane. He was polite and diligent. CCSB liked the document box he carried as if a satchel.
Closer view of the box. :)
Posted by zzhu at 10:15 AM
May 04, 2009
Top ten CCS blog entries of the term
Historic Firsts:
1. The first presentation of the Winter 2009 CCS Tuesday Noon Lecture Series: Yiching Wu, "Coping with Crisis in the Wake of the Cultural Revolution: Toward a Historical Critique of China’s Postsocialist Condition," January 20, 2009. Those who attended this talk will not soon forget this day since together they also watched the live broadcast of the inauguration of President Barack Obama right before Professor Wu took to the lectern.
2. On the same day, Kenneth Lieberthal visited Phoenix TV's Washington studio as guest commentator on US-China relations.
3. Learn all about Hillary Clinton's first trip to China as Secretary of State via this blog entry; read about the two major reports (one from The Asia Society and the other from The Brookings Institution) on US-China cooperation on energy and climate change released just prior to this trip. U-M faculty and alumni who wrote or helped to write these reports include Elizabeth Economy, Jan Berris, and Kenneth Lieberthal.
Spotlights and Highlights:
4. Spin the colorful 3-D carousels to browse recent books by CCS faculty.
5. The Chronicle of Higher Education explores US-China academic collaborations on social sciences, and the UM-Peking University Joint Institute's contributions to these efforts are profiled. CCS faculty associates James Lee and Jersey Liang are interviewed.
6. Silk Road Week at U-M and Ann Arbor, March 9-14, 2009.
7. The New York Times interviews China-studies alumna Elizabeth Perry on sensitive anniversaries in China. After reading the article, tell us what you think by taking the CCS poll!
8. Chairman Mao as a political and pop icon - select images from Xiaobing Tang's inaugural lecture as the Helmut F. Stern Professor of Chinese Studies are available on the blog.
Looking Ahead:
9. The 2009 University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies Photo Competition – Open Competition and Student Competition – check out our biggest prize offerings yet!
10. Twenty-seven courses with significant China-studies content and 13 Chinese-language courses are scheduled for the Fall 2009 academic term; and the list might grow in coming months. See the list of exciting courses, including "Undergraduate Seminar in Chinese Culture - The Story of the Stone," "China from the Oracle Bones to the Opium War," "China's Evolution Under Communism," and "Business in Asia." A selection of course flier can be found throughout the CCS blog.
Posted by zzhu at 12:33 PM
April 28, 2009
Great News - Yu Xie now a member of National Academy of Sciences!
Click for details.
Posted by kanepark at 02:30 PM
April 20, 2009
Kenneth Lieberthal talks to Southern Weekend (南方周末) about climate change cooperation
"中国在美国关于全球暖化的政治对话中的突出地位最少可向前追溯十余年。"
“我们面临一个历史机会”——美国著名中国问题专家李侃如谈中美气候合作
南方周末记者 余力
03/04/2009
Posted by zzhu at 06:23 PM
April 07, 2009
Fall 2009 China Courses, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
China-content courses (undergraduate and graduate levels):
• Chinese Society and Cultures
• Introduction to Buddhism
• Introduction to the Study of Asian Cultures
• Undergraduate Seminar in Chinese Culture - The Story of the Stone
• Introduction to Chinese Civilization
• The Pursuit of Happiness in the Chinese Tradition
• Topics in Asian Studies - Narratives of Desire by Modern Chinese Women Writers
• Seminar in Chinese Poetry - Introduction to Chinese Poetry from the Earliest Times through the 12th-Century
• A Comparative Study of Asia
• Social Scientific Studies of Historical and Contemporary China
• Independent Study in Chinese Studies
• Master's Thesis in Chinese Studies
• Ancient Languages and Scripts
• Comparative Literary Movements and Periods – Regarding China
• Painting and Poetry in China
• Special Topics - Art and Authoritarianism
• Special Studies in the Art of China - The Twentieth Century Response to Theories of Artistic Expression in China
• The Writing of History - Good Sons, Good Daughters: Filial Piety (xiao) in Early China
• East Asia: Early Transformations
• China from the Oracle Bones to the Opium War
• History Colloquium – Confucianism, Mohism, and Legalism and the Rise of the Chinese Empire
• Introduction to the Comparative Study of History
• Honors Social Sciences Seminar – Forces Shaping the Future International System
• China’s Evolution Under Communism
• Democratization in Global Perspectives
• The World Economy
• Business in Asia
• China's International Relations
• China: Early 21st Century Ruralopolitan Space
Fall 2009 Chinese Language Courses
• First Year Chinese I
• First Year Chinese for Mandarin Speakers
• First Year Tibetan I
• Second Year Chinese I
• Second Year Chinese for Mandarin Speaker
• Third Year Chinese I
• Third Year Chinese for Mandarin Speakers
• Advanced Spoken Chinese I
• Mandarin for Cantonese Speakers I
• Fourth Year Chinese I
• Chinese for Professions I
• Academic Chinese I
• Literary Chinese I
Posted by zzhu at 04:42 PM
April 02, 2009
Kenneth Lieberthal discusses China at G20 summit and the Hu-Obama meeting
"They are beginning to appreciate that when countries emerge from this current economic crisis, China is likely to be either the first to emerge or right after the U.S., and that China will be one of the very few countries at the end of this crisis to emerge without having high levels of government debt."
"An Unsure China Steps Onto the Global Stage"
by Michael Wines and Edward Wong, The New York Times
04/02/2009
"The two sides agreed to cooperate in a set of areas and they characterized U.S.-China relationship as positive, cooperative and comprehensive going forward."
"U.S. scholar says China-U.S. meeting was forward-looking"
by Yan Feng, Xinhua News
04/02/2009
Posted by zzhu at 10:32 AM
March 25, 2009
China's top business and finance magazine blogs about Ken Lieberthal's work on US-China environmental cooperation
Please click on image to go to Web page. The blog entry is written in Chinese.
Posted by zzhu at 02:49 PM
March 10, 2009
Alumna comments on sensitive anniversaries in China
"There is ample precedent in the republican as well as communist periods for Chinese protesters to turn the commemoration of political anniversaries into demands for political change."- Elizabeth J. Perry (PhD 1978), Professor of Government and Director of Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University
"Symbolic Dates Have China on Edge"
by Michael Wines, The New York Times
03/09/2009
Posted by zzhu at 06:14 PM
March 05, 2009
China studies alumnus to participate in panel during U.S. Senate celebration
Nicholas Lardy (PhD 1975), a prominent China scholar, will participate in a March 18 discussion panel at the U.S. Senate, in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Higher Education Act-Title VI & Fulbright-Hays International Education Programs.
The panel, entitled "The Global Financial Crisis and Consequences for China, Russia, and their Regions: Implications for the U.S.," is part of the Global Symposium on Critical Challenges in an Unpredictable World: Implications for U.S. Engagement. Other speakers include Lee Hamilton and Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Posted by zzhu at 04:49 PM
March 04, 2009
Follow us on Twitter - get CCS event updates and reminders on your cell phone!
Posted by zzhu at 04:44 PM
February 26, 2009
Ken Lieberthal comments on Hillary Clinton's trip to Asia
"The Obama administration feels that Bush followed too narrow and parsimonious an agenda with Asia."
"Clinton 'reintroduces' US to Asia"
by Peter Ford, The Christian Science Monitor
02/23/2009
Posted by zzhu at 07:08 PM
February 10, 2009
Chronicle of Higher Education article discusses UM-Peking University Joint Institute, with quotes from CCS faculty associates James Lee and Jersey Liang
"There is tremendous potential and tremendous problems" in China, says James Z. Lee, a University of Michigan historian and sociologist who is one of the directors of the Beijing institute. "There are so many reasons that the social sciences make sense as a line of academic inquiry."
"Renewed Attention to Social Sciences in China Leads to New Partnerships With American Universities"
by Mara Hvistendahl, Chronicle of Higher Education
02/10/2009
Rising up from the eastern edge of Peking University's campus, the sleek, U-shaped Leo KoGuan Building wraps around a red Qing-dynasty edifice. The result of a record-breaking donation from a Singaporean tycoon, this merger of old and new marks a departure from the drab socialist architecture so common in China.
But the building is more remarkable for what's inside.
In lecture halls bathed in natural light, students take intensive one-month courses from leading academics from the United States — although not in disciplines where American colleges have an established presence in China, such as business and technology. Instead the students are taking courses in the social sciences.
The University of Michigan-Peking University Joint Institute, as the program is called, offers courses in relatively new subjects, such as religion and psycholinguistics, in an effort to turn out top Chinese sociologists, demographers, and other social scientists.
"There aren't many professors who can teach these subjects in China," says Wang Linlan, a graduate student who took feminist theory and data analysis at the institute, then applied the credits toward a sociology doctorate at Peking University. "This kind of opportunity is rare."
Politics and a lack of money resulted in decades of neglect for the social sciences in China, by foreign and domestic institutions alike. American universities looking to establish partnerships here have focused instead on high-demand fields like finance and the hard sciences.
But societal change, along with a government push to develop more comprehensive universities, is sparking a proliferation of new partnerships in a variety of fields, including sociology, education, and social work.
The Chinese government "wants to directly import some very high-level academicians to develop world-class research," says Ailei Xie, an education scholar at the University of Hong Kong who tracks international partnerships on the mainland. "That's a good opportunity for universities and colleges in America who want to set up in China."
These partnerships, which are mostly new and small in scale, bring immediate benefits to both partners. Chinese academics find the expertise needed to quickly develop these fields. American academics, in turn, gain valuable research opportunities.
"There is tremendous potential and tremendous problems" in China, says James Z. Lee, a University of Michigan historian and sociologist who is one of the directors of the Beijing institute. "There are so many reasons that the social sciences make sense as a line of academic inquiry."
Increasingly, influential Chinese figures agree. A private Chinese donor allows Mr. Lee's institute to enroll about 300 students every summer, most of them on full scholarship.
But setting up a program under a government that censors academic research can be tricky. Some social scientists say politics impedes their work in China. Others say the Chinese education system's emphasis on test scores and rote learning is poorly suited to disciplines that prize independent thinking and analysis — although that is exactly what the American programs seek to change.
The People's Science
A short walk from the University of Michigan institute, Ren Qiang works out of an office that represents the old standing of the social sciences in China. The heat doesn't work. The elevator is broken, a chair propped against it to deter passengers. Mr. Ren shares a room with three other professors from the Peking University sociology department. "This is the worst building on campus," he laughs.
As one of China's leading demographers, Mr. Ren is thriving despite the poor conditions. He teaches alongside American professors at the University of Michigan joint institute. Last year a grant from the National Institutes of the Health allowed him to spend a semester in Ann Arbor.
In pre-revolution China, by comparison, sociology was tainted by amateurism.
"Under our traditional method of practicing sociology, it was like a people's science," Mr. Ren says. "If you had an opinion, you could write an article."
The discipline's reputation as a public sounding board didn't help it after the Communist Revolution. Sociology — along with political science, demography, and other social sciences — was banned outright starting in the early 1950s. They were reinstated when universities reopened in the late 1970s, gaining a boost from the establishment of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1977.
Even so, the social sciences remained neglected throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Chinese sociologists and demographers depended on grants from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the United Nations Population Fund to stay afloat. The first social-work courses were introduced only in 1987.
Today, China's 40-odd Sino-American joint-degree programs are concentrated in the hard sciences and business. But institutional research partnerships and exchanges in the social sciences, along with cooperation among individual professors, are growing, says Mr. Xie. "Nowadays, China wants to set up new schools in education and the social sciences," he says.
One reason for the increased interest derives from the government's determination to transform China's universities into world-class institutions. Government officials believe the solution lies in broadening universities' scope of research beyond the natural sciences.
"They've found that the top universities in America are comprehensive," Mr. Xie says.
Changes in Chinese society have also helped drive the expansion of social-science programs. After two decades of fast-paced growth, President Hu Jintao's "harmonious society" program aims to develop China's countryside, improve the social-service system, and reduce the gap between rich and poor.
Social scientists say it's about time. Under socialism, state-run organizations and work units provided basic social services. Now, as China transitions to a free-market economy, many Chinese have to fend for themselves.
"So many areas need service — elderly services, family services, services for migrant workers, you name it," says Agnes Law, a social-work professor from Hong Kong who helped establish a social-work degree program at Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou. "There's a huge vacuum."
Leading the Way
As one of China's top higher-education institutions, Peking University established some of the first social-science departments and was quick to revive them after the Cultural Revolution.
It continues to be a leader in the advancement of the social sciences. The same year it began collaborating with the University of Michigan, the university brokered a wide-ranging partnership with the University of Southern California.
That partnership grew out of a consortium, created in 2006, of social-science deans from Southern California who were interested in working in China. The deans toured China, hoping to pool their efforts by forming a partnership with one Chinese university across a range of social-science disciplines. It was an unusual goal for a foreign university in China, but Southern California administrators found a number of potential collaborators.
Ultimately, they settled on Peking University because of its size, reputation, and tradition of social-science inquiry. The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding that covers gerontology and policy planning as well as social work and education. The hope is that faculty and student exchanges will evolve into dual-degree programs and sustained research projects.
One of the first fruits of the partnership will be a Peking University master's program in student-affairs education. Chinese students once found little support on campus in dealing with mental-health problems or seeking out extracurricular activities.
Now, as universities begin competing for students and capital, student services is emerging as an important selling point, creating a demand for degree programs for this new field.
"Student-affairs professionals in China really have to learn by doing," says Mark Robison, director of the Asia-Pacific Rim program at USC's Rossier School of Education, who has been involved in the partnership. "They have no base to work from."
Rossier has already sent two professors to teach courses at Peking University. Now it will assist in the development of a homegrown program. Administrators are separately looking into setting up a doctor-of-education program for university administrators in China.
An Identity Crisis
But setting up partnerships has come with its share of challenges.
The University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work has been working in China since the 1990s.
On a trip to Beijing in 1993, then-dean Jack Jones asked offhandedly about social-work education in China. His hosts directed him to China Youth University for Political Sciences, which had just set up one of the country's first departments and was eager for help.
Denver began sending English teaching materials and delegations of professors and students to the campus, in part because China lacked its own social-work textbooks until recently.
The Chinese university supplemented the English materials with books from Hong Kong and Taiwan, printed in traditional characters, which can be difficult for mainland students to read. (New textbooks with simplified characters were not published until 2004.)
"There are problems finding faculty, problems finding textbooks, problems with field practice," says Xiaojun Tong, assistant dean of the Chinese university's social-work program, who earned her doctorate at Denver.
But one of the university's most fundamental problems has been identifying the social workers — and sociologists and educators — of tomorrow.
Students rank their choice of major on the university entrance examinations, then are selected based on test scores. That means popular majors like finance and law attract the best students, while mediocre students are assigned majors — often in the social sciences.
At orientation, Ms. Tong says, China's future social workers are full of questions. Are there jobs in social work? If they find work, how much money will they make?
The most common question, though, speaks to the gargantuan task before educators hoping to mold a new generation of scholars and professionals, she says: "They want to know, what is social work?"
But while problems with attracting students and developing a quality curriculum are just growing pains, limits on academic freedom may remain an issue in the social sciences for years to come.
Jersey Liang, for example, is a gerontologist whose work in China extends back to 1984, when he joined a National Academy of Sciences delegation in sociology and anthropology.
Over the next few decades, Mr. Liang, now a research professor in the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, established several longstanding partnerships — including setting up a program, independent of his university's joint institute, to bring American scholars to China for short courses.
Mr. Liang's research focuses on aging and health, an area of pressing need in China, which has a rapidly graying population. But today he says he has "serious reservations" about the government's higher-education policy.
He recalls setting up conferences in the 1990s, only to be notified a few days beforehand informing him the event had to be canceled, presumably because of political concerns.
In the past few years, research topics that were once off-limits — including social unrest, China's one-child policy, and AIDS — have become fair game for social scientists. But keeping track of government policy remains difficult, Mr. Liang says. "There's a lot of uncertainty. You have to be politically astute and be very sensitive to which way the wind blows."
Social-work educators, meanwhile, say Chinese government control of nongovernmental organizations inhibits the profession's development, preventing graduates from practicing the principles they're taught.
"Most of the NGO's have a close relationship with the government, but few of them have a good idea what social work is," says Ms. Law, the professor from Hong Kong.
Still, scholars agree that attention to the social sciences is growing in China. A separate government campaign to develop a general-education curriculum in Chinese colleges — requiring students to take courses outside their majors — may be a boon for the discipline.
Mr. Liang still works in China, although these days he prefers partnerships with individual researchers rather than with institutions.
His colleagues at the University of Michigan are more hopeful. In 2007 the university's joint institute offered courses in Chinese history and society — perhaps the most sensitive areas of all on the mainland.
In a seminar on interdisciplinary Chinese studies, Mr. Lee, the co-director, says he covered a number of prickly issues: "Migrants, stratification, ethnicity, gender. I taught the exact same class I taught in Ann Arbor."
That he was allowed to do so suggests that the social sciences in China may have a meaningful future.
http://chronicle.com
Section: International
Volume 55, Issue 23, Page A35
Posted by zzhu at 03:17 PM
February 06, 2009
Faculty and alumni contribute to major US-China climate change reports
Contributors include:
Jan Berris (Center for Chinese Studies MA, 1967)
Elizabeth Economy (PhD, Political Science, 1994)
Kenneth Lieberthal, Professor of Political Science and Business Administration
Brookings Institution Report (January 2009): Overcoming Obstacles to U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change
by Kenneth Lieberthal and David Sandalow (JD, Michigan Law, 1982)
Two New York Times articles about these reports:
"Experts in U.S. and China See a Chance for Cooperation Against Climate Change"
First Trip for Clinton Aims at China, Climate
Posted by zzhu at 08:08 AM
January 24, 2009
A shaky start to US-China relations under Obama? Ken Lieberthal talks to the New York Times.
"The Chinese are probably one of the few people in the world who were sorry to see President Bush go, and are nervous about his successor."
"China Jittery about Obama Amid Signs of Harder Line"
by Mark Landler, The New York Times
01/24/2009
Posted by zzhu at 10:27 AM
January 21, 2009
Kenneth Lieberthal a guest on Phoenix TV, discusses Obama and US-China relations
Please click below to see program.
Posted by zzhu at 11:58 AM
January 13, 2009
Distinguished University Professorship Lecture - Donald Lopez, 01/28/09
Posted by zzhu at 04:16 PM
January 08, 2009
Recent Books by CCS Faculty
Posted by zzhu at 04:38 AM
January 06, 2009
CCS alumnus writes about China for slate.com
Damien Ma, CCS MA '07 and a Washington, D.C.-based China analyst at the Eurasia Group, a global political risk research and consulting firm, talks about the prospect for democracy in China on slate.com.
Posted by zzhu at 01:08 PM
December 19, 2008
Kenneth Lieberthal on China and the global economic downturn
"They are always concerned about job creation."
"China, an Engine of Growth, Faces a Global Slump"
by Jim Yardley and Keith Bradsher, The New York Times
10/22/2008
Posted by zzhu at 02:57 PM
Kenneth Lieberthal assesses Timothy Geithner's leadership potential in dealing with China
"One possibility is that the strategic economic dialogue continues, but moves to another venue in the government."
"Treasury's Lead Role in China in Flux"
by Mark Landler, The New York Times
12/01/2008
Posted by zzhu at 02:35 PM
December 15, 2008
The Ann Arbor News covers the U-M China Task Force final report
"University of Michigan mulls China office"
by Dave Gershman, The Ann Arbor News
12/12/2008
Posted by zzhu at 11:27 AM
December 09, 2008
China Task Force Final Report Released
The University of Michigan President's Task Force on China, whose members include Mary Gallagher, CCS Director, and several CCS faculty associates, has made a number of recommendations in a new report.
To read more about the Task Force, its report, and a summary of the recommendations, please see article in the latest issue of The Record.
Click on the report cover to download the full report.
Posted by zzhu at 01:23 PM
December 04, 2008
CCS MA/MBA student's ride-sharing business heats up during the holidays
Jason Lin, current CCS MA/MBA student, is making a name for himself as CEO and President of Hitchsters.com, an online service that matches travelers for shared (thus, more affordable) rides to major airports. Recently, Jason was interviewed by The San Francisco Examiner about his increasingly popular business.
Posted by zzhu at 07:34 PM
Winter 2009 China Courses, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
China-content courses (undergraduate and graduate level):
• Early Civilizations
• Globalizing Consumer Cultures
• Image-Based Ethnography
• Junior/Senior Colloquium for Concentrators - Empire and Nation in Asia
• Modern East Asia
• Introduction to the Study of Asian Religions
• Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism
• Introduction to the Study of Asian Cultures
• Modern China and Its “Others?
• Arts & Letters of China
• Topics in Asian Studies: East Asian Horror Films
• Acupuncture: Historical and Contemporary Transformations
• Law & Society in China
• China's Evolution Under Communism
• Interpreting the Zhuangzi
• Seminar in Chinese Drama - The Peony Pavilion Old and New: The Politics of Cross-Cultural Theater (and Fiction)
• Legal Strategy for IPR Protection in China
• The World Economy
• China Humanistic Studies
• Independent Study – China
• Master's Thesis in Chinese Studies
• Seminar in Journalistic Performance
• The Chinese Renaissance: Cultural Transformations in Eleventh-Century China
• Imperial China: Ideas, Men, and Society
• Seminar: Studies in Late Imperial China
• The Chinese Corporation
• Intro to World Music
• Special Course – Kunqu
• Approaches to Chinese Landscape Painting
• The Bildungsroman in Modern East Asia
Language courses:
• First-year Chinese II
• Second-year Chinese II
• Reading and Writing Chinese II
• Mandarin Pronunciation
• Third-year Chinese II
• Advanced Spoken Chinese II
• Mandarin for Cantonese Speakers II
• Media Chinese I
• Fourth-year Chinese I
• Chinese for the Professions II
• Readings in Modern Chinese Society and Culture
• Literary Chinese II
Posted by zzhu at 03:53 PM
November 19, 2008
Mary-Ann Ray, Professor of Architecture, winner of 2008–2009 James Stirling Memorial Lecture on the City Competition for "Caochangdi: Beijing Inside Out"
Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray will develop their research project on issues of urban-rural development in China and present the Stirling Lecture in autumn 2008 at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montréal, and at the London School of Economics in autumn 2009.
Please click on image for press release.
Posted by zzhu at 01:31 PM
November 14, 2008
Mary Gallagher on Chinese workers' plight in midst of export slowdown
"Increasingly, the migrant workers know their rights."
"Factories Shut, China Workers Are Suffering"
by Edward Wong, The New York Times
11/13/2008
Posted by zzhu at 12:55 AM
November 12, 2008
Linda Lim in Ross School's Dividend Alumni Magazine
In the latest issue of U-M Ross School of Business's Dividend Alumni Magazine, Linda Lim, Professor of Strategy and CCS Faculty Associate, talks about global trade liberalization and visits with alumni in Shanghai (including CCS MA/MBA grad Wm. Patrick Cranley) and in Kuala Lumpur. Click on photo for the entire issue. (Linda Lim appears on pages 36-37, and page 51, among others.)
Posted by zzhu at 05:11 PM
November 08, 2008
Robert Adams exhibits at Architectural Biennial Beijing
Robert Adams, Assistant Professor of Architecture and CCS faculty associate, is exhibiting his recent research focused on architecture and material culture in contemporary China at the 3rd Architectural Biennial Beijing (ABB). The exhibit has been on display from mid-October until November 12. ABB is located at Beijing Design Park.751, a former factory in the Dashanzi 798 complex that is a thriving arts/design district in the city. The work includes Adams' research on architecture and urbanization in China with an emphasis on new media, construction culture, and infrastructure. He also presented a lecture at the ABB. The theme for the ABB is "Ecological City/Building."
Posted by zzhu at 07:28 PM
November 07, 2008
Nico Howson, Assistant Professor of Law, reviews 《公主之死——你所?知?的中国法律?》
"儒家化之死?"
by Nico Howson, Oriental Morning Post (东方早报）
11/02/2008
Posted by zzhu at 11:34 AM
November 04, 2008
Mary Gallagher on cab driver strike in China
"There has been an increase in labor conflict broadly speaking, and that includes lawsuits as well as strikes."
"Cab Drivers Stage Strike in China City"
by Sky Canaves, The Wall Street Journal
11/04/2008
Posted by zzhu at 01:36 PM
October 13, 2008
Shedding light on the factors
"Huge current account surpluses built up in Asia and other countries after the 1997-98 financial crisis funded huge US budget and current account deficits ushered in by the election of President George W. Bush in 2000."
Linda Lim, for The Straits Times (Singapore)
10/13/2008
Shedding light on the factors
How did things get so bad so fast? Truth is, the current global financial crisis was a long time coming.
Huge current account surpluses built up in Asia and other countries after the 1997-98 financial crisis funded huge US budget and current account deficits ushered in by the election of President George W. Bush in 2000.
Aided by a Republican Congress until the 2006 mid-term elections, the Bush administration embarked on expensive foreign wars and chalked up large domestic expenditure without requiring Americans to pay for them.
Instead, foreign borrowing allowed taxes to be cut while the Federal Reserve under Mr Alan Greenspan kept interest rates too low for too long, which, added to foreign capital inflows, made cheap money available to all. Not surprisingly, personal savings rate fell to below zero, stocks boomed and an asset bubble developed, most notably in the housing market.
Believing that housing values would not fall, Americans bought more expensive houses. Some invested in multiple properties with borrowed money, a major reason for the excess supply now weighing on the housing market's recovery.
Home equity loans also enabled Americans to borrow against the rising value of their homes for current consumption. Economists call this a 'positive wealth effect'. People spend more as their assets rise in value even if their real incomes stagnate or decline, as they have done for more than 96 per cent of US workers since 2000.
At the same time, a US administration preaching free-market principles while practising fiscal profligacy pursued an agenda of financial (and other) deregulation. This encouraged the 'financial innovation' that gave us sub-prime mortgages, collateralised debt obligations, credit default swaps and other complex instruments, not to mention the amazingly high leverage ratios and risk tolerance that came along with them.
It is this house of cards that has now come crashing down, dragging the whole world economy with it.
Could all this have been predicted? It was - by many, including my University of Michigan colleague, the late Edward Gramlich, a Fed governor from 1997 to 2005. He repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to persuade Fed chairman Greenspan to crack down on excessive and predatory mortgage lending practices.
But predictable and predicted though it was, the crash, when it came, was precipitated by a coincidence of factors that produced a 'perfect storm'. The debt-fuelled US economic boom caused the current account deficit (the excess of exports over imports) to balloon to nearly 7 per cent of GDP by 2006. This exerted continuous downward pressure on the US dollar and foreign creditors found better outlets for their surplus funds elsewhere - in Europe as well as in emerging markets whose own export-led boom was itself partly the result of insatiable US appetite for imports.
The depreciating dollar and rising commodity prices increased US inflation, requiring the Federal Reserve, as well as other central banks, to accelerate raising interest rates in 2006, even as the US economy was beginning to slow down.
Soaring oil prices in the past two years aggravated nervousness about the economy. Oil-dependent sectors such as auto makers, airlines and tourism were badly hit and began laying off people. And some sub-prime mortgage holders with adjustable rate mortgages found themselves unable to service their mortgages at the higher rates.
While the proportion of such defaulting sub-prime mortgages was small, they had been packaged together with 'regular' mortgages in mortgage-backed securities. Rated as low-risk securities, they had been issued, distributed, insured and held by many blue-chip financial institutions. Greed too often trumped prudence in these largely unregulated private-market transactions.
As the defaults began, uncertainty about the riskiness of individual securities rose. The lack of transparency and the lack of understanding of the securities themselves led to a 're-pricing of risk' and a brutal downward spiral of 'de-leveraging'.
Financial institutions, fearful that they may be holding unacceptably risky assets, began unloading them into increasingly illiquid markets, while 'mark-to-market' accounting rules rapidly eroded balance sheets and capital bases. This forced the afflicted institutions to raise more capital. In the end, capital simply dried up as investors were unwilling to throw good money after bad, not knowing what they were buying.
Thus ensued the current vicious global credit crunch. Banks are no longer willing to lend to each other, due to a lack of trust. If banks cannot get credit from each other, neither can corporations and households. Eventually, various sectors grind to a halt as credit transactions evaporate.
In this environment, the policy actions and inactions of the US government, including its flawed public communications, not only failed to reassure markets, but also injected a further sense of panic. Savings withdrawals and investment redemptions contributed to bank failures and plunging stock prices.
Ideological objections from both the left and right to 'government bailouts' as well as a lack of understanding by a furious electorate on the verge of a momentous presidential election further heightened overall uncertainty. And thus we had a perfect storm.
The writer is professor of strategy, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
Posted by zzhu at 03:40 PM
October 03, 2008
New publication by CCS faculty - Linda Lim
Posted by zzhu at 03:26 PM
September 16, 2008
U-M China Initiatives in the Spotlight
"We've done a few surveys and for many of (the U-M students) it's their first time traveling overseas and to have China be that destination is quite an eye-opening experience."
Mary Sue Coleman extends University of Michigan's global role
by Dave Gershman, The Ann Arbor News
08/28/2008
Posted by zzhu at 10:43 AM
August 21, 2008
Ken Lieberthal on Hua Guofeng
"He succeeded Mao briefly because he was a guy nobody felt could dominate, so he didn’t set off alarm bells in any camp."
"Hua Guofeng, Transitional Leader of China After Mao, Is Dead at 87"
by Keith Bradsher and William J. Wellman, The New York Times
08/20/2008
Posted by zzhu at 10:58 AM
August 15, 2008
CCS Associate Guoqi Xu in the spotlight for writing on the Olympics
"If Chinese continue to be obsessed with soccer, they’ll definitely demand something dramatic, something political or involving rule of law. It will start with sports, and then it will move onto something bigger."
"China Loves Its Soccer. Its Team? Don't Ask."
by Edward Wong, The New York Times
08/15/2008
"A nation that obsesses over gold medals is not a self-assured nation."
"China's Agony of Defeat"
It's impossible to understand what the Games mean to the Chinese without understanding their history of humiliation.
by Orville Schell, Newsweek
Published 07/26/2008
From the magazine issue dated Aug 4, 2008
Posted by zzhu at 04:12 PM
Ken Lieberthal comments on the "picture perfect" Olympics opening ceremony
"Fundamentally, the Chinese press and leadership are seeking to make the Games come across as perfect as they can."
"Image control, Beijing style"
Feign perfection by hiding imperfection
by Calum MacLeod and Kevin Johnson, USA Today
08/14/2008
Posted by zzhu at 12:31 PM