2012-2013 USCI Graduate Summer Fieldwork Grants

Graduate Summer Fieldwork Abstracts

Fan Lu (History Department)
“The Chinese Communist Deployment and Management of Cadres and Agents from 1946 to 1957 in Fujian Province, China”

Fan's research in Xiamen, located in the Fujian Province of China, centered on the interaction between the local government and the People (人民, the new category invented by the new regime) in the 1950s as part of the state-society relationship. He focused on Xiamen (a city which already has importance of its own, a de facto although not default) as a case to study the Communist consolidation of the new order at the local level that closely involved the local government, its cadres and agents, and the People. The cadre and corruption issue was question that dealt with the relationship between the government-people interaction and the survival of the new polity. The main finding was how each of the trio—the government/state, the cadres and the People—played the other two against each other for the sake of its own, and ultimately, achieving the consolidation of the new order. Click here for the full report.

Peter Knaack (Department of Political Science & School of International Relations)
“China's Role in Global Financial Regulatory Reform”

Despite having weathered the global financial crisis better than any other country, China is now facing a new set of challenges that arise from the consequences of its 2009 stimulus program and the distortions of a domestic financial system that remains in transition to a market economy. Beijing is in the process of devising a new set of policies that seeks to address these challenges while simultaneously laying the foundations for a much more prominent role on the international financial stage, one of an exemplary and significant stakeholder  rather than that of a developing country. Peter's research trip Beijing and Hong Kong in the summer of 2013 enabled him to attain a first-hand glimpse into the potential near-future of China as a global financial power as well as the obstacles to its realization. The main finding of his summer research is that China is currently in the process of establishing a strict regime of financial prudential regulation that goes above and beyond international standards, at least in some areas. This decision entails considerable costs for the financial services sector because tight prudential regulation reduces its areas of operation and profit margins. Yet a look into the domestic political economy of China reveals the benefits of this policy. Click here for the full report.

 Xin Wang (Annenberg SChool for Communication and Journalism)
“Participatory Communicatio and Cultural Continuity Perspectives Regarding Ecological and Enviornmental Migration (EEM) in China: A Case Study In Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau”

In China, ecological and environmental migration (EEM hereinafter) has become increasingly important at the national and regional levels in the past decade. An official study conducted by the Chinese government indicates that 10 million Chinese settled in rural and ecologically fragile areas should be required to emigrate for the sake of environmental conservation and poverty alleviation before 2050. However, this issue has not had a great deal of public participation, nor has it been characterized by openness, transparency, shared responsibilities or reciprocal relationships. Migrants’ political, social, economic, and cultural rights are partly denied, and their marginalization is legally justified in the name of environmental and ecological protection. A variety of problems have emerged and led to new types of social conflicts and risks. EEM, the process far from being spontaneous, voluntary, and equitable, is an instrument for controlling migrants utilized by the governments to “assimilate” or “integrate” minority ethnic people. This paper discusses and evaluates China’s EEM policy, implementation and patterns from a participatory communication and cultural continuity perspective. It is based on field research of a specific case related to the experiences of relocated Tibetan herdsmen in Qinghai province and advocates for an inclusive and democratized communication mechanism for China’s ecological migration practice. Click here for the full report.

View reports of USCI Graduate Summer Fieldwork Grant receipients from other years.
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