Talking Points, February 25 - March 11, 2009

Talking Points
February 25 - March 11, 2009

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times featured a story on Chinese government efforts to coax highly skilled Chinese living in the United States and elsewhere back to China. While not a new effort, the tough American job market and the perception of expanding opportunities in China is causing many Chinese students and recent graduates to consider heading to China to launch or advance their careers. On Thursday, March 5, Janet Salaff of the University of Toronto will speak at USC on “Return Migration: The Role of Social Networks and Family Relations.” The talk looks at transnational networks and draws on extensive interviews with young Chinese.

Chinese Americans and the sorts of networks Prof. Salaff will discuss have played an important role in many aspects of the U.S.-China relationship, including economic exchanges. Earlier today, President Barack Obama nominated Gary Locke, a Chinese American, as Secretary of Commerce. Locke’s paternal grandparents were born near Guangzhou and his mother was born in Hong Kong. Locke served as governor of Washington from 1997 to 2005. Since then, Locke has been a partner in a law firm and has served clients with business interests in China. As governor, Locke led trade missions to China, and stressed the importance of trade with China, highlighting well known Washington companies such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Starbucks and products such as apples, as well as lesser known firms and products. In May 2008, Locke spoke at the Shenzhen International Cultural Industries Trade Fair. His address is available in the US-China section of our documents collection.

******

Other upcoming events at USC include the Chinese American Student Association’s production “Unforgettable,” an original drama set in 1936 Shanghai. The Bovard Auditorium performance is Saturday, March 7th. On March 12, Arizona State University’s Xu Wu will discuss “Cybernationalism.” On Thursday, Feb. 26, distinguished historian Wang Gungwu will discuss changing views of the global at UCLA. In Washington, DC on Friday, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China looks at “Does China Have a Stability Problem?” And on Saturday, the University of Michigan screens “China Upside Down,” a documentary about Chinese families which have accumulated enormous wealth during the reform era. Looking a bit farther ahead, USC hosts the 22nd Asia Pacific Business Outlook on April 6-7. The conference is co-sponsored with the U.S. Department of Commerce and features many China-focused presentations and workshops. Details for these events are below and in the calendar section of our website.

******

The next issue of US-China Today comes out early next week. It will bring   a great selection of articles and multimedia features. Among the topics explored are Chinese investments in Africa (with an interactive map), worries that Macau gaming might not be recession-proof, weird paradoxes of Chinese cyberspace, family planning, employment trends, the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, and microfinance. Photo essays look at China’s west and year of the ox celebrations. But there’s no need to wait until next week to visit the magazine website – go there now to check on our daily news updates and "voices" collection.

In addition to Talking Points, we publish Teaching About Asia, a monthly newsletter for educators. Click here to read back issues of Teaching About Asia and to learn about our workshops (including the seminar starting Saturday, Feb. 28) and other resources for teachers.

Best wishes,
The USC U.S.-China Institute
http://china.usc.edu

USC: 

03/05/2009: Return Migration: The Role of Social Networks and Family Relations
USC, Taper Hall 301, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Time: 3:30PM - 5:00PM
University of Toronto's Janet Salaff will speak on the role of return migrants in Asia.
 
03/07/2009: USC CASA 2009 Culture Show - Unforgettable
USC Bovard Auditorium
6:30PM - 9:00PM
Tickets are FREE for USC students with valid ID
For non-USC guests, tickets are $7.00 each.
The Chinese American Student Association is producing its 10th annual culture show! The story lies in 1936 Shanghai, a city unlike any other in the whole world, a heaven built on top of hell...  

California:

02/26/2009: Changing Images of the Global
UCLA Faculty Center, Sequoia Room
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 5:30PM
A talk by Wang Gung-wu, the inaugural lecture in the series Beyond the Headlines. 

02/27/2009: 2009 Hixon-Riggs Forum on Science, Technology and Society
Harvey Mudd College, Beckman Auditorium
Cost: Free
9:00AM - 5:30PM
The 2009 Hixon-Riggs Forum will focus on science and technology in the making of modern China during two days of presentations and discussions.

02/27/2009: Origins and Spread of Asian Domesticated Dogs and Related Expressions: An Anthropological Linguistic Analysis
UCLA, 243 Royce Hall
Cost: Free
Time:  1:30PM - 2:30PM
A talk in Chinese by Deng Xiaohua (Xiamen University). 
 
02/27/2009: Contemporary Architectural Trajectories in East Asia
UCLA Hacienda Room, Faculty Center, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 2:00PM - 4:00PM
A panel talk on contemporary architecture in East Asia 

02/28/2009: Letters to A Student Revolutionary
The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy
111 N. Central Avenue, Los Angeles
Cost:$20 for General Admission, $15 for Students, Seniors, Group (10+), Affiliated APA + Theatre Groups and Japanese American National Museum Members
The Visual Artists Guild presents a play to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.  
 
02/28/2009: Modern Architecture in East Asia: Regionalism/Translationalism
Los Angeles Convention Center, West Hall Meeting Room 503, Level 2
Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 9:30AM - 12:00PM
A discussion of modern architecture in East Asia 
 
03/02/2009: The Making of the Chinese Intellectual: Theory, Findings, and Hypotheses
UCLA 10383 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 4:30PM - 6:00PM
Eddy U (UC Davis) will explore the intellectual (zhishifenzi) as what Pierre Bourdieu called a “practical classification” mobilized by agents with different motives and tactics. 
 
03/03/2009: Popular Protest in China
IEAS Conference Room
2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free
5:00PM - 6:30PM
Kevin O'Brien (UC Berkeley) presents a talk on how popular contention unfolds in places where speech and assembly are tightly controlled. 

03/05/2009: Staying Alive: Thirty Years of Reforming China's Communist Party (CCP)
Stanford University
Philippines Conference Room, Encina Hall
616 Serra St., 3rd floor
Stanford, CA 94305
Cost: Free
Time: 4:15PM - 5:30PM
This talk is part of the Stanford China Program Winter 2009 China Seminar Series titled "30 Years of Reform and Opening in China: How Far from the Cage?" 

03/06/2009: Land Rights, Resources, and Chinese Development in Long-run Perspective
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
Kenneth Pomeranz of UC Irvine gives a talk on the on long-term aspects of Chinese development. 
 
03/11/2009: Stolen Life
Ocean Screening Room
1401 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica , CA
Time: 6:00PM - 8:00PM
Asia Society Southern California in cooperation with The Global Film Initiative, will show STOLEN LIFE on Wednesday, March 11th at the Ocean Screening Room in Santa Monica. 

03/12/2009: Dealing with Responsibility for the Great Leap Famine in the Peoples Republic of China
UCLA 10383 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 4:30PM - 6:00PM
A talk by Felix Wemheuer (University of Vienna, Austria)

North America:  

02/27/2009 - 03/01/2009: Harvard East Asia Society Graduate Student Conference
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
The Harvard East Asia Society (HEAS) Graduate Student Conference invites graduate students from around the world, conducting research in all disciplines, to submit abstracts for our 2009 conference.

02/27/2009: Putting Their Lives on the Line: Charter 08's Wake Up Call for China and America
Capitol Hill
B-339 Rayburn House Office Building
Time: 12:00PM - 1:15PM
The Defense Forum Foundation presents a discussion by Dr. Yang Jianli on the various foreign policy options that Charter 08 presents for the United States and the western democracies. 

02/27/2009: Does China Have a Stability Problem?
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 628
Time: 2:00PM - 3:30PM
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China presents a roundtable discussion on China's public policies.  
 
02/28/2009: China Upside Down
University of Michigan
Auditorium A Angell Hall 435 South Street
Cost: Free
Time: 7:00PM - 9:00PM
A film by Freddy Coppens that profiles several families who rose from subsistence incomes to fabled luxury through the inventiveness and ambition of the extended family.
 
03/03/2009: The Road Ahead: The First Green Long March
Asia Society and Museum
Auditorium, 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Time: 6:30PM - 8:00PM
A film chronicling the start of a national Chinese youth movement for the environment. Initiated in 2007 with support from Future Generations/China, the first march was comprised of 2,000 youths from more than 20 Chinese universities.

03/06/2009: Asian American Art Symposium 2009: A Century of Asian American Art: Archives, Scholarship, and Curation
Casa Italiana
24 W. 12th Street, New York, NY
Cost: Free
Time: 12:00PM - 6:00PM
A symposium exploring Asian American art archive initiatives in America.

Exhibitions: 

01/28/2209- 03/06/2009: Rubbings
Wesleyan University
The Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies
343 Washington Terrace
Middletown, CT 06459-0435 USA
Gallery Hours, 12-4 daily except Mondays
Wesleyan University presents an exhibition on contemporary Chinese rubbings. 

02/12/2009 - 06/07/2009: Noble Tombs at Mawangdui: Art and Life in the Changsha Kingdom, Third Century BCE to First Century
China Institute Gallery
Address: 125 East 65th St., New York , NY
Cost: $7
An exhibit featuring treasures of the Marquis of the Changsha Kingdom and his family

11/03/2008 - 11/03/2009: Ancient Arts of China: A 5000 Year Legacy
Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, California 92706
Bowers Museum presents a collection that portrays the evolution of Chinese technology, art and culture.  

11/14/2008 - 11/14/2009: Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective
Seatle Asian Art Museum
Address: 1400 East Prospect Street , Volunteer Park , Seattle, WA 98112–3303
Phone: 206.654.3100
The Seattle Asian Art Museum presents an opportunity to see a collection with representative works from each dynastic period.

11/15/2008 - 11/15/2009: Masters of Adornment: The Miao People of China
Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, California 92706
The Bowers Museum presents a collection of exquisite textiles and silver jewelry that highlights the beauty and wealth of the Miao peoples of southwest China.

02/12/2009 - 02/12/2010: Art of Adornment: Tribal Beauty
Bowers Museum
Address: 2002 N. Main, Santa Ana, CA
Cost: $5
Time: 10:00AM - 4:00PM
An exhibit featuring body adornments from indigenous peoples around the world

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please invite others to subscribe to USCI’s free email newsletter for regular updates on events and programs. We will not share names or email addresses with any other entity. Sign Up.

We provide information about China-related events as a community service. If you would like your event considered for inclusion in the USCI calendar, please click here to submit event details.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You have received this e-mail because you have subscribed to receive updates from USCI. If you feel this message has reached you in error or you no longer wish to receive our updates, please click, unsubscribe, and enter "Remove" in the subject line.  

Click here for the Talking Points archive.