Talking Points: April 29 - May 13, 2009

Talking Points
April 29 - May 3, 2009

Disease respects no border. The daily movement of huge numbers of people and goods over great distances is a challenge for any who hope to contain an illness. The spread of swine flu (zhuliugan 猪流感) over the past two weeks and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 pounded this message home. SARS cost hundreds of lives, especially in China and Hong Kong, and as a result of this, officials there have been quick to assert their readiness to respond should swine flu become a problem there.

Chinese officials are also mindful that people remember how millions of pigs died or were killed in 2007 because of blue-ear virus. Pork prices rose dramatically. Avian flu outbreaks in China and elsewhere in Asia resulted in the slaughter of millions of birds and infected a few individuals. Officials shut down a north central China school when fifteen students took ill, they also were quick to assert that they were infected with a virus other than swine flu. A temporary ban on flights to and from Mexico has been announced and today Chinese media is showing teams of medical personnel decked out in protective masks, googles, and protective clothing boarding an AeroMexico flight to Shanghai and aiming infrared temperature sensors at the heads of passengers. (Click here for an English version)

Public health specialists say flu-infected people are most contagious prior to displaying symptoms, so the extent to which these screenings actually lessen the hazard is limited. But officials are eager to alert the public to the need to wash their hands frequently and so on, and also to signal that the government is actively working to protect public health. Dramatic images help achieve these aims.

As with disease, dramatic events such as chemical spills draw our attention to pollution’s cross-border impact. However it is the steady and long-term impact of environmental degradation that demands action. Elizabeth Economy, director of Asian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, spoke on this at USC yesterday. She documented the enormous and growing cost of pollution in China, noted government responses, and discussed ways the economic downturn affects these trends. Polls show that large majorities of Chinese consider water and air pollution among the country’s most serious problems. Economy described cases where popular protests have forced officials to halt or reconsider projects. She highlighted how determined individuals have worked in and out of government to monitor firms’ (especially those owned in full or in part by foreigners) compliance with environmental regulations. The rise of environmentally-focused civic groups is especially encouraging, though the government’s strict regulation of their aims and activities hampers their influence. And Economy examined the environmental consequences of China’s international quest for resources. American per capita resource consumption and pollution production dwarfs that of China, she asserted, and the U.S. must do much more to put its own house in order while working with China and other nations to address climate change and other pressing problems.

Video and a fuller report on Economy’s talk will be available soon at the USC U.S.-China Institute’s website. In the meantime, we hope you’ll visit the site to read about the hundreds of thousands of Chinese who die prematurely due to dirty air, about coal production and consumption in China, about the effectiveness of efforts to clean Beijing’s skies for the Olympics, and about the export and unsafe recycling of e-waste. Our student-driven web magazine, US-China Today, also features a number of articles about China’s environmental crisis.

A wide variety of events, screenings, and exhibitions are listed below and in the calendar section of our website. Of particular interest for those in or visiting Southern California is the current Huntington Library show of paintings and calligraphy collected by Weng Tonghe.

Thank you for passing Talking Points along to friends and colleagues. They can subscribe at http://china.usc.edu/subscribe.aspx.

Best wishes,
The USC U.S.-China Institute
Support the institute at: http://www.usc.edu/giving/.

California:
	05/01/2009: Massive Unemployment and Worker Protests: So Why Were Workers More Restive in China than in France and Mexico? UC Berkeley IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor Time: 1:00PM - 2:00PM The Center for Chinese studies presents a discussion by Dorothy Solinger on the increasing number of worker protests in China compared to that in France and Mexico.
	05/03/2009: Autumn 120 Judge John Aiso Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012-3805 Phone: 213-680-4462 The screening of Autumn is part of 25th Annual Los Angeles Pacific Film Festival.
	05/04/2009: Hearing the Future: Twenty Years of Listening to Popular Music in Taiwan UCLA Grand Salon Kerckhoff Hall Cost: Free Time: 4:00PM - 5:30PM UCLA Center for Chinese Studies presents a discussion by Nancy Guy on how the last two decades of popular music in Taiwan has impacted politics.
	05/08/2009: Qing China's Perspectives on India before 1850: Some Approaches and Conclusions UC Berkeley IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM UC Berkeley's Center for Chinese studies presents a talk by Matthew Mosca on the Qing Empires relations with British India.
	05/11/2009: Ancient Chinese Checkpoints and How They Possibly Worked UCLA 10383 Bunche Hall Los Angeles, CA Cost: Free Time: 4:00PM - 5:30PM UCLA Center for Chinese Studies presents a discussion by Enno Giele on the functionality of ancient checkpoints in China.
	05/15/2009: Life Writing as Literary Relic: Image, Inscription, and Consecration in Tibetan Biography UCLA 243 Royce Hall Los Angeles, CA Cost: Free and Open to the Public Time: 3:00PM - 4:30PM A CBS Colloquium Series Lecture by Andrew Quintman, PhD (Cotsen-Mellon Fellow, Princeton University).
North America:
	04/30/2009: “Heavenly Pattern Reading” and the Origins of Writing in China Princeton University 202 Jones Hall Time: 4:30PM - 6:00PM The East Asian Program presents a discussion with David Pankenier on the role of astronomy in early Chinese writings.
	05/01/2009: The Rising Stakes of Refugee Issues in China Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 628 Constitution Avenue and 1st Street, NE , Washington, DC Time: 10:30AM - 12:00PM A roundtable discussion presented by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
	05/02/2009: The Rising Tide Peabody Essex Museum 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA Time: 2:30PM A screening of Robert Adanto's film presented by the Peabody Essex Museum
	05/04/2009: Politics, Memory, and Dissent: May Fourth, June Fourth & Beyond University of British Columbia Institute of Asian Research C.K. Choi Building, Room 120, 1855 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada Time: 8:30AM - 6:00PM A workshop exploring calls for democracy, political dissent, public remonstrance, memory, and violence in modern China.
	05/06/2009: Approaches to Cross-Strait Relations The George Washington University The Elliott School of International Affairs, Lindner Family Commons 1957 E Street, NW 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20052 Phone: 202-994-5886 Time: 10:30am-11:30am The Sigur Center Taiwan Education and Research Program and the Center for Strategic and International Studies bring Tsai Ing-wen, former Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan and current Chair of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, to discuss the various approaches to relations between Taiwan and mainland China.
	05/08/2009: T'ang Studies: The Next Twenty-five Years University at Albany, Albany, New York Time: 8:00AM - 5:30PM An International Conference to Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the T’ang Studies Society.
	05/08/2009: Insiders and Outsiders in Chinese History Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies Henry R. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT Cost: Free Time: 1:30PM - 5:00PM Yale University presents a conference in honor of Jonathan Spence.
	05/09/2009: Conference on Uygur Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania Rainey Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania Museum Time: 9:00AM - 5:00PM The conference will explore Uygur remains, especially in the context of Tang China and as they relate to material evidence of other nomadic peoples of East and Central Asia, particularly Turk and Kitan.
	05/11/2009: Cross-Strait Relations One Year into the Ma Administration Foreign Policy Research Institute 1528 Walnut Street Suite 610, Philadelphia, PA 19102 Cost: Free for Faculty, Students, and FPRI Members; $20 for everyone else Phone: 215-732-3774 The Foreign Policy Research Institute assembles a group of experts to discuss the development of relations between mainland China and Taiwan in the year since Ma Ying-jeou became president of the Republic of China.
Exhibitions:
	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
	04/11/2009 - 07/13/2009: Treasures through Six Generations: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Weng Collection Boone Gallery, The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA Phone: 626-405-2100 An exhibition of Chinese painting and calligraphy highlighting works spanning 900 years.
	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. If you would like to support USCI by making a donation please visit http://www.usc.edu/giving/. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   USC U.S. – China Institute 3535 S. Figueroa St. FIG 202 Los Angeles, CA 90089-1262 Tel: 213-821-4382 Fax: 213-821-2382 Email: uschina@usc.edu  Website: http://china.usc.edu  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.