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Talking Points, February 27 - March 12, 2008

The USC U.S.-China Institute's weekly newsletter
February 27, 2008
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USC U.S.-China Institute

Talking Points
February 27- March 12, 2008

Dear Clayton,

 

The overwhelming share of China’s labor force now works outside the state-owned sector. Even within the state sector the move towards partial privatization and the embrace of more market-oriented management principles has transformed firms. Stanford’s Jean Oi has been examining how politics has buffeted and skewed the process of privatization in China. She’ll discuss this at USC next Wednesday, March 5.
 
Much has been made over the past year of the remarkable investments Chinese entities have made in the United States. Appliance maker Haier has a manufacturing center underway in South Carolina and mines in Minnesota have reopened under Chinese owners. Billion dollar bets have been made in the investment banks Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns and in Blackstone, the giant private equity firm. On Thursday, March 6, Bear Stearns Vice Chairman Donald Tang visits USC to discuss efforts by Chinese money-managers to diversify their $1.5 trillion foreign exchange holdings so as to reduce risk and to increase returns. Mr. Tang is also head of the Asia Society’s Southern California Center which is co-sponsoring the event.
 
Looking a bit farther ahead, on March 22 voters in Taiwan will choose a new president. Polls show the election tightening between the two leading candidates, Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang and Frank Hsieh of the Democratic Progressive Party. In 2004, the election was bitterly contested and eventually decided by 24,000 votes out of more than 13 million cast. An estimated 10,000 Taiwan citizens flew in from California to participate in that vote. USCI is sending a faculty and student observation group to Taiwan to carry out interviews with party officials, scholars, journalists, and others, attend rallies, and watch the vote. On March 26, this group and other scholars will present their observations at a symposium. We hope you can join us for this event and for the many China-related events planned for April. Those include presentations by Justin Lin, the USCI board of scholars member who has just been named the World Bank’s chief economist, on April 8 and the Herbert G. Klein Lecture by Clark T. Randt, Jr., America’s current and longest-serving ambassador to China on April 21. On April 24-26, the USC East Asian Studies Center and the School of Cinematic Arts present “Chinese Cinema: Art, Commerce, and Politics.” That conference features presentations by leading directors and film executives, film screenings, and scholarly analysis.
 
Information about all these events is available below and at the calendar section of our website.
 
USC faculty and graduate researchers have until March 3 to submit proposals for summer and 2008-2009 research projects. Click here for details. For a limited time, faculty and graduate students are also eligible to apply for $1,500 travel grants. Click here for more information.
 
We appreciate your feedback and thank you for sharing Talking Points with friends and colleagues. They can subscribe at http://china.usc.edu/subscribe.aspx.
 
Best wishes,
The USC U.S.-China Institute

 

 

USC Events

03/05/2008: Political Cross Currents in China’s Corporate Restructuring

USC University Club
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
Cost: Free
Stanford University's Jean Oi will examine China's corporate cross currents.  

03/06/2008: Investing $1.5 Trillion
USC Davidson Conference Center
Vineyard Room, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 5:30PM
Donald Tang, vice chairman of Bear Stearns and chairman of the Asia Society Southern California Center speaks at USC.

California Events

02/28/2008: Chinese Independent Documentary Series: Gongbu’s Happy Life

Melnitz Hall
2534 Melnitz Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Phone: 310-825-8683
Time: 7:00PM - 10:00PM
Presented by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies and the REEL CHINA Documentary Biennial. 

02/29/2008: 2008 Wilbur K. Woo Greater China Business Conference
Korn Convocation Hall
110 Westwood Plaza , Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: $29-193
Engine for Growth: the China California Connection  

02/29/2008: A Night of Hong Kong Kung Fu Cinema

Ahmanson Bldg B06
Otis College of Art and Design 9045 Lincoln Boulevard , Los Angeles, CA 90095
Time: 8:00PM - 10:00PM
Join Craig Reid in the presentation of a double feature of renowned martial arts film director Liu Chia-Liang's films. 

02/29/2008: International Night
Los Angeles STAPLES Center
Address: 1111 S. Figueroa Street , Los Angeles, California 90015
Cost: $30 (Includes access to discussion panel and ticket to Avengers vs. New Orleans VooDoo game)
A panel of esteemed experts will discuss the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

02/29/2008 - 03/01/2008: Li-ka Shing Foundation workshop on Republican Chinese History

IEAS Conference Room
Fulton Street 6th Floor, Berkeley , CA
Cost: Free   
Li-ka Shing Foundation workshop on Republican Chinese History
Ten scholars will discuss the significance Hoover's new collections of Republican Chinese archival materials and whether or not Republican history should be rewritten. 

03/06/2008: China's First Empire? Interpreting the Material Record of the Erligang Culture

UCLA 10383 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Wang Haicheng discusses the widespread material culture known as the Erligang culture after a type site in near the modern city of Zhengzhou. 

03/06/2008: Chinese Independent Documentary Series: Women’s Fifty Minutes and Mei Mei

Melnitz Hall
2534 Melnitz Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Time: 7:00PM - 10:00PM
Presented by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies and the REEL CHINA Documentary Biennial. 

03/10/2008: Religion and the Rise of Printing Reconsidered
IEAS Conference Room
2223 Fulton Street 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 5:00 PM
This talk will a short paper published in 2001 and the absence of any other account of the religious roots of printing in China.

North America Events: 

03/04/2008: Perspectives In and On China
Room 1636 School of Social Work Building
1080 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106
Time: 12:00PM - 1:00PM
Cost: Free
Stanford University's Richard Vinograd speaks on pictorial perspective systems in China.

03/04/2008: School of Natural Resources and Environment: China's Environmental Challenges
1040 Dana Building
Address: 1080 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
An exploration of the environmental challenges associated with the economic transformation and rise of China. 

03/07/2008: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: China in 2008
McCastlain Ballroom, UCA campus
Keynote speaker, Professor Terry Weidner will be speaking on the prospects of China in the year 2008.

Exhibitions: 

02/02/2008 - 03/29/2008: Shaolin: Temple of Zen
Otis College of Art and Design
9045 Lincoln Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045
An exhibition and publication that documents the exceptionally private warrior monks of the 1500 year old Shaolin Temple in the Henan province of China, renowned for its association with Zen Buddhism and martial arts.

 

01/23/2008 - 05/15/2008: Cycle of Life: Awakening - Works by Asian Women Artists
IEAS Gallery
2223 Fulton Street 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Email: ieas@berkeley.edu
An exhibition featuring the art works of Asian women artist.

 

03/06/2008 - 07/27/2008: Chinaman's Chance: Views of the Chinese American Experience

Pacific Asia Museum
46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena , CA 91101
Cost: $7 for adults, $5 for students/seniors
While the experience of being of Chinese heritage and living in America is unique to each individual, this exhibition will investigate the similarities and dissimilarities of these experiences.

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USC U.S. – China Institute
3535 S. Figueroa St.
FIG 202
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1262
Tel: 213-821-4382
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