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Talking Points, October 17, 2007

USCI's weekly newsletter
October 17, 2007
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USC U.S.-China Institute

Talking Points
October 17 - October 31, 2007

“We in no way want to stir the pot and make China feel that we are poking a stick in their eye.... We understand the Chinese have very strong feelings about this.”
-- Dana Perino, White House press secretary, speaking to reporters on October 16, 2007 following a Tuesday meeting between the Dalai Lama and the president and Mrs. Bush. Perino was explaining why no official photo from the meeting was being released.
 
“We solemnly demand that the US side cancel the extremely wrong arrangement…. The Chinese side has made solemn representations on this many times."
-- Yang Jiechi, Chinese Foreign Minister, speaking to reporters in Beijing on Oct. 16, 2007
 
“I said [to Chinese President Hu] I'm going because I want to honor this man. I have consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their nation's interest. I've also told them that it's in their interest to meet with the Dalai Lama and will say so at the ceremony."
-- George W. Bush, Oct. 17, 2007 press conference, explaining why he will join today’s ceremony honoring the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal
 
Neither the Bush administration nor China’s leaders want differences over Tibet’s present and future to become a major issue in our bilateral relationship. Both governments understand this and while both find it necessary to vigorously affirm their values and positions, neither wants the issue to escalate.
 
Improving understanding of the multidimensional U.S.-China relationship and trends in contemporary China is the central mission of the U.S.-China Institute. This Friday, we have asked Irv Drasnin, producer of 1972’s Misunderstanding China and other influential CBS and PBS documentaries, to discuss the challenges confronting filmmakers working in China trying to explain China to Americans. Details about “Documenting China” are below.
 
One reason the Chinese foreign minister reacted so strongly is that China’s Communist Party is in the midst of its 17th Plenum in Beijing. It’s not yet clear who will join General Secretary (and President) Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on the Party’s Political Bureau, but in his opening address Hu has already affirmed that despite China’s obvious and remarkable gains, there remain great economic disparities from region to region and between cities and the countryside. Hu’s argued that the Party and government must address this as well as social unease over these disparities, environmental degradation, and official corruption.
 
At the USC Global Conference in Tokyo next week, distinguished business leaders such as Ronnie Chan (Chair, Han Lung Group) and scholars from China, Taiwan, and the U.S. will examine these challenges and discuss the investment climate in the Pacific Rim as well as the geopolitical implications of China’s economic rise. USCI has organized two of the conference’s panels. More than 300 people have registered to attend the gathering.
 
Other events this week include USC Architecture Dean Qingyun Ma’s talk on curatorial urbanism, Sun Hua’s talk at UCLA on archaeology in the area of the Three Gorges Dam, and a major conference in Washington on Hong Kong today. As always, look below and to the calendar section of our website for information about China-related events, performances, and exhibitions.
 
Thank you for sharing the newsletter with friends and colleagues. They can subscribe themselves at: http://china.usc.edu/Subscribe.aspx. And we love hearing from readers. Please send your comments to us at uschina@usc.edu.
 
Best wishes,
The USC U.S.-China Institute

 

 

 USC Events 

10/19/2007: Irv Drasnin: Documenting China
USC Taper Hunanities Hall (THH) 202
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost: Free
Phone: 213-821-4382
Time: 2:00PM - 4:00PM
Irv Drasnin will screen parts of his films and discuss the challenges of working in China.

10/20/2007: Buddhist Art and Architecture: A Trip to the Hsi Lai Temple
Hsi Lai Temple
3456 S Glenmark Dr , Hacienda heights, CA 91745
Cost: FREE for USC students; RSVP required
USC Visions and Voices hosts a trip to the largest Buddhist temple in North America.

10/25/2007: 2007 USC Global Conference
Shinjuku Hilton Tokyo 6-2 Nishi-Shinjuku 6-chome Shinjuku-Ku, Japan 160-0023
Cost: Please visit website
The 2007 USC Global Conference held in Tokyo, Japan explores the opportunities and challenges facing the Pacific Rim.

California Events 

10/17/2007: Antiquities & Archaeology in the Three Gorges Area
UCLA
11377 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 5:30PM
Professor Sun Hua analyzes the economic and environmental impacts that the famous Three Gorges area of Sichuan has on the region.
  
10/17/2007: Curatorial Urbanism
W. M. Keck Lecture Hall
Address: 960 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Cost: Free
Time: 7:00PM - 9:00PM
Qingyun Ma is Dean of the USC School of Architecture and holder of the Della and Harry MacDonald Dean's Chair in Architecture.

10/17/2007: Cao Baoping: Trouble Makers (Guangrongde Fennu)
UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater
Address: University Of California, Los Angeles, LA, CA
Cost: See website for details
Time: 7:30PM - 9:30PM
Part of the Jack H. Skirball Screening Series - New Chinese Cinema: The Unofficial Stories of Tang Tang, Fourth Child, Little Moth and Others

 

10/19/2007: Mei Lanfang, Peking Opera, and the Chinese Aesthetic
IEAS Conference Room
Address: 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Time: 1:00PM - 4:00PM
Joshua Goldstein, Zhang Dandan, and Ban Wang examine the themes of 20th century Peking Opera with special emphasis on Mei Lanfang.

10/19/2007: A Tribute to Edward Yang: A Brighter Summer Day (Guling Jie Shaonian Sharen Shijan) Director’s cut
UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater
Address: University of California, Los Angeles , Los Angeles, CA
Cost: See website for details
Time: 7:30PM - 11:30PM
Part of the Jack H. Skirball Screening Series - New Chinese Cinema: The Unofficial Stories of Tang Tang, Fourth Child, Little Moth and Others
 
10/20/2007: Peng Tao: Little Moth (Xue Chan)

UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater
Address: University Of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: See website for details
Time: 7:30PM - 11:00PM
Part of the Jack H. Skirball Screening Series - New Chinese Cinema: The Unofficial Stories of Tang Tang, Fourth Child, Little Moth and Others
 
10/25/2007: From Mao to Mozart, Issac Stern in China
Norma Kershaw Auditorium, Bowers Museum
Address: 2002 N. Main St, Santa Ana, CA 92706
Cost: Free with paid admission
Phone: (714) 567-3600
Time: 1:30PM
The Bowers Museum brings an academy award winning film starring Issac Stern about China's reopening to the West in 1979.

10/25/2007: Development of Inner-Party Democracy in Taiwan and Its Consequences for Taiwan's Party Politics
10383 UCLA Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
4:00PM - 5:30PM
Dr. Fell will introduce how Taiwan’s political parties have democratized their candidate selection systems over the last two decades and the consequences of more authoritarian/democratic selection systems.

10/26/2007: US-China Business Law Conference
UCLA School of Law
Parking is available in for $8 in Parking Structure 3
Time: 8:30AM - 4:30PM
A Day-long Conference for Businesspeople & Law Professionals.
 
10/26/2007: The Alley-Level State: Residents and Neighborhood Organizations in Beijing and Taipei
IEAS Conference Room
Address: 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
Ben Read compares and contrasts Beijing's Residents Committees and Taipei's Neighborhood Heads. 

 

10/26/2007: Lecture: Tibetan Buddhism
UCLA Charles E. Young Grand Salon
Address: 248 Kerkhoff, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:30PM
The UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies presents a talk on Tibetan Buddhism by Robert Thurman.
 
10/26/2007: Ann Hui: The Post-Modern Life of My Aunt (Yimade Houxiandai Shenghuo)
UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater
Address: UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: See website for details
Time: 7:30PM - 9:30PM
Part of the Jack H. Skirball Screening Series - New Chinese Cinema: The Unofficial Stories of Tang Tang, Fourth Child, Little Moth and Others
 
10/30/2007: Reactions to China’s Control Crisis--an Analysis of Recent Incidents of Social Unrest
IEAS Conference Room
Address: 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free
Website: ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2007.10.30.html
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
Lecture will be conducted in Chinese with English translation
Yu Jianrong explores current instances of social unrest in the People's Republic of China. 
 
10/31/2007: Strategic Deterrence: A Chinese Scholar’s Perspective
3401 Dwinelle Hall, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 12:00PM - 2:00PM
Bao Shixiu gives a talk on the strategic deterrence.

 North America Events

10/22/2007: Hong Kong on the Move: American and Hong Kong Perspectives on the First Ten Years of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
 
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, DC
Cost: Free
Time: 8:30AM - 5:30PM
A discussion about Hong Kong's first ten years as a Special Administrative Region with both American and Hong Kong experts. 

10/30/2007: Who Made China's One-Child Policy?
School of Social Work Building, Room 1636
Address: 1080 S. University , Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106
Cost: Free
Time: 12:00PM - 1:30PM
Susan Greenhalgh examines China's one-child policy from 1978 - 1980.

Exhibitions:

09/17/2007 - 12/21/2007: Forces: Paintings & Calligraphy
IEAS Conference Room
2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA 94720-2318
Cost: Free
The UCB Center for Chinese Studies presents an exhibition by Lampo Leong.

09/06/2007 - 01/20/2008: Zhang Huan: Altered States

2nd Floor Starr & Ross Galleries
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Ave, New York, NY
Phone: 212-517-ASIA
This exhibition is the first ever museum retrospective of Zhang Huan, encompassing major works produced over the past 15 years in Beijing, New York, and Shanghai.

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USC U.S. – China Institute
南加州大学美中学院

3535 S. Figueroa St.
FIG 202
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1262
Tel: 213-821-4382
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