Talking Points: October 28 - November 11, 2009

Talking Points
October 28 - November 11, 2009

Happy Halloween! Carved pumpkins are among the decorations at Taipei’s Ambassador Hotel, where restaurants are offering specialty pumpkin soups and desserts.

Opening the 2009 USC Global Conference on Thursday USC Provost and Executive Vice President Max Nikias announced the largest gift to the USC US-China Institute to date. Two alumni from Taiwan have given US$2 million to endow the institute director’s chair. As Provost Nikias said, “While we respect the wish of the donors to remain anonymous, we see this gift as but the latest welcome sign of the firm commitment alumni have to the institute and its mission. Every day headlines pound home the centrality of the multifaceted U.S.-China relationship not just for our two countries but for the world. Our institute is unique in its focus on this relationship. This gift affirms the importance of this work.”

We’re honored by this generous gift. It represents appreciation for all that the institute has accomplished since its establishment in 2006 and an endorsement for our ambitious agenda to inform public discussion and policy development via social science research, innovative training programs, publications and documentaries, and public events. More information about these efforts is available at our website.

We’re in the midst of the Taipei Global Conference and its illuminating presentations and discussions of pressing issues regarding economic and political trends, health, energy, and the digital present and future. This year’s gathering is the largest in the series, involving more than 500 participants from ten countries or regions.

Vincent Siew at the USC Global Conference, Oct. 30, 2009.

On Friday, Taiwan’s Vice President Vicent Siew (蕭萬長Siew Wan-chang) expressed his love for the Los Angeles Lakers and then offered a detailed examination of the impact of the global economic downturn on Taiwan, the measures the government had taken in response, and the results thus far. Siew explained that Taiwan had long been dependent on exports, and that the dependency had grown over the last decade. In 1999, exports constituted 41% of Taiwan’s GDP and in 2008 their share of GDP had increased to 65%. This meant that Taiwan was especially vulnerable when the downturn resulted in a dramatic drop-off of imports by the U.S. and other countries. Siew and President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008 just as the brunt of the downturn hit Taiwan. Working with a legislature dominated by their Kuomintang party, the administration worked to

-- stabilize the banking system (e.g., by guaranteeing all savers’ deposits),
-- ensure that firms could get access to capital (e.g., by cutting interest rates and by increasing the government’s enterprise loan guarantee maximum by 20%)
-- stimulate domestic demand through income tax cuts, wage subsidies, job training programs, and coupons issued citizens to boost spending at the lunar new year.

Siew argued that these and other efforts have worked and that the worst is over. Taiwan’s GDP shrank during the first nine months of 2009, but Siew expects fourth quarter growth to be over 5%. At the same time, Siew argued that while the short term situation is now improving, major efforts must be initiated to further boost domestic demand and to accelerate development of key economic sectors such as biotechnologies, green energy, tourism, and high end agriculture.

Top: Vincent Siew at USC's Taipei Conference Bottom: Some of those attending the opening of USC's Shanghai Office.

Earlier in the week, USC opened its Shanghai Office. More than twenty news organizations

Vice Provosts Adam Powell (l) and Jerome Lucindo (r), share a laugh at the opening with USC alum and Institute supporter Robert Van Yung (c).

covered the launch and nearly four hundred people attended the opening reception. The office will play many roles, including helping especially promising students learn more about the university, facilitating contact with the more than 2,100 USC alumni in China, and fostering deeper research and educational exchanges with China-based scholars, students, and professionals.

One such exchange took place on Wednesday, when USC and The Economist sponsored “Life after 60: What’s next for the PRC?” More than 150 members of the Economist Intelligence Unit's Corporate Network attended. Briefing materials offered a sampling of earlier forecasts of China’s future and presentations focused on the challenges journalists face in covering China, the country’s economic and demographic situation, and the need for finance and corporate governance reform, as well as looks at how international China’s current leadership is, the views of Chinese who studied abroad and returned to work in China, and the diverse and sometimes contradictory views held by Chinese youth. The symposium concluded with the screening of a segment from the US-China Institute's new documentary Reporting China.

We’ll have fuller descriptions of the Shanghai symposium and the Taipei conference on our website next week.

U.S. President Obama will visit China November 15-18. He’ll have much to discuss with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other officials. Top trade officials from the two countries met this week in Hangzhou. Both sides signaled their eagerness to cooperate. The US announced it would lift restrictions on some Chinese poultry products and China announced it was lifting a ban on pork imports from the US. But trade relations remain tense. For example, this week Chinese trade officials notifed their US counterparts that they’ve received petitions asking them to investigate whether the US is unfairly subsidizing car companies and car exports. The US only exports about 30,000 cars a year to China, but the move reflects current strains in US-China trade relations, especially following Obama’s decision to impose a 35% tariff on Chinese tires imports. Equally high on the Obama visit agenda are discussions on efforts to stem global warming. Todd Stern, the top US negotiator, said this week that the presidents will not sign any agreement, but many hope that the visit will move the two largest greenhouse gas-emitting nations towards some sort of compromise. None of the major polluters have committed to specific reductions or to how those who fail to meet such targets will be sanctioned. The European Union, however, has committed to contributing to a fund to aid developing countries combat climate change.

Among the highlights in the calendar below are a New York discussion of the arts and China’s national identity, a Honolulu talk on ecotourism in China, and  the 2009 Sammy Yukuan Lee Lecture in Los Angeles. As always, details about these events and many more are available below and in the calendar section of the USC US-China Institute website.

Please note that the deadline to apply to become a student ambassador for the USA Pavilion at next year's Shanghai Expo has been extended to November 15. Also, secondary school teachers are encouraged to register for our new South Bay seminar. Information is available in the K-12 curriculum section of our website.

We love hearing from readers. Please write to us at uschina@usc.edu.

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

10/29/2009: Bride Prices, Land Division, and Education in Rural China: Substitution Effects in Parental Investments
USC KAP 319
4 - 5:30 PM
Loren Brandt (University of Toronto) discusses the investment decisions parents make regarding their children.

10/29/2009: Chinese Female Filmmakers Screening Series
USC SCA 108
Address: School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA 90007
USC School of Cinematic Arts presents the Chinese Female Filmmakers Screening Series.

 

10/29/2009 - 10/31/2009: USC Global Conference
Grand Hyatt Taipei 2 Song Shou Road Taipei 11051
The USC Global Conference heads to Taipei for a look at the emerging trends that will shape tomorrow’s world.

 

California 

 

10/29/2009: The Colburn Orchestra with Cho-Liang Lin
Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, at Segerstrom Center for the Arts , Irvine, CA
Time: 8:00PM
The Colburn Orchestra, led by conductor Yehuda Gilad, will be joined by violinist Cho-Liang Lin.

10/30/2009: Staging History - Action and Reenactment in the Cultural Revolution
UC Berkeley
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
UC Berkeley presents a talk by Carma Hinton on the representation of China’s revolutionary culture during the 1950s and 1960s.

10/31/2009: Poetry Textual Memory in the Chinese Garden
Friends' Hall
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA 91108
Phone: 626.405.2100
The Huntington will be hosting an all-day symposium entitled “Poetry & Textual Memory in the Chinese Garden.”

11/03/2009: Lang Lang and Friends
Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
at Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Time: 7:00PM
The Philharmonic Society presents pianist Lang Lang and other Chinese musicians. 

11/04/2009: Chinese Investment and Aid in Cambodia
UC Berkeley
Address: IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
Cost: Free
Time: 12:30PM - 2:00PM
UC Berkeley presents a talk by Michael Sullivan on Chinese investment in Cambodia in the context of strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. 

11/05/2009: Introduction to the Asian Area and the Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden
UC Botanical Garden
Conference Center, Mirov Rm., Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free, registration required
Time: 2:00PM - 4:00PM
UC Berkeley presents a lecture and tour of the Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden.

11/05/2009: Panel Discussion: Designing China
Orange County Museum of Art
Address: Lyon Auditorium
Cost: Free
Time: 7:00PM
The University of California Humanities Research Institute presents a panel discussion on Designing China, a seminar in experimental critical theory hosted in Shanghai this summer. 

11/07/2009: The Buddhist Arts of Tea in Medieval China
Lenart Auditorium, UCLA Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 2:00PM - 3:00PM
UCLA Fowler Museum presents a talk by James A. Benn on the role of Buddhism in the creation of Chinese tea culture.  

11/10/2009: Healing Without Harm: Traditional Chinese Medicine and Endangered Species in Asia
Fromm Hall, University of San Francisco, Parker St. (between Golden Gate & Fulton) San Francisco
Cost: Free
Phone: 415-422-6828
Time: 4:45PM - 7:30PM
Join Jill Robinson and Lixin Huang for a fascinating look at the use of endangered species products in traditional medicine. 
 
11/12/2009: Red-Headed Mummies and Indo-European Languages: The Archaeology and Linguistics of Migration in 'Chinese' Eurasia
UCLA Faculty Center, Sequoia Room
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
The Asia Institute presents a panel presentation with Elizabeth Barber and Melanie Malzahn on the discovery of red-haired mummies and an Indo-European language within the territory of modern China.

11/12/2009: The Elvera Kwang Siam Lim Memorial Lecture in Chinese Studies: Chinese Reforms in Historical and Comparative Perspective
UC Berkeley
Address: Heyns Room, Faculty Club, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
UC Berkeley presents a talk by Prasenjit Duara on the last 30 years of reform in China. 

11/12/2009: Taiwan Culture in the New Millennium: A Conversation with Two Cultural Figures
10303 Bunche Hall, UCLA
Cost: Free
Time: 5:00PM - 6:30PM
The UCLA Center for Chinese Studies presents a roundtable with screenwriter and novelist Chu Tien-wen, and novelist, poet, and naturalist Liu Ke-shiang. 

11/13/2009: Wartime Culture and Economy
UC Berkeley
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley, CA
Time: 9:00AM - 5:30PM
UC Berkeley presents a one-day conference on the various aspects of culture and economy that pertain to the daily lives of the Chinese people during times of war. 

North America

10/29/2009: Neighborhood Concert: Chinese Instrument Workshop
Univ Settlement Houston, New York, New York
Time: 4:00pm
The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will speak on their experiences at the University Settlement Houston in New York. 
 
10/30/2009: Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Address: The Carnegie Hall, New York, New York
The Carnegie Hall presents the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. 

 
11/02/2009: Panel Discussion: China Arts Today
Asia Society, New York
Time: 7:00pm
Asia Society presents a panel discussion on China's national identity and global culture.

11/02/2009: Neighborhood Concert: Haochen Zhang
Flushing Town Hall, New York
Time: 7:30 PM
Haochen Zhang will perform at Flushing Town Hall.

11/03/2009: The Han Tang Yuefu Music and Dance Ensemble
The Joyce Theater
Address: 175 8th Avenue at 19th Street, New York, NY 10011
Time: Various
The Han Tan Yuefu Music and Dance Ensemble will perform at New York's Joyce Theater. 

11/03/2009: Legal Reform in Northeast Asia: Institutional Change and Constitutionalism in Comparative Perspective by Tom Ginsburg, Professor of Law, University of Chicago
509 O’Brian Hall
University of Buffalo, New York
Time: 3pm
Free and open to the public
Professor Ginsburg will speak on the legal systems of Japan, Korea and Taiwan.  
 
11/03/2009: Arthur Sze & Afaa Michael Weaver
Folger Elizabethan Theatre
201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003
Cost: $12
Phone: (202) 544-7077
Time: 7:30PM
Second-generation Chinese American poet Sze and Baltimore native Weaver read from their Eastern influenced poems. 
 
11/04/2009: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
The Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
Time: 8 PM
The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra will perform at New York's Carnegie Hall.

11/05/2009: Traditional Chinese Music in the 21st Century
China Institute
125 East 65th Street, New York, New York 10065
Time: 6:00pm
The China Institute will hold a panel discussion focusing on the integration of Chinese and Western music. 

11/05/2009: Business Lobbying in China
Indiana University
Address: Ballantine Hall 006
Cost: Free
Time:6:00PM - 7:00PM
The Center for Chinese Language Pedagogy presents the second in its series of lectures presented entirely in Chinese.

11/06/2009: The Evolving Cultural Identity of Chinese American Artists
Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)
Address: 215 Centre Street, New York, New York 10013
Phone: 212-619-4785
$15 (general public); $12 (student and senior); $10 (MOCA member)
Advance registration required
Tony-award playwright David Henry Hwang will moderate a discussion on the changes of the cultural identity of Chinese-American artists.

11/06/2009: Dam Street
Freer Gallery of Art
Address: Jefferson Drive and 12th Street, SW Washington, DC
Cost: Free
Time: 7:00PM - 9:00PM
The Freer Gallery of Art presents a free screening of the film Dam Street. 
 
11/07/2009: Music and Theater: A Universal Language
The Paley Center for Media
Address: 25 West 52 Street (btwn 5th and 6th Aves.) , New York, NY 10019
The Paley Theater will present two screenings of the documentary, From Mao to Mozart.  
 
11/07/2009: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall , New York, NY
Time: 8pm
Carnegie Hall features a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. 

 

11/09/2009: New Juilliard Ensemble
Alice Tully Hall
1941 Broadway, New York, New York
Time: 8pm
The New Julliard Ensemble will be performing at Alice Tulley Hall. 

11/09/2009: China, Law, and Copenhagen: CFR and NRDC Discuss
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Cost: $11 nonmembers; $7 Asia Society members and students
Time: 8:00AM - 9:30AM
Chinese legal expert Jerome Cohen brings together a panel of leading experts on U.S.-China climate policy to discuss the run-up to Copenhagen and the current state of U.S.-China environmental relations.
 
11/09/2009: CEO Forum with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Cost: $50 members and students, $75 nonmembers
Time: 12:00PM - 2:00PM
Gary Hirshberg will discuss the possibility in a change in the way China produces its food and the effect an organic China could have on world markets.
 
11/10/2009: Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall 
New York, New York
Time: 8pm
The Carnegie Hall presents the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

11/10/2009: Perspectives on China: The Perpetual Discovery
Folger Elizabethan Theatre
Address: 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003
Cost: $12
Phone: (202) 544-7077
Time: 7:30PM
The Folger Shakespeare Library presents a talk by Orville Schell and James Fallows on the converging histories of Europe and China. 
 
11/13/2009: Rebels of the Neon God
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Cost: $7 members/students/seniors; $11 nonmembers
Time: 6:45PM - 8:30PM
Part of the Citi Series on Asian Arts and Culture. 

Exhibitions 

08/16/2009 - 11/29/2009: Steeped in History: The Art of Tea
Fowler Museum
Cost: Free
The Fowler Museum at UCLA presents an exhibition on the history of tea in Asia, Europe, and America through art. 

09/11/2009 - 12/05/2009: Pearl of the Snowlands: Buddhist Printing at the Derge Parkhang
The Center for Book and Paper Arts
1104 S. Wabash Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60605
This exhibit will present photographs, interviews and artifacts collected in Derge Parkhang. 

 

09/18/2009 - 01/09/2010: Imagining China: The View from Europe, 1550-1700
Folger Great Hall
201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003
Cost: Free
Phone: (202) 544-7077
Celebrate the opening of the latest exhibition at Folger Shakespeare Library.

 
09/17/2009 - 01/17/2010: Calligraffiti: Writing in Contemporary Chinese and Latino Art
Pacific Asia Museum
46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101
Phone: (626) 449-2742
Calligraffiti: Writing in Contemporary Chinese and Latino Art addresses issues of power, culture, and universality. 

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
1400 East Prospect Street , Volunteer Park , Seattle, WA 98112–3303
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
2002 N. Main, Santa Ana, CA
Cost: $5
An exhibit featuring body adornments from indigenous peoples around the world 

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