USC and China in the News, July and August 2010

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August 27, 2010: Xinhua News Agency

An article noted the opening day of the US-China Real Estate Summit featured a keynote presentation by Ed Roski, chairman of Majestic Realty and chair of the USC Board of Trustees. The article noted the second day of the summit is to feature panel presentations at USC. USC alum and San Gabriel mayor Albert Huang hosted the summit which also featured former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros.

August 25, 2010: Phoenix Television

Clayton Dube of the USC US-China Institute  was interviewed for a story on US-China economic relations. Dube noted that the America’s trade deficit with China shrank primarily because the recession reduced US demand, not because of actions undertaken by China. Dube doubts that US-China relations will become an important election issue this fall, though in some races such as in Pennsylvania ongoing trade disputes may come up. Asked about the news that China had become the world’s second largest economy, Dube noted that this was a tremendous achievement but that on a per capita basis, China’s economy remains small. China’s added more people to its population in the last 30 years, Dube said, than currently live in the US. 
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August 25, 2010: Inside Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed noted that Chinese students at USC took part in a survey on the reasons why Chinese students use agents, who help them with the application process for U.S. schools.

August 16, 2010: Bloomberg

An article discussed how Fu Chengyu, chair of China National Overseas Petroleum Corporation, has expanded the company’s business. Fu studied petroleum engineering as a USC graduate student. He’s been chair of CNOOC since 2003.

August 16, 2010: Marketplace Radio

Clayton Dube of the USC US-China Institute was interviewed for a story on China’s GDP surpassing that of Japan. Dube illustrated the change in economic circumstances over the 30 years of China’s economic reforms by highlighting gifts the groom’s family was expected to give the bride back in the early 1980s: a watch, a bicycle, and a sewing machine.

August 13, 2010: Connecticut Post

USC graduate and US-China Today staff writer Christopher Alesvich was profiled as co-founder of Wudaokou Borderless Learning, a firm that teaches Chinese over the internet.

August 9, 2010: China Film

USC political scientist Stanley Rosen was interviewed for an article about the Chinese movie industry. He noted that some urban Chinese are willing to pay higher movie theater prices because movie-going symbolizes their higher socioeconomic status. Even in the economic downturn, people still turned out for films.

August 3, 2010: CNN

USC US-China Institute senior fellow Mike Chinoy wrote a remembrance of CNN correspondent John Lewis. Lewis, Chinoy wrote, “In Beijing, during the student protests in the spring of 1989, [John Lewis] literally lived in Tiananmen Square for days, surviving on candy bars, instant noodles, and cigarettes, to keep tabs on a story as dramatic as it was complex. And when Chinese officials barged into CNN's Sheraton Hotel workspace to order the network to cease its live broadcasts after the government declared martial law, it was John, along with anchor Bernie Shaw, Moscow correspondent Steve Hurst and me, who remained on the air -- in one of the most memorable moments in the history of TV news -- providing commentary and analysis literally until the moment the authorities pulled the plug.” Lewis reported for CNN for 18 years and died on July 29.

August 1, 2010: Pioneer Press

Melissa Monnier says, "People are very surprised when they meet a small-town girl from central Minnesota who can speak to them in their native language…  For many of the Chinese ... seeing and talking with student ambassadors here is their first time having personal contact with an American." Hamline University’s Monnier was one of the students selected to represent the US at the Shanghai Expo in the student ambassador program organized by the USC U.S.-China Institute.

July 30, 2010: Newsweek

USC political scientist Stanley Rosen was quoted in an article about Chinese director Feng Xiaogang: “People in China will go see a Feng Xiaogang film because it is by Feng Xiaogang. He is a brand and has valuable name recognition. People know a film by Feng will be well written and moving.”

July 26, 2010: KCRW To The Point

Mina Chow of the USC School of Architecture was interviewed for a program focusing on what America’s presence at the Shanghai Expo reveals about the United States. Chow noted that many of the Chinese visiting the USA Pavilion came away unimpressed, remembering only Kobe Bryant’s appearance in one of the Pavilion’s videos. She argued that America failed to show “the best of our best” while other countries did.

July 26, 2010: The Diplomat

A blog entry included extensive comments from USC international relations specialist Daniel Lynch. Lynch said, “The United States has now effectively declared that its national interest can’t accommodate exclusive Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea territories.” This is a major development, and Lynch noted, “As it becomes more widely apparent that the US has blocked Chinese attainment of a self-declared core national interest, China will suffer a loss of international prestige—a major blow to the reputation of a realist state striving to accelerate its rise through the inspiration of awe, near and far. China will no longer seem so invincible. It will, in fact, appear humiliated, depending on how the development is spun.”

July 25, 2010: Los Angeles Times

Clayton Dube of the USC US-China Institute was quoted in an article about gift-giving by Chinese Americans visiting friends and family in China. Dube noted that "It really does consume people when they make preparations to go back to China" and "people can't imagine going back to China without bringing something. The gift is part of the ritual."

July 14, 2010: China Daily

Joy Lam, USC doctoral candidate currently carrying out fieldwork in China, was interviewed for a story on “The Little Griddle,” a private school in Anhui province which focuses on teaching students from 3 to 13 the Confucian classics. Lam said, “By providing free classes, The Little Griddle provides a public space where people interested in traditional culture can gather, and where discussions about the compatibility of Chinese traditional culture with modern society is possible not only among academics but people in general.” Lam’s research has been supported by the USC U.S.-China Institute.

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