USC And China In The News: March and April 2018

 

USC U.S.-China Institute’s Clayton Dube and Gene Del Vecchio of the USC Marshall School of Business were interviewed for a report on Shen Yun, a touring cultural performance company. Dube noted that the advertising for Shen Yun makes no mention of the religious and political content of the show. He said that one of the aims of the performance is to help audience members “become sympathetic to the fact that this group is suppressed … in China.” Del Vecchio noted how widespread and costly Shen Yun advertising is, saying, “You have to be hiding under a rock not to have seen the marketing and communications for Shen Yun.”

 

 

An opinion piece highlighted the Asia Pacific Business Outlook conference hosted by the USC Marshall School of Business. Columnist Tom Plate noted, “The Asia Pacific Business Outlook was a shot of sunshine across the beclouding bilateral relationship.”

 

 

USC political scientist and Chinese film scholar Stanley Rosen was interviewed for a story on increasing censorship of films to be shown in China. Rosen noted that foreign judges at the Beijing Film Festival may not approve of the festival’s decision to not show Call Me By Your Name, a film about a gay romance, but may be reluctant to withdraw. Rosen said, "Publicly pulling out would be telling China that you're not a friend, which could come with long-term repercussions."

 

 

Mina Chow of the USC School of Architecture was interviewed about her film Face of a Nation, which focuses on U.S. representation at world fairs. Chow focuses on the USA Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo and includes interviews with Chinese visitors to the pavilion. 

 

 

USC political scientist and Chinese film expert Stanley Rosen was quoted in an article about Hengdian, a major film producing city in China. Rosen noted that, "A lot of things have become more sensitive, especially in terms of film and media. There's no question about it."

 

 

 

Nicholas Cull of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism was quoted in an article about China’s Communist Party’s efforts to tighten control over how China is represented in the media. Cull argued that the government’s efforts to squelch diverse voices is counter-productive. He said, “It’s an ironic thing that, really, the fantasy of the Chinese government and the fantasy of the Chinaphobe in the West are exactly the same thing, that China is one single, super-strong thing, and, the reality is so different from that.”

 

 

USC U.S.-China Institute senior fellow Mike Chinoy was quoted on the visit by Kim Jong Un to Beijing. He noted, "There'll be very sharp battles in Washington between people who want to test North Korea and those who have been itching to pick a fight with North Korea, and may finally hope that this is their chance."

 

 

Brian Peck of the USC Gould School of Law was quoted on the U.S. surplus in service trade with China. 

 

 

USC Korean Studies Institute director David Kang was interviewed about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s trip to Beijing. He said, “I think Kim Jong Un has shown in the last couple months he's a great diplomat. The optics of sending his sister to the Olympics, the optics of the joint teams and particularly this visit have put him in the center of the diplomatic story. And he's the one that we are all reacting to, not the other way around.”

 

 

USC’s extensive video game course offerings were highlighted in an article about Peking University becoming the latest Chinese university to offer such a course. 

 

 

The USC U.S.-China Institute’s Clayton Dube was quoted in an article about the tariffs imposed on China by the Trump administration. Dube said, "Americans and Chinese will likely suffer in both the short and long term as prices rise, orders fall, projects are postponed, and the bigger issues of market access and intellectual property security are set aside."

 

 

Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute was interviewed about the Chinese government's decision to remove term limits on its president and vice-president. Dube noted that while the Chinese government argues this is to ensure stability, it may engender instability as those opposing Xi Jinping and his policies feel they can't simply wait for him to step down, that they must confront his government. 

 

 

 

In an interview, Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute discussed the removal of term limits for China's president and vice president. Dube noted that the presidency is mainly a ceremonial job while real power resides with the Communist Party general secretary and the chair of the party's military commission, jobs for which there are no term limits. Dube noted that the problem with autocracy is straightforward: too much rests on the ability of a single person. Even if one leader might be hard working, smart, able, good hearted and well-intentioned, there's no assurance that the next one will be and there's no mechanism to deal with a leader who fails to meet the needs of the people. This yields instability.

 

 

USC Marshall School of Business professor Greg Autry was quoted in an article about Peter Navarro’s rise in influence at the White House. “Although Navarro’s thoughts are considered out of the mainstream, that’s because nobody wants to fund those thoughts,” Autry said. “I don’t know that Peter’s thinking is unusual, it’s just that that thinking is hard to get to the forefront.” Autry co-authored with Navarro the book Death by China. 

March 9, 2018: South China Morning Post

Stanley Rosen, USC political scientist and film specialist, was cited in an article about Operation Red Sea, a Chinese military blockbuster. Rosen doubted it would be popular in North America or Europe, saying,  “It will still be almost all Chinese who will go to see it. I think it might do better on DVD because it will appeal to action fans.”

 

USC Marshall School of Business professor Greg Autry published an op-ed about Pres. Trump’s steel tariffs. He argues, “The current situation is the result of China’s long-term strategic policies, which pose important economic, military, and environmental implications… “With a near-monopoly position in metals, China can manipulate dependent industries, extracting further capital and technology concessions from America’s automobile and aircraft industries.” 

 

 

Stanley Rosen, USC political scientist and Chinese film specialist, was quoted about the potential appeal of the film The Black Panther. He said, “The advance ticket sales have been quite good, and there is certainly a lot of interest based on how well it’s done elsewhere and among those who enjoy Marvel films. It should open strongly and then it will depend on word of mouth.”

 

 

T.J. Wong, USC Marshall School of Business professor, was quoted in an article about why China’s government wants its technology giants to list on Chinese stock exchanges. He cautioned that pushing them to Chinese stock exchanges might create a bubble. "When the government is supporting something, everyone rushes in," he said. "What you don't want is a huge bubble, then a burst."  

 

 

 

USC political scientist Stanley Rosen was interviewed for an article about the upcoming release of the film Black Panther in China. Rosen said Black Panther is a test case. "It will be interesting to see how it's discussed in the blogs and on social media once it comes out, and whether the race of the actors is even raised as an issue, or if it's just viewed as another superhero film," he said. "I'm inclined to think it will be more of the latter."

 

 

Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute was quoted in an article about Perfect World, a Chinese video game company's, success in helping fund Oscar-winning films Darkest Hour and Phantam Thread. Dube noted that Perfect World, unlike some other Chinese companies jumping into film, had invested modestly. “Perfect World is not making big gambles and is learning how to identify quality projects,” said Dube. “Learning how to make prestige projects like Darkest Hour or Phantom Thread will be increasingly important as China’s population ages and audiences grow less enamoured over formulaic and special effects films.”