2014
ANNUAL REPORT
UC San Diego School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
Research, Engagement, Impact We founded the 21st Century China Program in 2011 with the goal of creating one of the leading research and educational centers dedicated to the study of contemporary China in the United States. While the study of China has reached historical proportions over the past several decades, there is still a great need for timely and in-depth analysis of the country’s economic, political and societal transformation. Three years later, I am proud to say the Program here at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) is now nationally recognized as a leading center for research on China. Our faculty, who offer unparalleled expertise on China’s economy, politics and foreign affairs, form the core of the Program. As you will see in the pages that follow, the past year has been a time of prodigious output and collaboration with colleagues in the United States and China. We firmly believe that as we create knowledge, it must also be shared with the wider community. Toward that end, the Program regularly brings leading China scholars and practitioners to San Diego to promote dialogue on a wide range of topics. In the past 12 months we have sponsored 18 public lectures on campus and held five academic conferences. Highlighted speakers included Carl Walter, former COO of JPMorgan China; Clark T. Randt, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to China; Zhimin Chen, dean of the School of International Relations and Public Administration at Fudan University; Yan Lianke, renowned Chinese novelist short listed for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize; and Evan Osnos, National Book Award winner. Looking ahead to the coming year, the 21st Century China Program, its scholars and community supporters will continue their endeavor to engage with China and expand the frontiers of our knowledge about the country’s political system, economy and society. It is my sincere hope that you can join us on this journey.
— Susan Shirk, 21st Century China Program Chair
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2014 Annual Report
R e s e a r c h I n n o v a t io n Our scholars are working on research that addresses the most critical issues confronting China’s economy, political system and foreign policy.
Tai Ming Cheung
Director, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and associate professor, IR/PS, UC San Diego Tai Ming Cheung published a new book with Johns Hopkins University Press titled “Forging China’s Military Might,” which analyzes recent trends in China’s military modernization. He currently leads a five-year research and training program through the U.S. Department of Defense’s Minerva Initiative that examines China’s efforts to become a world-class power in science and technology.
Richard Madsen
Director, Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China and Distinguished Professor of Sociology, UC San Diego Richard Madsen, widely considered as a founder of modern Chinese sociology, is currently working on a book about happiness in China, which he describes as an exploration on searching for a good life in China in an age of anxiety, tapping into people’s sense of meaning. Working alongside several other American and Chinese researchers, he is conducting extensive field research on the changing attitudes of the Chinese in the face of a reformed economic and social structure.
Barry Naughton
Sokwanlok Professor of Chinese International Affairs, IR/PS, UC San Diego Considered one of the leading scholars on the Chinese economy, Barry Naughton continues his research on economic reforms for publications such as Stanford University’s China Leadership Monitor and Dædalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His most recent article is titled “It’s All in the Execution: Struggling with the Reform Agenda.”
Molly Roberts
Assistant professor of political science, UC San Diego Molly Roberts has emerged as one of the top experts on China’s censorship regime. In 2014 alone, she coauthored papers in the top-tier journals Political Analysis and the American Journal of Political Science. Her most recent paper with Gary King and Jennifer Pan, titled “Reverse Engineering Chinese Censorship: Randomized Experimentation and Participant Observation,” was published in the August issue of Science.
Victor Shih
Associate professor of political science, IR/PS, UC San Diego A leading scholar of the political economy of China, Victor Shih has been awarded a major grant by the Smith Richardson Foundation to study the effect of the anticorruption campaign on political stability in China.
Junjie Zhang
Assistant professor of environmental economics, IR/PS, UC San Diego An expert in Chinese environmental policy, Junjie Zhang has published a major article in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management titled “‘Effortless perfection:’ Do Chinese cities manipulate air pollution data?” In it, he explains that 50 percent of Chinese cities reported dubious pollution levels.
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New 21st Century China Program Scholars Karl Gerth
Hwei-Chih and Julia Hsiu Professor of History, UC San Diego
Karl Gerth joins UC San Diego after teaching modern Chinese history at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on the historical and contemporary implications of Chinese consumerism. He has authored two major books on the subject: “As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything” and “China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation.”
Ruixue Jia
Assistant professor, IR/PS, UC San Diego
A native of China, Ruixue Jia holds a Ph.D. in economics from Stockholm University and joined the IR/PS faculty in 2013. She has published a series of articles in top-tier academic journals that combine her research interests in Chinese history and the latest in quantitative methodology to give us a new lens on using the past to illuminate the present. Her most recent working paper looks at the impact of the 1905 abolition of the Chinese imperial examination system on both social mobility and the 1911 Revolution.
Molly Roberts
Assistant professor of political science, UC San Diego
Molly Roberts has joined our expanding team of contemporary China scholars this fall after completing her Ph.D. at Harvard University’s Department of Government. Her path-breaking work with Harvard’s Gary King, using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods, has for the first time provided a rigorous understanding of when and why the Chinese government censors online dialogue.
“The new China-focused faculty at UC San Diego are changing our understanding of China’s modern political economy.” — Gordon Hanson, IR/PS Acting Dean
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2014 Annual Report
Promoting Research
on
China
Building relationships with scholars in China and around the world is of vital importance to our core mission. In the past year, we have hosted more than 50 scholars for a series of high-impact conferences, workshops and research fellowships. Conference: Growth, Trade, Investment and the Future of Manufacturing in China, Mexico and the U.S. Jan. 16 – 17, 2014 | UC San Diego and Tec de Monterrey Conference: China-Japan Relations and the Role of the U.S. March 7, 2014 | UC San Diego
Collaboration with Chinese Scholars In 2014, the Program hosted the following scholars from China who conducted individual or collaborative research while in residence at UC San Diego. Huang Shaoqing, associate professor, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Workshop: Social Power in China: Fudan-UC Young Scholars May 19 – 20, 2014 | UC San Diego
Liu Feng, associate professor of political science, Nankai University
Workshop: Politics of Stability Maintenance in China Aug. 21 – 22, 2014 | UC San Diego
Xiong Yihan, associate professor of political science, Fudan University
Conference: China’s Political Economy: Theory and Evidence Oct. 6 – 7, 2014 | UC San Diego
Yang Jin, Ph.D candidate in economics, Xiamen University
Meng Tianguang, post-doctoral fellow, Tsinghua University Yan Yuye, associate professor, Shanghai Finance University Zhang Han, post-doctoral fellow, Tsinghua University
P a r t n e r s h ip w i t h F u d a n - U C C e n t e r o n C o n t e m po r a r y C h i n a Based on campus, this center is the first academic institution established by a major Chinese university in cooperation with a leading North American university. We have worked closely with the center over the past year to cosponsor several public lectures and conferences, plus host the China Research Workshops: a series featuring new academic research by visiting scholars, graduate students and special guests.
C a r n e g i e C o r po r a t io n G r a n t With the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation, we have undertaken a multi-year project to investigate the link between China’s domestic politics and its foreign policy. Nine promising young Chinese scholars will be in residence at IR/PS and work closely with our faculty to produce new and important research.
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Outreach
and
Community Engagement
The 21st Century China Program connects local and national communities through public lectures, salons, cultural activities and roundtables. In the past year, we have organized or cosponsored dozens of public lectures with individual speakers such as: Cai Fang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee
Jennifer Turner, director of Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum
Jorge Guajardo, former Mexico Ambassador to China
Zhuo Xinping, director of the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Xia Guang, director general at the Policy Research Center, Ministry of Environmental Protection Wu Jinglian, senior researcher for the China State Council Development Research Center Yan Lianke, renowned Chinese novelist short listed for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize Evan Osnos, staff writer, The New Yorker and National Book Award winner Clark T. Randt, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to China
Carl Walter, former COO of JPMorgan China
Chen Zhimin, dean of the School of International Relations and Public Administration, Fudan University “The 21st Century China Program is built on the support from the community, and it gives back to the community by providing the most cogent analysis of China today.” — Lei Guang, 21st Century China Program Director
Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.China Relations, Asia Society
C h i n a F oc u s China Focus is a student-run blog sponsored by the Program whose mission is to provide a context for understanding China, China’s role in the world and U.S.-China relations. In addition to launching a new blog, they organized a successful debate on Oct. 23, 2014 that was attended by 300 people on campus, plus an additional 1,600 individuals from around the world who have watched the live stream of the event.
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2014 Annual Report
S u ppo r t i n g
the
Program
Funding for the Program comes from the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, foundations, other institutional supporters and individual donors. We are especially proud to receive the support from our founders who share a common vision about the importance of deepening public knowledge and understanding of China. 21st Century China Program Founders Anonymous Rita and Richard Atkinson April and Lowell Blankfort Colene and Harold Brown Gail Kee and Javade Chaudhri James Ding Gail and Jeff Donahue Diana Lady Dougan and J. Lynn Dougan Daphne and James Jameson Mitchell Julis
Current Donors
Anonymous Andrea and John Bell Constance Mullin Branscomb and Lewis Branscomb Martha and Edward Dennis Phyllis and Daniel Epstein Deborah Friedlaender Joy Frieman
Susan and Dee Lew Lily and Shao-Chi Lin Peggy and Peter Preuss Cassidy and Jeremiah “Jere� Robins Cathy and Larry Robinson Margaret and Neal Schmale Marion and Kwan So Monica and Don St. Pierre Jr. Junling Sun and Hong Huan Gai Jing Wang Carolyn and Malcolm Hewitt Wiener
Vivian Lim and Joseph Wong Thelma and Herbert Yuen Charles Zhang
Andres Gentry Leigh and Stanford Hartman Ken Kuang Yi and Yang Liu Deborah and Michael Morrison Anne Otterson Sharon and Dean Peng Susan Shirk and Samuel Popkin
Ivan Shin Melesse and Robert Traylor Blake Tye Dongmei Wang Abby and Ray Weiss Min Wu and Yingzhi Ding Huirong Xie Rachel York
Institutional Supporters
Anonymous Bank of America Merrill Lynch OMERS Capital Markets Pacific Pension Institute Sohu.com
For information on making a gift to the 21st Century China Program, please contact IR/PS Director of Development Ryan Robinson at rmrobinson@ucsd.edu or (858) 822-7617.
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china.ucsd.edu Stay Connected We want to keep you informed with the addition of new, innovated media: Audio recordings of key events, plus timely, informative interviews now available online A new Twitter feed as the go-to source for the latest news and events A bi-weekly 21st Century China Briefing for supporters that offers current insight on what’s happening in China today Explore all the ways to connect with members of our global community and keep up to date with the latest events and news.
O u r P e op l e Susan Shirk, Chair
Ho Miu Lam Professor of China and Pacific Relations IR/PS, UC San Diego
Lei Guang, Director
Professor of Political Science San Diego State University
Jude Blanchette, Assistant Director IR/PS, UC San Diego
School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
21st Century China Program
School of International Relations and Pacific Studies | UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive #0519 | La Jolla, CA 92093-0519 (858) 246-1950 | jblanchette@ucsd.edu
The Program gratefully acknowledges the assistance provided by IR/PS in producing this annual report.