Wenfang Tang is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh.  A specialist in survey research in China, Tang is a member of the Advisory Board of Comparative Politics: Annual Editions, and the Editorial Board of the Open Political Science Journal.  He has served as a Project Consultant on the China Survey Data Network of Texas A&M University.  His latest books are Public Opinion and Political Change in China (Stanford University Press, 2005), and Public Opinion and Civil Society (National Sun Yat-sen University Press).

This lecture introduces some key issues and problems concerning the so-called "multi-ethnic" China.  I will first provide a brief history of ethnic relations on the Chinese borderland.  I will then discuss the various "civilizing" projects through which the Chinese imperial and modern state tried to transform and dominate the peoples on the peripheries.  Last, I use my own fieldwork research on the Sino-Tibetan borderlands to illustrate how in China's ethnically mixed areas, religion is an important marker of ethnic identities, and rather than violent confrontations, ethnic differences are often created in peaceful sharing and mutual borrowing and accommodation of each other's religious practices.  As the combined force of Chinese nationalism and market economy has launched a new round of "civilizing" projects on China's ethnic borderlands, the diverse ethnic minority groups are facing new challenges to maintain their cultural autonomy on the one hand and to pursue sustainable development on the other.

Xiaofei Kang is Associate Professor of Chinese in the Modern Languages Department at Carnegie-Mellon University, where she teaches courses on Chinese culture and society. She emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches in her research. Her first book, The Cult of the Fox: Power, Gender, and Popular Religion in Late Imperial and Modern China (Columbia University Press, 2006), combines the disciplines of ethnography, literature, and cultural history to examine the interaction of religion, gender, and power. Her current research examines gender and religious power in conjunction with ethnicity and modernity in twentieth-century and contemporary China.

Suggested Readings:

• Stevan Harrell, "Introduction," Cultural encounters on China’s ethnic frontiers, ed. Stevan Harrell (University of Washington Press, 1995), pp.3-27. Download the PDF (1 MB)

In sharp contrast to many European societies, which did not put a high value on literacy until relatively recent times, Chinese for millennia have regarded education as an essential tool of governance. Confucian teachings emphasized the role of education in creating the ideal society, one in which men would behave according to principle and not the pursuit of profit; but the growth of commerce also ensured that literacy skills were rewarded in the marketplace. Examinations, created to recruit talented men for government service, multiplied the value and prestige of education. These factors affect Chinese attitudes toward education to the present day.

Evelyn S. Rawski is University Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh.  Her many books on late imperial Chinese social and institutional history include Educational and Popular Literacy in Ch’ing China (University of Michigan Press, 1979) and The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions (University of California Press, 1998).  Her current research concentrates on rulership in Northeast Asia, examining the historical evolution of a northeast Asian tradition of political and social organization that affected both Qing China and her northeast Asian neighbors.

Suggested readings:

• The Expansion of Education in Ch’ing China
  Alexander Woodside and Benjamin A. Elman,in Education and Society in Late Imperial China, 1600-1690, ed. A. Woodside and B. A. Elman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 525-60.
  
  
• Political, Social, and Cultural Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China
  Benjamin A. Elman, Journal of Asian Studies 50.1 (1991): 7-28.

W. James Jacob is Acting Director of the Institute for International Studies in Education (IISE), based in the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. His research focuses on Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation; International and Development Education; Social Change and Development; and Organizational Effectiveness. Jacob has consulted with UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, and The World Bank on development projects in a number of international contexts.

Qing-Ming Wang is Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and William Kepler Whiteford Faculty Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh.  A graduate of Tsinghua University, Beijing (BS and MS) and the Pennyslvania State University (PhD), his current work centers on acoustic wave biosensors, nanomaterials and on-chip assembly of nano-devices, micro fuel cell power generation devices and piezoelectric microactuators and microsensors.

This study focuses on ethnic and national identities among China’s religious minorities. It shows how the communist government ruled the vast territory conquered by the Qing Empire and implemented a state-sponsored affirmative action ethnic policy, while keeping a heavy hand on the frequent ethnic unrests. Using data from the 2006-07 Chinese Ethnicity Survey and the 2008 China Survey, this study compares ethnic and national identities between the Han majority and the Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian, Hui and Kazak minorities. Ethnic identity is examined through ethnic language identity, religious identity, and inter-ethnic marriage. It further compares national identity among the ethnic minorities in China, the United States and Russia. The findings show surprisingly high levels of both ethnic and national identities in China. The empirical evidence presented in this study suggests that the only way to keep the minorities loyal to the Chinese state is by keeping them separate.

Wenfang Tang is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh.  A specialist in survey research in China, Tang is a member of the Advisory Board of Comparative Politics: Annual Editions, and the Editorial Board of the Open Political Science Journal.  He has served as a Project Consultant on the China Survey Data Network of Texas A&M University.  His latest books are Public Opinion and Political Change in China (Stanford University Press, 2005), and Public Opinion and Civil Society (National Sun Yat-sen University Press).

• Popular Nationalism and State Legitimation in China
  

  in Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen, eds., State and Society in 21st Century China. RoutledgeCurzon.

William W. Keller is Professor in the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA).  He formerly served as executive director of the Center for International Studies at MIT, where he was also research director of MIT's Japan Program and held the rank of principle research scientist. From 1987 to 1995, he was project director and senior analyst for the US Congress' Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in Washington, DC. Most recently, he served as the Wesley W. Posvar Chair in International Security Studies at GSPIA, and Director of the Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, University of Pittsburgh. With Thomas G. Rawski, Keller is co-editor of China's Rise and the Balance of Influence in Asia (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007).

In this lecture I provide an introduction to the debate on firm and government policy regarding the offshoring of manufacturing and innovation. I focus on data from two industries -- automobiles and information technology hardware (specifically, optoelectronics). In both cases, my results show that when US firms shift production from the US to countries like China, the most advanced technologies that were developed in the U.S. no longer pay. Production characteristics are different abroad, and earlier technologies can be more cost-effective in countries like China. Among other issues, this leaves the most advanced technologies abandoned, and, in the case of the optoelectronics industry, creates a barrier to pursuing innovation in these technologies back the US. I conclude by discussing lessons from the two cases for a more general framework with which to approach offshoring policies.

Erica Fuchs is Assistant Professor of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.  She has maintained an interest in technology development and international operations throughout her career. Her research covers the geography of design, international technology and operations management, and innovation and industrial policy.  She currently studies the impact of manufacturing offshore on emerging technologies, focusing particularly on outsourcing between the United States and China.

This presentation will focus on the historic background to China’s recent economic boom, the main features of accelerated growth during the reform era that began during the late 1970s, the impact of the current global downturn on China’s economy, and China’s longer-term economic prospects.

Thomas G. Rawski is Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is widely recognized in both China and the West for his work on the rate of growth in the Chinese economy.  His most recent books are China’s Great Economic Transformation, co-edited with Loren Brandt (Cambridge University Press, 2008); and China and the Balance of Influence in Asia, co-edited with William W. Keller (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007).

Suggested readings:

• China’s Economy: Retrospect and Prospect (2005)
  Asia Special Report #129, edited by Loren Brandt, Gang Lin, and Thomas G. Rawski
  • Text
  • Video of 2005 presentation at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
    
    
• China’s Great Economic Transformation (2008), edited by Loren Brandt and Thomas G. Rawski, especially chapters 1 and 20.  Electronic version of this book available via the University of Pittsburgh electronic library catalog (best to access via Microsoft Explorer)
  
  
• The Scramble to Maintain Growth by Barry Naughton Download the PDF

Lee Branstetter is Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the H. John Heinz III College, Carnegie Mellon University, with a joint appointment in the Social and Decision Sciences Department. Branstetter is also a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves as an associate editor of the Journal of International Economics. He has served as a consultant to the OECD Science and Technology Directorate, the Advanced Technology Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the World Bank. In recent years, Branstetter has been a research fellow of the Keio University Global Security Research Institute and a visiting fellow of the Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry in Japan.

The leading Capitalist nations of the world are currently debating the need to nationalize their major banks in response the global financial crisis, raising fundamental questions about the very nature of Capitalism as we know it. Paradoxically, this may be an opportune time to consider the features of a different type of Capitalism – that of China, arguably one of the most dynamic economies in recent memory. Adopting a practical orientation – as against an economic philosopher’s view –I will discuss four key features of Capitalism with Chinese characteristics: the importance of State-owned enterprises, the transformation of national champions into global players, the role of transnational technical communities, and the evolving property rights regime. Overall, the Chinese experience of Capitalism reminds us that globalization does not equal convergence – i.e., there is little evidence that economic and financial systems around the world will converge to a single model.

Ravi Madhavan is Associate Professor of Business Administration in the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business.  Widely published in the field of strategic management, his research seeks to understand the interaction structure of competitive advantage, i.e., how the structure of firm-to-firm interaction networks influences competitive advantage, studying this phenomenon in two core domains: (1) corporate strategy, with an emphasis on strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions; and (2) the dynamics of globalization. Empirical contexts of primary interest have been steel and venture capital, two very dissimilar industries that have both been relatively slow to globalize.

Suggested Readings:

• Huang, Y. (2008). Capitalism with Chinese characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State. New York, NY, Cambridge University Press.
  
  
• Lam, N. M. and J. L. Graham (2007). China now: Doing business in the world's most dynamic market. New York, NY, McGraw-Hill.
  
  
• Redding, G. and M. Witt (2007). The future of Chinese Capitalism: Choices and chances. Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press.