2014UC San DiegoSchool of International Relations and Paci�c Studies

A N N U A L R E P O R T

2014 Annual Report2

r e S e a r C h , e n g a g e m e n t , I m P a C tWe 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

321st Century China Program

r e S e a r C h I n n O v a t I O nOur scholars are working on research that addresses the most critical issues confronting China’s economy, political system and foreign policy.

Tai Ming CheungDirector, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and associate professor, IR/PS, UC San DiegoTai 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 MadsenDirector, Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China and Distinguished Professor of Sociology, UC San DiegoRichard 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 NaughtonSokwanlok Professor of Chinese International Affairs, IR/PS, UC San DiegoConsidered 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 RobertsAssistant professor of political science, UC San DiegoMolly 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 ShihAssociate professor of political science, IR/PS, UC San DiegoA 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 anti-corruption campaign on political stability in China.

Junjie ZhangAssistant professor of environmental economics, IR/PS, UC San DiegoAn 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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n e w 2 1 S t C e n t u r y C h I n a P r O g r a m S C h O l a r S

“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

Hwei-Chih and Julia Hsiu Professor of History, UC San Diego

Assistant professor, IR/PS, UC San Diego

Assistant professor of political science, UC San Diego

Karl Gerth

Ruixue Jia

Molly Roberts

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.

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.”

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.

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

Workshop: Social Power in China: Fudan-UC Young ScholarsMay 19 – 20, 2014 | UC San Diego

Workshop: Politics of Stability Maintenance in ChinaAug. 21 – 22, 2014 | UC San Diego

Conference: China’s Political Economy: Theory and EvidenceOct. 6 – 7, 2014 | UC San Diego

Collaboration with Chinese ScholarsIn 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 UniversityLiu Feng, associate professor of political science, Nankai UniversityMeng Tianguang, post-doctoral fellow, Tsinghua UniversityXiong Yihan, associate professor of political science, Fudan UniversityYan Yuye, associate professor, Shanghai Finance UniversityYang Jin, Ph.D candidate in economics, Xiamen UniversityZhang Han, post-doctoral fellow, Tsinghua University

521st Century China Program

P a r t n e r S h I P 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 P O r a r y C h I n aBased 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 P O r a t I O n g r a n tWith 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.

P r O m O t I n g r e S e a r C h O n C h I n a 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.

Cai Fang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and member of the National People’s Congress Standing CommitteeJorge Guajardo, former Mexico Ambassador to ChinaXia Guang, director general at the Policy Research Center, Ministry of Environmental ProtectionWu Jinglian, senior researcher for the China State Council Development Research CenterYan Lianke, renowned Chinese novelist short listed for the 2013 Man Booker International PrizeEvan Osnos, staff writer, The New Yorker and National Book Award winner

Clark T. Randt, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to ChinaOrville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations, Asia Society

Jennifer Turner, director of Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment ForumCarl Walter, former COO of JPMorgan ChinaZhuo Xinping, director of the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social SciencesChen Zhimin, dean of the School of International Relations and Public Administration, Fudan University

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O u t r e a C h a n d C O m m u n I t y e n g a g e m e n tThe 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:

“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

C h I n a F O C u SChina 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.

721st Century China Program

AnonymousRita and Richard AtkinsonApril and Lowell BlankfortColene and Harold Brown Gail Kee and Javade ChaudhriJames DingGail and Jeff DonahueDiana Lady Dougan and J. Lynn DouganDaphne and James JamesonMitchell Julis

Susan and Dee LewLily and Shao-Chi LinPeggy and Peter PreussCassidy and Jeremiah “Jere” RobinsCathy and Larry RobinsonMargaret and Neal SchmaleMarion and Kwan SoMonica and Don St. Pierre Jr.Junling Sun and Hong Huan GaiJing WangCarolyn and Malcolm Hewitt Wiener

Vivian Lim and Joseph Wong Thelma and Herbert Yuen Charles Zhang

AnonymousAndrea and John BellConstance Mullin Branscomb and Lewis BranscombMartha and Edward DennisPhyllis and Daniel EpsteinDeborah FriedlaenderJoy Frieman

Andres GentryLeigh and Stanford HartmanKen KuangYi and Yang LiuDeborah and Michael MorrisonAnne OttersonSharon and Dean PengSusan Shirk and Samuel Popkin

Ivan ShinMelesse and Robert TraylorBlake TyeDongmei WangAbby and Ray WeissMin Wu and Yingzhi Ding Huirong XieRachel York

21st Century China Program Founders

Current Donors

Institutional SupportersAnonymousBank of America Merrill LynchOMERS Capital MarketsPacific Pension InstituteSohu.com

S u P P O r t I n g t h e P r O g r a mFunding 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.

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.

School of International Relations and Paci c Studies

O u r P e O P l eSusan Shirk, ChairHo Miu Lam Professor of China and Pacific RelationsIR/PS, UC San Diego

21st Century China ProgramSchool of International Relations and Pacific Studies | UC San Diego9500 Gilman Drive #0519 | La Jolla, CA 92093-0519(858) 246-1950 | jblanchette@ucsd.edu

Jude Blanchette, Assistant DirectorIR/PS, UC San Diego

Lei Guang, DirectorProfessor of Political ScienceSan Diego State University

The Program gratefully acknowledges the assistance provided by IR/PS in producing this annual report.

c h i n a . u c s d . e d uS t a y C O n n e C t e dWe 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.