2015 ANNUAL R E P O R T

2015 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 tWhen we founded the 21st Century China Program in 2011, our goal was to create the world’s leading center for the study of contemporary China. Five years later, we’re well on our way to achieving this goal. As I look at the program’s accomplishments in 2015, I’m amazed by the depth and reach of the research my colleagues are producing. From understanding the roots of China’s recent economic turmoil to their pathbreaking work on mapping the contours of political power, our scholars are at the forefront of—and in many cases setting the agenda for—the China research community.

But beyond our goal of producing cutting-edge research that informs the public discussion, one of our primary goals has been to put the program on a permanently secure financial footing. We reached an important milestone in 2015, receiving a generous gift from Qualcomm Inc. as an indication of its deep and ongoing commitment to the U.S. - China relationship. In addition, we have received amazing levels of support from individual donors, including Marion and Kwan So and several new members of our community such as Andrew Duncan and Bess Weatherman, Charlie and Ling Zhang and Lixin Cheng.

In the report that follows, you’ll see a glimpse of these endeavors in the past 12 months, setting a positive tone for what’s going to come in the years to follow.

As always, your ongoing support is essential to our success. On behalf of the faculty and staff from the program, thank you.

— Susan Shirk, 21st Century China Program Chair

321st Century China Program

n O t e w O r t h y d e v e l O P m e n t S

Introducing new scholarsThe program is growing its core faculty by two, when in summer 2016 Assistant Professors Xu Yiqing and Shi Weiyi join UC San Diego’s Department of Political Science and School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS), respectively. Xu, who will have received his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, centers his research on the public opinion and ideological spectrums in China. Shi received her Ph.D in political science from UC San Diego. Her dissertation focuses on the politics of China’s outbound direct investment, including the behavior of China’s state - owned enterprises when operating abroad.

Sokwanlok Distinguished Lecture debutsMade possible by the generous support of Marion and Kwan So, the program relaunched the Sokwanlok Distinguished Lecture on China in 2015. Professor Qian Yingyi, a noted economist and

dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, delivered the lecture on Dec. 8, titled “Understanding China’s New Normal.”

Ruixue Jia’s research in Econometrica

GPS Assistant Professor Ruixue Jia has made a name for herself in the program as the guru of fusing Chinese history and economics methodology. You too can see her name in the prestigious journal Econometrica, which accepted her paper, “Elite Recruitment and Political Stability: The Impact of the Abolition of China’s Civil Service Exam System.” Jia’s research also extends to the political economy of

pollution in China and Korea, performance and connections in political selection, and the relationship between coal mine deaths and administrative decentralization.

Susan Shirk named 2015 Revelle MedalistSusan Shirk received UC San Diego’s coveted Roger Revelle Medal in 2015. The award, which UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla bestowed to Shirk as part of the university’s Founders Day celebration on Nov. 13, honors visionary faculty leaders for their sustained, distinguished and extraordinary service. Shirk’s achievement comes a year after GPS Founding Dean Peter Gourevitch received the medal in 2014.

Photo by: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

2015 Annual Report4

S P O t l I g h t O n 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

“Through hard work and with community support, we have turned ourselves into the leading university-based center for research on contemporary China.” — Susan Shirk

Victor ShihAssociate Professor, GPS, UC San Diego

Shiping TangFudan Distinguished Professor and Dr. Seaker Chan Chair Professor, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

2015 - 16 Fulbright Visiting Professor Shiping Tang is widely published in forums for international relations, institutional economics, sociology and philosophy of the social sciences. He is the recipient of the International Studies Association’s Annual Best Book Award in 2015 for his title, “The Social Evolution of International Politics (2013).” During his residency at GPS and the 21st Century China Program, Tang has made progress on projects regarding regionalism, ethnic conflict, autocracy and political economy. He also concluded a yearlong project conducted by his research team at Fudan University in Shanghai that provided computer simulation - based predictions for Taiwan’s presidential and legislature elections. The team has developed an original, agent-based modeling simulation platform that combines micro-level data about voters and macro-level demographic, economic, political and social data. With refinement, Tang is hopeful that the approach may one day transform the field of election prediction and electoral studies worldwide.

When Victor Shih published his first book in 2007, “Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation,” it couldn’t have come at a better time. The global economic crisis ensued later that year—and with it an explosion of bank credit pumped into the Chinese economy. Shih now is positioned among the leading voices on the challenges facing China’s economy. In October 2014, he predicted in a public debate with GPS Professor Barry Naughton that the Chinese economy would see a severe crisis within five years. By summer 2015, that prediction took on new relevance when the world witnessed a sudden implosion of the Shanghai stock market. As many puzzled over the government’s heavy-handed response, Shih saw a pattern: In competition between the market forces and state forces, the state does not always win. He now is completing a book that looks at elite - level competition in the late Mao and Deng Xiaoping period.

Policy DialoguesCalifornia-Shanghai Innovation Dialogue Feb. 5 - 6, 2015 | UC San Diego

Academic ConferencesFudan-UC Young Scholars Conference: “Governance in China” May 14 - 15, 2015 | UC San Diego

“New Perspectives on Innovation and Intellectual Property Policy in China: What Does the Evidence Say?”May 19, 2015 | UC San Diego

Graduate Research Conference in PRC History: “Life Strategies, Identity Formations and Political Crises in Socialist China, 1949-1989” June 15, 2015 | UC San Diego

“Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Survival” Dec. 4 - 5, 2015 | UC San Diego

Collaboration with Chinese ScholarsIn 2015, the program hosted the following scholars from China who conducted individual or collaborative research while in residence at UC San Diego.

Shuo Chen, assistant professor of economics, Fudan University*

Feng Liu, professor of political science, Nankai University

Jie Mao, assistant professor of public finance and taxation, University of International Business and Economics

Shiping Tang, Fudan Distinguished Professor and Dr. Seaker Chan Chair Professor, Fudan University

Yue Xie, professor of political science, Tongji University*

Yihan Xiong, associate professor of political science, Fudan University*

Yuye Yan, associate professor, Shanghai Finance University

Zhifeng Yang, director, Center for Information Technology Industry, Electronic Technology Information Research Institute

Han Zhang, assistant professor, University of International Business and Economics*

Jianghua Zhou, associate professor of economics and management, Beijing Normal University*

*Indicates visiting fellowships made possible through a grant supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

521st Century China Program

“By fostering creative research and greater understanding between the Chinese and Americans, UC San Diego will become not only a major research center on China but also a catalyst for positive change in U.S. - China relations.”

— Lei Guang, 21st Century China Program Director

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 globe is vitally important to the 21st Century China Program’s core mission. In the past year, we have hosted more than 60 scholars for a series of high - impact conferences, dialogues and research fellowships.

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 aThe 21st Century China Program’s collaboration with the Fudan-UC Center—the first academic institution established by a major Chinese university in North America—continues to bear fruit. In March 2015, both entities partnered with the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation to hold the inaugural California-Shanghai Innovation Dialogue. Later in September, the center welcomed Xu Xian, director of the China Insurance and Social Security Research Center at Fudan University, as its new managing associate director. Xu replaces Fan Lizhu, who after three years of service, returns to Shanghai to resume her teaching responsibilities.

Qian Yingyi of the School of Economics and Management

at Tsinghua University delivered the Sokwanlok Distinguished Lecture on China, “Understanding

China’s New Normal,” on Dec. 8, 2015.

The inaugural San Diego Global Forum, “Friction

Points in U.S.-China Relations,” was held on

Nov. 10, 2015, featuring Susan Shirk, GPS Dean

Peter Cowhey and Research Fellow David Michael of

Boston Consulting Group.

Professor Jerome Cohen of New York University

School of Law presented on “The Rule of Law Under Xi

Jinping” on Feb. 24, 2015.

Susan Shirk was joined by Orville Schell of the

Asia Society in New York (pictured) and Thomas

Christensen of Princeton University for “Are the U.S. and China Headed Toward

a New Cold War?” on Nov. 13, 2015.

Robert Hormats of Kissinger Associates Inc. keynoted the third annual Robert F. Ellsworth Memorial Lecture on March 2, 2015. (Eleanor Ellsworth pictured here.)

Fudan University Vice President Lin Shangli and Susan Shirk discussed “China’s New Agenda: National Governance and Development” on May 19, 2015.

The inaugural California-Shanghai Innovation Dialogue was held Feb. 5 - 6, 2015 in partnership with the Fudan-UC Center and UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.

As part of the Fudan-UC Young Scholars Conference, “Governance in China” on May 14-15, 2015, the program hosted Fudan University scholars touring through the UC system.

2015 Annual Report6

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, it has organized or co - sponsored dozens of public lectures and celebrations with distinguished speakers.

721st Century China Program

AnonymousRita and Richard AtkinsonApril and Lowell BlankfortColene and Harold BrownGail Kee and Javade ChaudhriLixin ChengJames DingGail and Jeff DonahueDiana Lady and J. Lynn DouganAndrew Duncan and Bess WeathermanDaphne and James JamesonMitchell JulisSusan and Dee LewZhong Yuan Li

Lily 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.Hong Huan Gai and Junling SunJing WangCarolyn and Malcolm Hewitt WienerVivian Lim and Joseph WongThelma and Herbert YuenCharles ZhangCharlie and Ling Zhang

David AnAnonymousAndrea and John BellJeffrey S. BennettPortia BibbNicholas B. BinkleyConstance Mullin and Lewis BranscombMary K. ChandlerMarjorie F. CoburnElaine S. DarwinMartha and Edward DennisDavid DucaBarbara EnbergPhyllis and Daniel EpsteinMicah B. Fisher-KirshnerDeborah Friedlaender

Joy FriemanAndres GentryCynthia and Tom GoodmanLeigh and Stanford HartmanWarren HeenanGordon R. KnightKen KuangAnni and Arthur LipperYi and Yang LiuDeborah and Michael MorrisonAnne OttersonHua PanMarina and Rafael PastorSharon and Dean PengSusan Shirk and Samuel PopkinIvan Shin

Melesse and Robert TraylorBlake TyeDongmei WangHuirong Xie and Wei WangDongrui Lu and Ping WeiAbby and Ray WeissArmi and Albert WilliamsElizabeth G. TaftQiuqing TaiMin Wu and Yingzhi DingRachel YorkHuirong XieGavin and Susan ZauLi Zheng and Fan Yang

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLPAnonymousAsia Research CenterAsia SocietyBank of America Merrill LynchBank of Tokyo—Mitsubishi UFJCarnegie Corporation of New YorkChina Everbright Ltd.

Chinese Enterprise InstituteEast West Bank FoundationEmerging Sovereign GroupGLG ResearchOMERS Capital MarketsPacific Pension InstitutePandexa.comQualcomm Incorporated

Sempra EnergySmith Richardson Foundation Sohu.com Ltd.Union BankVistage Worldwide Inc.ZTE USA

21st Century China Program Founders

Donors

Institutional Supporters

S u P P O r t I n g t h e P r O g r a mFunding for the 21st Century China Program comes from GPS, 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.

a g I f t w I t h g l O b a l I m P a C tIn November 2015, Qualcomm Inc.’s ever - staunch support to UC San Diego extended to the 21st Century China Program. The company donated a charitable gift to the program, establishing an endowment that delivers a lasting stream of funding for fostering communication and cooperation between U.S. stakeholders and political and business leaders in China, with the goal of producing informed research on China and supporting peaceful and stable U.S. - China relations. Read more about this gift at china.ucsd.edu.

For information on making a gift to the 21st Century China Program, please contact GPS Director of Development Ryan Robinson at rmrobinson@ucsd.edu or (858) 822-7617.

O u r P e O P l eSusan Shirk, Chairsshirk@ucsd.edu

21st Century China ProgramSchool of Global Policy and Strategy | UC San Diego9500 Gilman Drive #0519 | La Jolla, CA 92093-0519(858) 246-1950 | stsoi@ucsd.edu

Samuel Tsoi, Assistant Directorstsoi@ucsd.edu

Lei Guang, Directorlguang@ucsd.edu

c h i n a . u c s d . ed u

S t a y C O n n e C t e dChina Focus, a student-run blog sponsored by the 21st Century China Program, remains a significant source for providing context to China’s role in the world and U.S. - China relations. It offers high - quality, original content produced by GPS students, including interviews with program associates. For latest updates from the blog, follow it on Twitter at @ChinaFocusBlog, like it on Facebook at Facebook.com/GPSChinaFocus, or visit ChinaFocus.us.

Also, explore all the ways to connect with the 21st Century China Program’s global community via social media, and keep up to date with the latest events and news.

Facebook.com/21stCenturyChina Vimeo.com/GPSUCSD

SoundCloud.com/GPS_UCSD@21CenturyChina