China and the US: Towards a Closer Partnership
An address by Tung Chee Hwa (download transcript)
An NYU China House and the Office of Global Programs event
Time: 11:00 AM, Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Location: Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for University Life
60 Washington Square South, Room 802 (at the corner of LaGuardia Place)
Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Founding Chairman of the China-US Exchange Foundation
Machine for Contacting the Dead
A talk presented by Liza Lim
NYU China House & NYU Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts Professions Co-sponsor
Time: 4-6pm, Tuesday, April 14 2009
Location: 20 Cooper Square, Humanities Initiative Room 503 (5th floor)
Reception follows.
See presentation images and video
This talk is about boundaries and ritual spaces in Liza Lim's compositional practice referencing aspects of Chinese culture such as archaeology, calligraphy, myths and opera performance.
Liza Lim (b.1966) is an Australian composer who writes music marked by visceral energy and vibrant color, often exploring forms of ritual and performance aesthetics drawn from both Asian and Australian Aboriginal sources. In describing her music, she counterpoints terms such as “radiance and shadows” and “violence and meditation”. Her works, which range from operatic and orchestral scores to site-specific installations, have been performed by some of the world's most eminent ensembles. Notably, she was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic to write the orchestral work, Ecstatic Architecture to celebrate the inaugural season of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2004. Recent major commissions have been received from the Festival d'Automne à Paris, Salzburg Festival, Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra and Lucerne Festival. She was composer-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony (between 2004-06) and has had close artistic partnerships with the Australian ELISION ensemble, Ensemble Intercontemporain Paris and Ensemble fur neue musik Zurich. Her third opera 'The Navigator' was commissioned by the Brisbane and Melbourne International Arts Festivals who presented premiere seasons in 2008. There are upcoming seasons of the opera at the Chekhov International Theatre Festival, Moscow (June 2009) and Festival d'Automne Paris (Dec 2009).
Lim has received major fellowships and awards from the Australia Council, Fromm Foundation, Ian Potter Foundation, DAAD Berlin and won the 2004 Paul Lowin Prize for orchestral composition. She has an extensive publication record with Ricordi (Milan and London). She is currently Professor of Composition and director of the Centre for Research in New Music at the University of Huddersfield, UK.
Of Two Minds: Freud and Revolutionary Spirit in China
A Seminar presented by Wendy Larson
An NYU China House & EAS Event
Time: 1:30-3:30pm, Tuesday, April 7 2009
Location: East Asian Studies conference room 312, 3rd floor, Broadway 715
Please RSVP to ellen.he@nyu.edu to receive reading materials provided by Professor Wendy Larson.
Wendy Larson is Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Oregon, with a specialty in modern Chinese literature and film. Her recent work includes From Ah Q to Lei Feng: Freud and Revolutionary Spirit in 20th Century China (Stanford UP 2008), and “Zhang Yimou’s Hero: Dismantling the Myth of Cultural Power” (Journal of Chinese Cinemas V.2 N.3 2008).
"Invincible for Aye!" Melancholy and Wrath, or Towards the Utopia of Purge
A Seminar presented by Wolfgang Kubin (download article)
An NYU China House & EAS Event
Time: 11:30-2:30pm, Monday, March 30 2009
Location: 20 Cooper Square, Humanities Initiative, 5th Floor, Conference Room 503
In order to be successful, any kind of revolution has to simultaneously fulfill two preconditions: first of all, it has materials such as land and property to be redistributed; secondly, it promises the mass a utopian society. This is so because the revolutionary, who very often is of melancholic, even depressive nature, needs to mobilize the mass by persuading them that they should be either unhappy about or dissatisfied with their current living conditions. In short, he has to produce the wrath of the masses. All revolutions, however, are doomed to fail as soon as all previous property is used up and once the mass discover that the new master is more demanding than the old. This is true not only for East Europe before 1989, but also for China before 1979. After 1979, a rescue for Chinese socialism is even to have more exploitation of natural resources and man power, i.e., to ask help from capitalism. Thus, this talk tries to show how the idea of Utopia is manipulated as a tool by and for China's new ruling power.
Kubin, Wolfgang (in Chinese: Gu Bin) is Professor of Chinese Studies at Bonn University and works as a translator and a writer, too. In 1985 he was appointed professor of Chinese at Bonn University. At first he worked at the Department of Oriental Languages where he was in charge of the Chinese section. Since 1995 he has been the head of the Department of Chinese Studies. Since 1989 he has been editing the journals Orientierungen. Zeitschrift zur Kultur Asiens and minima sinica. Zeitschrift zum chinesischen Geist. Since 2002 he has been writing and editing the history of Chinese literature Geschichte der chinesischen Literatur, which is intended to comprise ten volumes. Wolfgang Kubin focuses on Chinese literature and the intellectual history of imperial and modern China. For his scholarly and literary work as well as in the field of translation he was awarded several prizes and honorary professorships.
A Literary Night with Mo Yan
Bilingual Readings from Selected Works (poster)
Presented by NYU China House & Dept. of East Asian Studies
Readings from: Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, The Republic of Wine.
Place: Kimmel Center, rm 914
Time: Tuesday March 10, 2009
* Reception follows
"For those who strive in vain for a definition or a mere coherent description of post-Tiananmen China, Mo Yan's Jiuguo (The Republic of Wine) offers an imaginary solution, aesthetic pleasure, and even moral catharsis." - Xudong Zhang, Postsocialism and Cultural Politics
"Mo Yan transforms the wreckage of everyday life into something useful, cheering and rare." - Michael Porter, The New York Times Book Review
"If I were to choose a Nobel laureate, it would be Mo Yan." - Kenzaburo Oe, 1994 Nobel Laureate for Literature
Mo Yan is author of Red Sorghum (made into a film by Zhang Yimou), The Republic of Wine, Shifu, You'll Do Anything for A Laugh, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, The Garlic Ballads, and, most recently, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. After a brief introduction by Professor Xudong Zhang, Mo Yan will read from a selection of his works and answer questions from the audience.
Whither Chimerica?
A Seminar presented by Cui Zhiyuan
An NYU China House & EAS Event
Time: 1:30-3:30pm, Wednesday March 04 2009
Location: East Asian Studies conference room 312, 3rd floor, Broadway 715
On December 25th 2008, the New York Times published an article titled “Chinese Savings helped Inflate American Bubble”. It reported that Bernanke, Paulson and many American economists were arguing that by having invested more than US$1trillion dollars of its own money into American government bonds and government-backed mortgage debt and repeatedly lowering its interest rates China had actually helped fuelled a historic consumption binge and housing bubble in the United States. The assertion triggered an angry response from the People’s Daily. This lecture argues that it is a daunting task to answer the American charge that “you spoiled us”, since it requires both internal adjustment of China’s development strategy as well as a reconstruction of the international monetary system.
Cui Zhiyuan is a Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing. In the spring semester of 2008, he is the Anthony W. and Lulu C.Wang Distinguished Visiting Professor at Cornell University Law School. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Chicago in 1995. His selective writings includes: "The Dilemma of Invisible Hand Paradigm"(Chinese version, 1999, Economic Science Publisher,Beijing;English version, forthcoming from Harvard University Press);"The Second Thought Liberalization Movement and Institutional Innovation"(Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1997), "Whither China?"(Seoul, 2003). He is a co-author (with Adam Przeworski et al) of "Sustainable Democracy"(Cambridge University Press, 1995) and the editor of Robert Unger's "Politics"(Verso, 1997). With Huang Ping, he co-edited "China and Globalization: Washington Consensus, Beijing Consensus or what?" (Beijing, 2005)
Variations between Culture and Politics:
War, Revolution and Cultural Movement in the Era of May Forth
A Seminar presented by Wang Hui
An NYU China House & EAS Event
Time: 1:30-3:30pm, Tuesday March 03 2009
Location: East Asian Studies conference room 312, 3rd floor, Broadway 715
The significance of the May Forth Movement becomes more and more obscure at its ninetieth anniversary. Current May Forth studies tend to focus on the evolvement of the ideas such as Science, Democracy and Republic and favor positivism instead of revealing any innovative value of this historical event. This talk will investigate “the East-West Cultural Debate” between The Eastern Miscellany and The New Youth then edited by Du Yaquan and Chen Duxiu, respectively. Du proposed to reconcile the West and East in terms of culture while Chen radically called for “educating the Youth”. Thus I will argue that the May Forth, situated at the beginning of “the Short Twentieth Century”, is indeed an origin of variations between Culture and Politics that unfolds a historical chapter of “the transformation of consciousness” in modern China.
Wang Hui is a professor of the School of Humanities, Tsinghua University, Beijing. In the past a few years, he was the visiting professor at Università di Bologna, New York University, University of Tokyo and Universität Heidelberg, respectively. He received his Ph.D. from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1988. His researches focus on Chinese literature and intellectual thought. His recent published works include a four-volume works The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought (2004, in Chinese, English version coming out soon), Depoliticized Politics: The end of the Short 20th Century and The Nineties (2008, in Chinese), The Politics of Imagining Asia (forthcoming), The End of Revolution (forthcoming). He was the executive editor of the influential magazine Dushu (Reading) from 1996 to 2007. The US magazine Foreign Policy named him as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world in May 2008.
China and Current Economic Crisis
A Symposium (poster)
Presented by NYU China House & Dept. of East Asian Studies
Presenters: Cui Zhiyuan, School of Public Administration, Tshinghua University
Yao Yang, China Center for Economic Research, Peking University
Wang Hui, School of the Humanities, Tsinghua University
Commentators: Frank Upham, NYU Law School
Doug Guthrie & Edward Lincoln, NYU Stern School of Business
Time: 6:30-8:30pm, Monday March 2nd, 2009
Location: 19 West 4th Street, Room 101
*Reception follows
Cui Zhiyuan is a Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing. In the spring semester of 2008, he was the Anthony W. and Lulu C.Wang Distinguished Visiting Professor at Cornell University Law School. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Chicago in 1995. His selective writings includes: The Dilemma of Invisible Hand Paradigm (1999); The Second Thought Liberalization Movement and Institutional Innovation (1997); Whither China? (2003). He is a co-author of Sustainable Democracy (1995) and the co-editor of China and Globalization: Washington Consensus, Beijing Consensus or what?(2005).
Yao Yang is a Professor at the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) and the National School of Development (NSD), Peking University. He currently serves as the deputy director of CCER and deputy dean of NSD in charge of academic affairs and the editor of the center’s house journal China Economic Quarterly. He received his Ph.D. in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in1996. His research interests include economic transition and development in China. He has published widely in international and domestic journals as well as several sole authored and coauthored books on institutional economics and economic development in China including Ownership Transformation in China (co-author, World Bank, 2005), Economic Reform as A Process of Institutional Innovation (in Chinese, English version coming out soon) and Globalization and Economic Growth in China (co-editor, World Scientific, 2006).
Wang Hui is a professor of the School of Humanities, Tsinghua University, Beijing. In the past a few years, he was the visiting professor at Università di Bologna, New York University, University of Tokyo and Universität Heidelberg, respectively. He received his Ph.D. from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1988. His researches focus on Chinese literature and intellectual thought. His recent published works include a four-volume works The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought (2004, in Chinese, English version coming out soon), Depoliticized Politics: The end of the Short 20th Century and The Nineties (2008, in Chinese), The Politics of Imagining Asia (forthcoming), The End of Revolution (forthcoming). He was the executive editor of the influential magazine Dushu (Reading) from 1996 to 2007. The US magazine Foreign Policy named him as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world in May 2008.
The Institutional Foundations of China's Economic Growth
A Seminar Series
Professor Yang Yao (Vita)
National School of Development & China Center for Economic Research
Peking University
Place: EAS, 715 Broadway, rm 312
Time: Thursday afternoon 3:00 - 6:15
Format: 1hr 30 min. lecture and 1hr 45 min. discussions
Students who are able to attend every seminar may enroll in it as a 2 credit course, however, students and faculty are invited to sit-in on any seminar that they'd like to attend.
Below is a description of each week's topic:
January 29: Does China Offer An Alternative Model to Economic Development?
China's economic success along with an authoritarian political system raises the question whether China has created an alternative model for economic development. This seminar answers this question at two levels, one pure economic, and the other political economy. At the economic level, China does not create a new model but has rather followed the standard policy recommendations of neoclassical economics. At the political economy level, China does have created experiences that could offer potential lessons to other developing countries. Researchers can find some growth-enhancing mechanisms from the Chinese experience that apply beyond the borders of political systems. The seminar will identify several areas where such mechanisms are likely to be found.
February 5: Incentives before Institutions:A Chinese Way to Economic Reform
Recent development literature reiterates Douglass North's thesis that "institutions matter." However, the Chinese experience shows that it requires more than this thesis if one is serious about making institutions work in developing countries. Local conditions almost always oblige imported institutions to be modified. China's economic reform has often resulted in temporary and mid-way institutions. They worked under the circumstances that created them. In addition, one has to consider how to incentivize government officials to adopt good institutions. The Chinese experience has shown that providing incentives is more important than pursuing institutional purity in economic growth.
February 12: The Ruling Party and Economic Growth
Why does the CCP, the single dominant power in China, care about economic growth? One explanation resorts to its ideological convictions. Another theory proposes that institutionalization within the party is the key to the explanation. This seminar suggests that looking at the CCP's sources of legitimacy and the Chinese social structure may provide a better understanding on why the CCP cares about economic growth. The lack of procedure-based legitimacy forces the CCP to seek for legitimacy from continuous delivery of outcomes to the society. The Chinese society is a socially equal one, preempting the CCP's intention to court a few strong groups; that is, it is in its self-interests to deliver growth to China as a whole.
February 19: Land Tenure, Productivity, and Farmer Protection
Land tenure is a contentious issue in current China because it not only has a lot to do with productivity, but also affects farmers' welfare, especially facing government requisition of land. Land is both an economic asset with fungible values and a means which together with labor enables farmers to insure against negative shocks. The current land tenure may have reached a balance between these two functions of land. This seminar will both review the history of Chinese land tenure and provide an account of recent developments in making land a more fungible asset.
February 26: Democratization in the Countryside and Its Impacts
China has had democratic elections in its villages for more than 20 years. It is a question why an authoritarian state allows for democratic elections in the first place. One possible explanation is that village elections allow the authority to make a credible commitment to ordinary farmers that the state would give up its progressive policies implemented in the commune era. Based on nation-wide surveys, this seminar will provide evidence to show the nature, scope, and impacts of village elections. It will also discuss the prospect of democratization in the country at large.
March 5: Interest Groups, the Disinterested Government, and Economic Growth
One serious impediment to economic growth in many developing countries is that the government is either captured by a few elites or trapped in divisive interest group politics. One distinctive feature of the Chinese government is that it has been disinterested in interest group politics. This allows it to focus on long-run economic growth of the country. In addition to providing evidence to show that the Chinese government has indeed been disinterested, this seminar will also provide a discussion on the political and social foundations for such a government to emerge in China.
March 12: Demographic Transition, Exports, and China's Growth Perspective
The Chinese economy is the mirror image of the American economy: While the American economy is driven by innovation, consumption, and services, the Chinese economy is driven by imitation, investment, and manufacturing; while the US runs on huge trade deficits and capital inflows, China runs on huge trade surplus, but also on capital inflows. This seminar argues that the Chinese growth model has a lot to do with its demographics, which means that exports will still serve as a major engine for China's economic growth in the next ten to fifteen years. The mirror symmetry between China and the US may continue. In addition to offering an explanation to China's export-led growth model, this seminar will provide suggestions to break up this symmetry.
Chamber Ensemble Concert (poster)
Peking University Symphony Orchestra & New York University Symphony Orchestra
An NYU China House & NYU Steinhardt, Music and Performing Arts Professions Event
Music by Dvorak, Wu, Zhou & Schubert
Time: 2 pm, Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Location: Shorin Performance Room, Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, 6th floor
Please continue checking the China House website for the most up-to-date information about our Spring 2009 Program.