J. Stapleton Roy currently serves as Vice chairman of Kissinger Associates Inc. He was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research from 1999-2000. He attained the highest rank in the Foreign Service, Career Ambassador, after serving as ambassador to Singapore, Indonesia and the People’s Republic of China. He is also a member of the board of Freeport McMoran Cooper & Gold Inc.

This event is co-sponsored by NYU China House, NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the U.S.- Asia Law Institute at the NYU School of Law.

Village elections have been the most significant development to the political life in rural China since the fall of the commune system in the early 1980s. They have empowered villagers to elect their own village officials and monitor their behavior in their tenure. This development has potentially important implications for villagers’ welfare. Based on several recent studies, this talk provides strong evidence supporting a positive role of village elections to enhance the accountability of the village officials, increase villagers’ income capabilities, and help them mitigate the negative effects of unexpected natural shocks and smooth their consumption.

This event is co-sponsored by NYU China House, NYU East Asian Studies Department, and the NYU Law School's US-Asia Law Institute.

The last several years have seen a proliferation of rules about corporate governance in China. But how significant are the rules if enforcement mechanisms, whether state or non-state, are weak or lacking altogether? China’s corporate governance regime relies heavily on the announcement of rules by government authorities and tends to overlook the institutions needed for making those rules meaningful. Lawmakers expect that regulated parties will read the legal texts and voluntarily obey; if they do not, their ignorance or moral failings are blamed, not the lack of enforcement institutions. Nor does the corporate governance regime look to non-governmental institutions for the making and enforcement of rules and standards. A major reason for this is simply political: the political system of China does not yet accept the existence of institutions that are both powerful and independent of the state. For all its progress over the quarter century, the post-Mao Chinese legal system remains an institution of only modest importance in the polity.

This event is co-sponsored by NYU China House and the Pollock Center of Law and Business.

Three leading scholars working on Buddhist art in its multiple contexts are presenting their recent research at New York University. The speakers are Kurt Behrendt (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Annette L. Juliano (Rutgers University), and Roderick Whitfield (Yale University). Their papers address recent advances in the study and presentation of Gandharan Art, Indian influences on the beginnings of Chinese Buddhist art, and the interpretation of smaller atypical Buddhist images from the ancient Chinese capital of Chang’an (modern Xi’an).

The Symposium will also afford a glimpse of the complexities involved in presenting Buddhist art away from its original context to a public, anticipating three separate exhibitions: two in New York City at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (re-installation from August 10, 2007) and The China Institute (September 20-December 8, 2007); and a third at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, in spring 2008. Chao-Hui Jenny Liu will moderate and Angela Zito (NYU Religious Studies/Anthropology) will serve as Discussant.

The Symposium is organized in collaboration with the Department of Art History at NYU. For more information please click here.

Environmental pollution is of major concern to China as it undergoes rapid development in its transition to a market economy.  To combat the consequences of pollution the Chinese government has established the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) whose function is to define national environmental policies and regulations, collect information about the environment and provide technological advice. Pollution of air, water and ground are significant in almost all areas of China.  This has stimulated the government to create demonstration programs for combating pollution in several major cities and river valleys.  SEPA is reviewing strategies for minimizing pollution and enforcing regulations to control pollution.  Our speakers will inform us about the different types of pollution and suggest remedies for minimizing its consequences.  Both the medical and the economic issues related to the pollution will be discussed, particularly in relationship to policy.

Speaker: Jerome Cohen, NYU Professor of Law
Topic: “Normalizing” Relations with China, 1966-79: Memoirs of an Academic Participant-Observer
Date: January 25, 2007, 4 - 6 PM
Click here to listen to the lecture (edited)

Jerome Cohen is the leading American expert on East Asian law and a pioneer in the introduction of East Asian legal systems and perspectives into the American legal curricula. A Professor of Law at NYU and Senior Fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, Prof. Cohen regularly teaches on Chinese law and society and comparative international law, in particular analyzing how countries with a Confucian tradition relate to the international laws and traditions of the “Christian West.” Mr. Cohen is often consulted by the U.S. government and NGOs and has served as a trustee of the Asia Society, the China Institute, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and as the director of the National Committee on U.S. – China Relations.

Prof. Jerome Cohen will be speaking on the atmosphere in the U.S. and China from 1966 to 1979 and, by recalling his own observations and participation, discuss the development of the American approach to China by taking into consideration the domestic and international legal questions that formed an important part of the policy discussions on both sides as well as their relation to domestic politics in the United States. Prof. Cohen will emphasize the broader and human aspects of these developments rather than their technical legal content and also refer to the implications of these events for our contemporary, unresolved issues with China.

Speaker: Pauline Yu, President, American Council of Learned Societies
Topic: "The Chinese Century? American Learning and Chinese Lessons"
Date: November 30, 2006, 4 - 6 PM
Click here to listen to the lecture (edited)

Pauline Yu, President of the American Council of Learned Societies, is a former Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Dean of Humanities in the College of Letters and Science at UCLA. She received her B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University. She is the author or editor of five books and dozens of articles on classical Chinese poetry, literary theory, comparative poetics, and issues in the humanities and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, ACLS, and NEH. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is on the Board of Trustees of the National Humanities Center, the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, the Board of the Teagle Foundation, the National Advisory Board of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the Senate of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian Cultural Council, and the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong-America Center. Yu is also an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar and Visiting Professor in East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.

Speaker: Tom Bender, Ph.D., Professor of History, FAS, NYU
Topic: "China, America, and Global History:  Reflections on an Interconnected World since 1500"
Date: October 12, 2006, 4 PM

Thomas Bender is a University Professor of the Humanities and Director of the International Center for Advanced Studies. Prof. Bender proposes a fresh and illuminating alternative to the conventional national narrative of American exceptionalism. Placing American History firmly in a global context, and in particular with relations to China, he recasts the historical developments that were central to the making of the nation and shows why they can be fully understood only in light of America's global entanglements over five centuries.

The third Annual Asian American Health Conference urges participants to take notice of and take action towards reducing health disparities in the Asian American community.

The conference will include oral and poster presentations that reflect innovative programs, initiatives or research: enhancing outreach and service delivery; strategies for developing action-oriented research; ensuring inclusion of Asian Americans in data collection and dissemination.

Speakers include Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; NYC Council Member John Liu; Adam Gurvitch, MS, The New York Immigration Coalition; and Marguerite Ro, DrPH Deputy Director, Asian American Pacific Islander Health Forum.

Speaker: Liu Biwei, Chinese Consul General to New York
Topic: "Enhanced Mutual Understanding towards Closer Exchanges and Cooperation between China and the United States”
Date: September 28, 2006, 3:30 PM
Accompanied by an art installation curated by Gerald Pryor entitled: "Seven Artists in China / Again"

China House is proud to launch its Speaker Series with Liu Biwei, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China to New York, one of the top-ranked Chinese officials in the United States. He has served within the Chinese diplomatic service for over 25 years, in Southeast Asia, Africa, and since 2003, in New York City. Join him as he comes to speak on China's relations with the United States. Liu Biwei's lecture will also commemorate the official inauguration of New York University China House. The event will be marked by an art installation curated by Gerald Pryor, head of the NYU Department of Art and Art Professions. The seven artists showcasing their work are: Joanna Foster, Hee Seung Sung, Adrienne Adar, Kwong Yin Brian Hung, Zoi Karamani, Meng Tang and Donald Penny.