11/09/2011：Ezra Vogel on Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
Davidson Conference Center, Boardroom
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost：Free, please RSVP
Time：4:00PM - 5:30PM
Distinguished Harvard sociologist Ezra Vogel offers his assessment of Deng’s leadership. J. Stapleton Roy, former ambassador to China, wrote of Vogel’s just published book,
“Deng Xiaoping's skill, vision, and courage in overcoming seemingly insuperable obstacles and guiding China onto the path of sustained economic development rank him with the great leaders of history. And yet, too little is known about the life and career of this extraordinary man. In this superbly researched and highly readable biography, Vogel has definitively filled this void. This fascinating book provides a host of insights into the factors that enabled Deng to triumph over repeated setbacks and lay the basis for China to regain the wealth and power that has eluded it for two centuries.”
Ezra Vogel is professor emeritus of sociology at Harvard University where he taught 1964-2000. He is one of the most influential scholars of East Asia, contributing vital books on China and Japan. His China-focused titles include Canton Under Communism（1969）and One Step Ahead in China：Guangdong Under Reform（1989）. His books on Japan include Japan`s New Middle Class（1963）, Japan as Number One：Lessons for America（1979）, and Is Japan Still Number One?（2000）. In addition to these seminal works, Vogel has edited a number of others, including Living with China ：U.S./China Relations in the Twenty-First Century（1997）. Professor Vogel is a member of the USC US-China Institute Board of Scholars.
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Upcoming
11/17/2011：“Harmonious Society” in Action：A Look at Two of the Tools the Chinese Communist Party is Using to Mitigate 
Socio-economic Tensions
Davidson Conference Center, Boardroom
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost：Free, please RSVP
Time：4:00PM - 5:30PM
Derek Liu will look at what drives the provision of social welfare in China. He argues that the central authorities are able to use promotion as a mechanism to shape policy at the local level despite decentralization. Ambitious provincial officials—those who seek to advance their careers to the top levels—comply with central government mandates and increase social spending in order to impress Beijing and increase their chances for promotion. Officials who are more interested in provincial or municipal careers, however, prefer to spend money on economic projects tied to their business partners. Liu’s presentation draws on novel data sources, including expenditures on “dining and entertaining,” as well as more than one hundred interviews with officials. Liu’s work is based on fourteen months in the field.
Christina Chen will examine how China’s government has responded to workers’ demands for higher wages and better working conditions. Increased tensions have caused the government to empower the previously feeble official trade union to become more active promoter of workers’ interests. At the local level, the empowered labor unions act as fire-alarms by inducing labor bureaucracies to increase their enforcement efforts with respect to labor laws and regulation. This is one method by which the authoritarian government seeks to perpetuate itself. Chen’s work is informed by provincial-level data from the 1990s to today as well as interviews with officials in a number of locations.
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