Archive

event #63 – Monday, November 6th, 2017

SPEAKER

Michael PETTIS, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Professor of Finance, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University

SalvaSalva

Related Posts

Michael PETTIS

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Professor of Finance, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University

MICHAEL PETTIS is a nonresident senior fellow in the Carnegie Asia Program based in Beijing, where he edits China Financial Markets, a monthly analysis on income inequality, market structures, and other issues affecting China and other global economies. An expert on China’s economy, Pettis is professor of finance at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, where he specializes in Chinese financial markets.

From 2002 to 2004, he also taught at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management and, from 1992 to 2001, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of the Institute of Latin American Studies Advisory Board at Columbia University as well as the Dean’s Advisory Board at the School of Public and International Affairs.

Pettis worked on Wall Street in trading, capital markets, and corporate finance since 1987, when he joined the sovereign debt trading team at Manufacturers Hanover (now JPMorgan). Most recently, from 1996 to 2001, Pettis worked at Bear Stearns, where he was managing director principal heading the Latin American capital markets and the liability management groups. He has also worked as a partner in a merchant-banking boutique that specialized in securitizing Latin American assets and at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he headed the emerging markets trading team.

In addition to trading and capital markets, Pettis has been involved in sovereign advisory work, including for the Mexican government on the privatization of its banking system, the Republic of Macedonia on the restructuring of its international bank debt, and the South Korean Ministry of Finance on the restructuring of the country’s commercial bank debt.

He formerly served as a member of the Board of Directors of ABC-CA Fund Management Company, a Sino–French joint venture based in Shanghai. He is the author of several books, including The Great Rebalancing: Trade, Conflict, and the Perilous Road Ahead for the World Economy (Princeton University Press, 2013).

Related Posts

SPEAKER

CUI Zhiyuan 崔之元, Professor, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University

At the start of a new season, ThinkIN China (TIC) is delighted to have hosted over 150 young scholars for the new season´s opening event on September 22^nd at Wudaokou´s Bridge Café.

TIC was honoured to present Professor Cui Zhiyuan as the evening´s speaker who explored the origin, evolution, implications and impact of the concept of the Beijing Consensus.

Professor Cui is known as one of the fathers of China´s so-called New Left and the concept of the Beijing Consensus itself.

Cui began his talk by describing the evolution of the concept of Beijing Consensus: The term was first established by Joshua Ramo in cooperation with Cui Zhiyuan himself as a result of Ramo’s social inquiry among 100 Chinese policy makers and intellectuals. Although the explicit term never fell during these interviews, Ramo thinks the idea of a “Beijing Consensus” clearly summarized their outcome.

Cui proceeded by describing how the Beijing consensus as a concept has evolved into the so-called “Chinese Way”, becoming a more official slogan as well as a political term recognized even by President Xi Jinping.

He himself would never have expected this idea of Ramo’s to become an official political term, Cui added.

The Beijing Consensus vs. the Washington Consensus

Ramo contrasted the Beijing Consensus with the Washington Consensus. He considered some elements of Washington consensus to be good, but inapplicable to the Chinese context.

Whereas the Washington consensus lays focus on privatization, the Beijing consensus emphasizes experimentation.

The Beijing Consensus is a more philosophical, pragmatic view that led Deng Xiaoping´s reforms in 1978 and has its roots in modern China, its three main points being:

• Commitment to Innovation and Experimentation
• Commitment to equity (GDP being an insufficient measure of progress)
• Commitment to self-determination in international relations rather than domination.

The theory behind the Beijing Consensus and its historic roots

In order to shed light on the Chinese dimension of the Beijing Consensus, Cui went back and explored its historic origins. Pragmatism – the theory behind the Beijing Consensus – refers to an American political philosophy first introduced by Peirce and Dewey in the late 19^th century. This theory emphasizes the consequences of social and political interaction. According to this theory, policy can´t ignore the reality of social conditions, but has to make it the basis of all political decisions.

The influence of pragmatism in Chinese politics traces back as far as 1919 when Dewey first visited China and came in contact with almost all key political and intellectual figures in China at the time, amongst them Sun Yat-Sen and young Mao Zedong. Cui went on to illustrate the pragmatic elements in Mao Zedong thought and policy, such as the “From point to surface” 由点到面 (youdiandaomian) working method.

Chinese pragmatism embraces the main idea of the original theory of pragmatism:  the emphasize on experimentation and adjustment to the social conditions. Since Deng Xiaoping´s reforms, Chinese pragmatism has exclusively revolved around experimentation, leaving aside the requirement of democracy, the core of the original theory.

The practical implementation of the pragmatic approach

In practice, experimentalism in today´s China is more successful in policy areas related to economic growth than in policy areas related to social innovation and social protection.

But, as Cui went on, even where experimentalism is successful, its evaluation and its “peer review” is under-developed, resulting in a lack of “reflexively monitoring of its own effectiveness” (Jack Knight and James Johnson, “The Priority of Democracy”, p.216).

As a conclusion, Professor Cui described the pragmatic approach of the Beijing Consensus as flexible and partly successful, but still truncated and facing lots of problems and failures.

The Chinese pragmatic approach gave rise to a vibrant discussion during the Q&A-session: Where can this pragmatism be found in major international economic initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative? Can pragmatism resolve the issue of lacking incentive for political reform? And – what Cui called the key question: How can pragmatism be sustained without a democratic political basis? There is no denial of the persistence of censorship and self-censorship in China, as Cui put it, but he emphasized that democracy had indeed made progress in China.

What to expect from Xi´s second term?

The topic of Xi Jinping´s second mandate was touched upon during the Q&A-session, as Professor Cui was asked about his expectations for Xi´s second term with respect to what had been decided on the third plenum of the 18^th party congress: the plan of giving the market force a decisive role in resources allocation and the decision for comprehensive reform of governance system and capacity.

Cui considered the change of a single word to be significant: The 16^th and 17^th party congress had already decided to give market force a fundamental role in resources allocation. This change from “fundamental” to “decisive” suggests a stronger emphasize on the role of market force in the process of resource allocation.

Moreover, Cui considered the distinction of governance system and governance capacity to be particularly striking, as it implies that there can be different levels of capacity under the same governance system. In Cui´s view, this may open a whole range of possibilities for reform in marginal areas in order to increase governance capacity which in turn might even lead to marginal reform in the political sphere.

Find here the ppt used by professor Cui during his presentation.

Report written by Theresa Stubhan

Related Posts

CUI Zhiyuan 崔之元

Professor, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University

Cui Zhiyuan teaches Public Policy Analysis and Comparative Politics and Government at the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University. As a graduate of China’s National University of Defense Technology, Cui went on to obtain both an MA and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He has been awarded visiting fellowships and instructor positions at various world-renowned institutions including MIT, the National University of Singapore, Harvard University Law School, the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, and Cornell University. Dr. Cui has also served as a member of a number of editorial boards for various journals and publications.

Learn more about his projects and publications on his personal website

Related Posts

event #62 – Monday, September 25th, 2017

SPEAKER

CUI Zhiyuan 崔之元, Professor, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University.

ThinkINchina is back with the new Fall Season and honored to welcome professor Cui Zhiyuan, leading member of the Chinese New Left and the first person that introduced the concept of “Beijing Consensus” into the Chinese policy debate.

Related Posts

September 18th – 22nd, Beijing

The Italian Scale-up Initiative in China (ISIC), a pioneer project organised by Tech Silu, China-Italy Chamber of Commerce and ThinkIN China, is about to reach the peak that will act as the springboard for Italian startups towards China. ISIC is where Tech Italian Scale-Ups meet Key Chinese Stakeholders to succeed together.

The initiative begun in April with a call for Italian innovative startups interested in expanding their business to China, and reached a key milestone after two selection phases: more than 50 applicants were screened by a Selection Committee, made by a member of each of the organisers; the resulting best 10 scale-ups were reviewed by the ISIC2017 Judging Panel, composed by nine of the most relevant Chinese investors, and key stakeholders.

D-Orbit, Tok.tv and X-Next resulted as the winners of ISIC2017, chosen to foster their disruptive technologies into the Chinese market.

Some leading figures of the Chinese and Italian startup ecosystem joined ISIC2017 as main partners and sponsors: Zhongguancun Innoway, the innovation and startup hub of Beijing, as Chinese partner, hosting the pitching event on the 18th September; Etihad Airways, as airline sponsor; Caixin Globus and StartupBusiness as media partners.

These key actors made possible the set-up of the final stint of ISIC2017: its program will begin on the 18th September with the event at Zhongguancun Innoway. During the event, the Best3 scale-ups will do their pitching in front of investors and will undertake 1:1 meetings with several players of the Chinese financial market.

The week will continue with a series of strategic follow-up meetings between the CEOs of D-Orbit, X-Next, Tok.tv and several relevant members of the Chinese VC and tech communities to spearhead a successful landing into the Chinese Market.

The journey will culminate on 22nd September with the Ceremony Awards at the Embassy of Italy in China, Beijing, where the scale-ups will receive their prizes; it will be also a relevant moment for an insightful networking with the Italian business community of experts, as well as Chinese investors and stakeholders.

Thanks to ISIC2017, for the first time the Italian tech ecosystem will be a central part to the official Innovation event of the Chinese Government: The National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week. The goal of the organisers is to provide the scale-ups a concrete opportunity to explore the potential of the Chinese market, boosting the Sino-Italian startup ecosystem, while contributing in shaping the Italian image into the Asian Country.

Luca Rossettini, CEO of D-Orbit, explains why this experience is so important during their expansion phase: “One of the most important markets that will dominate the next decade is Asia. China is not just an opportunity to grow our business but also the best from where positioning our unique technology worldwide. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to visit this country in the next days.” 

Read the entire press release here

Caixin Globus is the media partner of the event, check the promo video of the initiative here

Fore more information, contact us at events(at)thinkinchina.asia

Related Posts

SPEAKER

ZHANG Lijia 张丽佳, Writer, Journalist and Public Commentator

“Lotus” is a work of fiction inspired by Zhang Lijia’s grandmother who, on her deathbed, confessed that she was a sex worker in her youth. Sold into prostitution at the age of 14, Zhang’s grandmother was only bought out of the business by Zhang’s grandfather to become his concubine. Upon discovering this part of her family history, Zhang Lijia’s committed to learning more about prostitution in China. Once the research began, Zhang Lijia realized China’s social problems and transformation in the past decades were all entangled with the question of sex workers. The book itself was written in English because Zhang sees herself as playing a role in bridging China with the outside world, and making the book accessible to a wider readership is one way to contribute to that mission. Moreover, prostitution can be used as a window to explore the social tensions within contemporary Chinese society.

As modernization and urbanization in China have developed, so too has the  prostitution industry. Zhang’s idea to begin her book started in Shenzhen, where the growing population of businessmen led to an increased demand for sex workers. The illegality of sex work made Zhang’s research fraught with difficulties; it was difficult for Zhang to create bonds with the sex workers and have sustained relations because of their transient lives and tendency to disappear without notice.

The majority of urban sex workers are unskilled women migrating from rural areas. Many of these migrant women have had family problems, such as but not limited to failed marriages, unwanted pregnancies, and abuse. Unable to receive any social welfare, they resort to prostitution to survive, sometimes through friends already working in the business in massage parlors. Their families rarely know their real jobs. While the majority of the women enter the sex industry due to financial desperation, this is not the case for the urban upper class; for them, it is often a choice to earn a good income working in a high-end place. At the top of the prostitution pyramid are women that do it for emotional, not financial, purposes. Although many women become more assertive with the power brought by money, Lijia pointed out there are better ways to empower women than through sex work.

The slang term for sex workers in Chinese is the word “chicken”. The use of this degrading word is also a reflection of how they are seen by society. Many send money to their families in order not only to help them, but also to improve their social status in their family’s eyes. Prostitution is considered one of the six social problems in China and as a result, these women have no voice. That was the purpose of the book. These women are multidimension; their lives are hard and they long for human connection, but they are not always miserable, finding some joy in what the cities can offer and from acts of kindness from clients. “Pretty Woman” is still a fantasy and going back to find someone in the countryside is very unlikely. Due to the lack of Chinese NGOs addressing the issue and the legal invisibility of prostitutes, many women have to create close relations with their co-workers in order to receive some support.

Classism has played an important role in the development of prostitution. In the old days, men kept concubines in part to show status. Today, China’s economic growth has enabled, if not itself drive, the expansion of prostitution in urban areas. Moreover, the transition from a communist to a market economy has seen the reduction of the social safety net. The government has allowed the market to take over, but the market hasn’t filled this vacuum. As a result, with the income gap between men and women widening in China, middle-aged women in vulnerable situations have been greatly affected. In the lower middle class areas, older women are more commonly working as prostitutes.

China will not legalize prostitution while it calls itself socialist, but it may be able to decriminalize when there is consent. In any society, prostitution offers a great path to corruption, and in China, where police violence and harassment have been the greatest problems for these women, this is poignantly true. The crackdowns don’t act on the root of the problem and the government doesn’t offer help to them afterwards either.

Chinese feminism has different views on prostitution. The Communist Party introduced the first feminist movement in China soon after the revolution. As a result, it has usually been a top-down approach to gender equality. Chinese feminism, however small it may be, is becoming increasingly popular and maintains its grassroots connection.

Where are the men in this story? Male sex workers do exist, but they are far more expensive. Their clients are often rich women who find the prostitutes through agencies, not on the streets. The other, more predominant way in which men participate is by being clients. Clients are typically young men and are quite often migrants. If caught by the police, they are likely to receive insignificant punishment. The rise of STDs continues to be a problem, particularly for older men.

Zhang Lijia concluded the conversation by recalling that many of the sex workers she had met sought refuge and hope in Buddhism or Christianity. Notably, there is limited research in China on the role of spirituality in the lives of sex workers. Religion provides a ritualized purification, especially with issues regarding moral conflict. For sex workers, religion can also offer a sense of community when society has rejected or, worse yet, erased their existence.

Related Posts

3rd round completed!
The Italian ScaleUp Initiative in China and its judging panel have progressively selected the best Italian scaleups, accelerating them into the Chinese market and empowering both countries’ Startups Ecosystem.
The BEST3 scaleups will be the main guests of the Final Event*, taking place in Beijing and organized by Tech Silu, CICC ( China Italy Chamber of Commerce ) and ThinkInChina.
*Date and Location will be announced during the following days.

Here’s the list of the BEST10: (in alphabetic order)

– CoContest.com
– D-Orbit
– Echolight
– OaCP – Oncology and Cytogenetic Products
– OmicaFarm
– Pedius
– TOK.tv
– Ventuno
– XNext
– Yakkyo

Welcome to the final round of ISIC2017!

The evaluation continues: Investors, VC Funds, Entrepreneurs and Key Opinion Leaders of both countries will partake to the final selection.

Stay tuned for the Last Round of ISIC2017!

Related Posts

#58 Event Report – A Confucian World Order?

SPEAKERS

Roger AMES, academic director of Berggruen Institute’s Philosophy and Culture Centre, Humanities Chair Professor at Peking University

ZHAO Tingyang 赵汀阳, philosopher, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Report

We live in the best of times and in the worst of times. Echoing Dickens’ famed line from “A Tale of Two Cities”, Professor Roger Ames provoked the crowd that flocked to the already famous The Bridge Café, in Wudaokou, to start the new season of ThinkIN China with our monthly event. Indeed, we have seen many profound advances in technology aimed at solving issues such as world hunger. That being said, humanity hasn’t effectively address the issue, mainly due to a lack of will, be it political, moral, or ethical. These issues culminate in what Professor Ames calls “the perfect storm”, a series of issues that, if not entirely human-made, are still exacerbated by humanity. Their outcome is zero-sum: either we work to win together or we lose together. This would be how an infinite game works, without a beginning or an end, as is life. This is also how relations function within a family, which is strengthened in communion through the process of solving problems together.

It’s clear that we are living in a changing world, and we – as humanity, operating within both international and national institutions – have extensively debated the economic order we live under. However, we rarely debate the changes in our cultural order. There is a great asymmetry between Chinese and Western culture; this is easily seen in the discrepancy between available Chinese philosophical classics as opposed to western ones. While there is an extensive number of works published in Chinese by Aristotle and Plato (a testament to the Chinese readership demanding this knowledge), the same cannot be said for Chinese classics. As Ames suggested, “the best minds of China are not available in English translation,” and, most unfortunately, there is no existing readership driving up the demand.

We must consider the reasons behind this lack of demand or interest. For Ames, the likeliest explanation comes from the historical roots of philosophical exchange. Chinese thought was introduced into the Western academy through missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries, when Confucianism was deemed second-rate to Christianity. In addition, this period of great transition witnessed the arrival of modernity to Asia (in the western sense of the term). The Industrial Revolution began and development became imminent. Modernity had become a popular set of ideas, institutions, and ambitions that, vis-a-vis Japan, was introducing a new vernacular to Asian languages. With this context in mind, it is clear why Confucianism (or ruxue) was left out of the debate.

Nonetheless, Confucianism can still teach us about the world order. We can start by analyzing ruxue itself, which contains multiple meanings. We can find the Confucian value of aspiring to be exemplary not by looking for new paths, but through learning from various experiences and narratives. To live by Confucian ideas, professor Ames reminds us, is to consider “what to do?” in different situations, such as by considering how another is experiencing a situation; that is, “putting oneself in another’s shoes”. Understanding someone is only possible when we consider his or her narrative, where he or she has been, and where he or she is going. Doing so reminds us of the dao. Usually translated as “the way”, this character in ancient bamboo strips and bronze can also be read as “our narrative”.

So, what can a critical, progressive, evolutionary, and prospective Confucianism contribute to the changing world cultural order? Confucianism offers a human-centric religiousness, not a God-centric one. To draw meaning from this, professor Ames argues we must refuse the idea that modernity equals Westernization. The moment when China met western nations was not the inflection point toward modernity.

Confucianism can provide an ethical perspective. For Professor Ames, it poses a telling critique of both individualism and the idea of “winners and losers” that is prevalent in Western discourse. Admittedly, individualism was liberating and benign for a period of time; now it has become an argument for being individualistic, thus abandoning communal life. As we are one people, we can only flourish as a human being through maintaining and improving our relationships. Everything we do is through association. The Confucian tradition highlights the role of ethics as well as the importance of fulfilling our respective social roles; that is, who we are as a mother, teacher, daughter, and so forth.

The narratives of our lives are consisted of the paths we’ve followed, the roles we had and have, and where we want to go. Professor Zhao Tingyang reminded us that Chinese doctrine does not identify something or someone as bad or good, wrong or right in itself or himself. Moreover, attitudes are not ascribed a positive or negative valence, but are considered within the context of a specific role or relationship. This reflects a fundamental difference between Confucian and western values.

Confucianism perceives a more hybrid and inclusive model of cultural change (“Genghis Khan was the other and then he became one of us”, suggested Professor Ames). This coincides with the concept of Tianxia, as presented by Professor Zhao. The popular translation of the word is “all under heaven”, but one of the beauties of translation is the complexity of the meaning of words. Tianxia is a concept based on three foundations: a trinity made of the physical world, the people’s heart, and the political constitution. A world more than the world. Not all scholars agree on the equal significance of these three foundations. However, the general concept is that the political should be justified by the ethical and the ethical should be justified by the political; this creates a mutually supporting and reinforcing circle.

Professor Zhao argues the “all under heaven” theory implies the internalization of the world, thus making it all-inclusive. The best way of creating an all-inclusive system is to reduce the externalities in order to make the world as one. The second idea embedded in the concept is that we need a relational rationality, an alternative concept to individual rationality as claimed in the rational choice theory. The individual rational choices limit a collective rational choice, and thus curb the creation of a collective rationality. Relational rationality in terms of the minimization of mutual hurt is argued to have the priority over the individual rationality in pursuit of the maximization of self-interest, so it diminishes the importance of self-help and individual rational choice.

Professor Zhao’s final provocation considers the problems proposed by Roger Ames as solvable by technology in the future. Humanity’s greatest challenge in the future is the control of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) system over humanity, where our need for a collective mind, rather than an atomized and individual one is even more important. AI offers the possibility of change. In the Chinese tradition, changes are supposed to be good things, so long as people are flexible. The impacts of AI on the family will be great, as the family structure will probably disappear. In general, what will disappear and what will remain is a question open to debate. New, disruptive and transformative technologies, such as Professor Ames reminds us with fire (it can make tools, but also bombs) are not only a one-way street.

Our famous Q&A brought several questions from the audience, where micro and macro issues were debated. If we consider Confucianism, where family is of greater importance, as inspiring the Chinese leadership, then does it follow that China will be a threat to those that are not family? Professor Ames refutes this notion, because the Chinese tradition is not one of forcing projection toward the outside, but only to its border. Overall, the governing metaphor in the Confucian thinking are our relationships, and the extent to which we flourish reflects how much we work on them. Our lives are fundamentally hierarchical, as is a family, but hierarchy is not a problem – coercion is. Professor Zhao added that Confucianism encourages the responsibility we have of being respectful to those below us.  

The paradox here is that if everything is included in our understanding of family, then how do we define and treat a stranger? “We need a ruxue that is progressive”, says Professor Ames. Confucianism cannot address all the problems of the world, but it should be included in discussions on solving global problems. Confucianism offers important lessons on community and interdependence, a contentious issue we face today, particularly as social and individual rights are pitted against one another. A recent study made by a Western institute affirms Chinese citizens are not willing to be very generous to other people, thus questioning the applicability of these principles in everyday life. Isn’t this a sign that the Chinese themselves have abandoned Confucian values? “The future of China has to be rooted in the Chinese past,” suggests Professor Ames, a sentence that brings to the fore the  role of ancient values in guiding a changing society. SIgnificantly, the history of China is one of hybridity, where many times generosity has simply been the absence of violence. Perhaps our framework for analyzing China has been wrong because we have applied a non-Confucian mindset to reach particular conclusions.

Finally, what is the balance we, as individuals, can find in a Confucian world order? For Professor Ames, there are a lot of things from individualism that are useful, such as privacy. However, life is made of trade-offs and compromise. When we highlight the importance of our relationships, it does not follow that we abandon our individuality. Rather, it means that we hold in high regard our social roles and relationships. This notion can be expanded and applied beyond interpersonal relations. The best kind of governance is not through collecting a lot of individuals, but rather considering the individuality of each person and guaranteeing they receive what they need. In so doing, we can ask them to give back to the group.

Written by Julia Rosa

Related Posts

event #59, Thursday, April 6th, 2017

SPEAKERS

Klaus LEISINGER, Professor of Sociology, University of Basel; President, Global Values Alliance; Senior Adviser, Karl Schlecht Foundation

Maggie SUN, Operational Coordinator, Handicap International – China Program

WU Di, Program Director of Easy Inclusion; Consultant on Equality for UNDP in China

Marina KALNITSKI, Job Coach, Inclusion Factory

ABSTRACT

In 2000, the international community committed to achieving eight Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015. Among the list of goals were eradicating extreme poverty, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, and achieving universal primary education. Progress toward reaching these goals has been uneven, with the majority of efforts directed toward debt and natural disaster relief, rather than investments in development programs.

Among the examples of the last fifteen years, China stands strong: its impressive growth rate and astonishing results in improving the quality of life for a high portion of its citizens mark it as a success story. Together with India, these two countries alone helped achieve the first goal to halve the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day. Impressively, China and India accomplished this by 2008, 7 years before the deadline.

While globalization has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in low- and middle-income countries, inequality has increased significantly. Currently, according to an Oxfam report released earlier this year, the eight richest men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world.

In September 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, a “plan of action for people, planet and prosperity” that contains seventeen goals. The aim is to achieve these goals, through the efforts of both national governments and individual citizens, and transform the world into a more equal, freer, and better place to live so that present and future generations may flourish.

ThinkIN China event#59 will host a panel of experts and social entrepreneurs discussing Goal#10, “Reducing inequality”, with a special focus on analyzing programs of inclusiveness in the education system and in the job market for people with disabilities in China. We will showcase the significant work carried out by Chinese support organizations and social enterprises for finding innovative solutions to reach Goal#10.

For this event ThinkIN China will be hosted by 3ESPACE, the flagship project of SANY Foundation, a private foundation focused on fostering Chinese education, innovation, public health, and economic development.

We welcome you to join us in continuing this important dialogue on inclusiveness, disability, and social reform.

LOCATION

3ESPACE is located at the crossroad of Gulou Dongdajie and Jiaodaokou Nandajie, at the 5th floor of the Xinhua Wenhua building.

Address: 北京市东城区交道口南大街15号新华文化大厦5层

The closest subway station is Andingmen, then walk for ten minutes towards south, along Andingmen Neidajie.

SalvaSalva

Related Posts

event #58, Monday, March 20th, 2017

SPEAKERS

Roger AMES, academic director of Berggruen Institute’s Philosophy and Culture Centre, Humanities Chair Professor at Peking University

ZHAO Tingyang 赵汀阳, philosopher, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

ABSTRACT

A perfect storm is brewing: climate change, food and water shortages, environmental degradation, pandemics, energy shortage, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, gross income inequities, and so on. An effective response to this human exacerbated predicament requires a radical change in values, intentions, and practices. The rise of China has precipitated a sea change in the world economic and political order, but what about the prevailing cultural order long dominated by a powerful liberalism? Confucian philosophy is being actively promoted both domestically and internationally by a collaboration of academic and political forces. Question: What impact will Confucianism—a philosophy that begins from the primacy of relationality rather than individualism—have on world culture in the ensuing decades?”

This event is organized in partnership with:

The Berggruen Institute’s mission is to develop foundational ideas and, through them, shape political, economic and social institutions for the 21st century. In the age of technology and globalization—as our traditions are challenged, new social orders are emerging and political institutions falter—critical analysis of our most fundamental beliefs and the systems founded on them is required.

Great Transformations are reshaping human life, social organization, and the world. These are epochal changes, not incremental, and are taking place now, in our lives and our children’s. The Berggruen Institute seeks to deepen understanding of these great transformations, the ethical responses they demand, the social decisions they make possible, and how they are seen from different civilizational perspectives:

• Beyond Human: Science and technology, including especially artificial intelligence and bioengineering that can potentially redesign life itself.

• Innovating Culture: Cultural change, including the influence of both globalization and creativity in science, art, and social life – and attempts to resist each.

• Resilient Governance: The pursuit of more effective governance, including politics and social institutions.

• Geo-Politics and the New Economy: The global intersection of geopolitics and economics, including possible transition beyond capitalism.

As an outwardly expansive and purposeful network, we bring together some of the best minds and most authoritative voices from across cultural and political boundaries to explore these fundamental questions of our time. Our objective is enduring impact on the progress and direction of societies around the world.

Related Posts

event #56, Monday, November 14th, 2016

SPEAKERS

Massimo DEANDREIS,  General Manager of SRM – Economic Research Center, Intesa Sanpaolo Group

WANG Lin 王琳, Fellow at China Business News Research Institute

ABSTRACT

This talk will explore China’s growing role in the Mediterranean and its potential impact on maritime geo-economics. Beginning with a review of the most pertinent data on the shipping industry and global maritime trade, the talk will analyze the significance of China’s involvement in the Mediterranean.

Reports on global trade to and from the Mediterranean and MENA (North Africa and Middle East) region demonstrates that there is a constant increase in the value and quantity of goods. China is the country with the most exponential increase in trade within this area: it passed from a global trade of 21.3 billion dollars in 2001 to 257.4 billion in 2015, and is forecasted to reach 283 billion by 2018. Moreover, with respect to the three main deep sea East-West shipping services, the Europe-Far East route has progressively gained traffic, raising its share from 27% in 1995 to 42% in 2015, while transpacific and transatlantic routes have lost traffic.  

We can also observe a new centrality of the Mediterranean in maritime economy by looking at port data and markets trends. The southern Mediterranean ports (for example, Tangier in Morocco) are increasing in market share while the North European Ports’ market share are decreasing.

These trends should not be understood in isolation, but within the broader framework of global maritime trade. More specifically, four major maritime developments merit further emphasis and consideration: the inauguration of the New Suez Canal in 2015, which has enhanced Europe-Far East routes; the recent enlargement of the Panama Canal, which has pertinence for both North Atlantic ports and the Mediterranean; the naval gigantism trend, which affects routes and port logistics; and finally, the strengthening of alliances between major carriers, which reflects a significant evolution in shipping industries.

In all four of these maritime developments, China has global strategic interests and acts as a key player. The talk will expand upon each of these four points both from the Chinese perspective (especially in light of OBOR strategy) and from the Mediterranean perspective, while also taking into consideration recent Chinese investments in ports and logistics in the South Europe and MENA Region.

What motivates Chinese companies to engage in global ports development

WANG Lin will share the findings of her research, which focuses on comparative case-studies of different ports located along the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. Importantly, these ports are all financed, constructed, invested, and operated by three main corporate players from China. Wang will explore the motivations of Chinese companies to become involved in overseas port operations after construction, examine why China needs to establish solid local partnerships, and explain how pilot global partnerships are necessary in these cases. She ultimately argues that financing is Chinese stakeholders’ critical leverage; this allows them to engage more in the operations of overseas ports. Involvement in operations is important for Chinese contractors and financial institutions insofar as it enables them to control risk and guarantee prosperity.

Related Posts

Massimo DEANDREIS, General Manager of SRM – Economic Research Center, Intesa Sanpaolo Group

Mr. Deandreis graduated with a degree in International Economic Law from the University of Turin in 1991. He then attended a postgraduate course in International Relations and was awarded a scholarship assigned by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the Ecole Nationale d’Administration in Paris. In 2004, he earned a second degree in International and Diplomatic History. He worked as a researcher at Centro Einaudi (economic and political think tank based in Turin) and at the European Association of Regional Financial Centres in Brussels (ACRFRE), collaborating with the OECD in Paris. From 1995 to 2000, he lived in Brussels, where he served as Head of the Italian Chamber of Commerce delegation to the European Union. In 2001, he was appointed General Manager of the Piemonte Regional Chamber of Commerce in Turin, a position he held until October 2008.

Since November 2008, he has worked for Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group, where he served as Head of Cabinet of the President of the Bank; subsequently, he was appointed General Manager of SRM, the position he currently holds.

S.R.M is an Economic Research Centre – part of Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group – focused on three main fields of analysis: Italian regional economy (with a special focus on Southern Italian regions); the Mediterranean economy, with a special focus on the economic relations between Italy and the South Mediterranean Countries; and Shipping and the Maritime Economy.

Deandreis is currently a contract professor of Business Management at the Department of Economics of Turin University and has recently been appointed President of the Italian Society of Business Economists.

WANG Lin 王琳, Fellow at China Business News Research Institute

WANG Lin is a Fellow of CBN Research Institute, a think tank on foreign affairs, international finance and global energy. She studies China’s outward investments and follows specific cases in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Wang is also a leading correspondent on international politics and global economy. She focuses on China’s foreign policy and overseas investments.

She has interviewed more than 100 global leaders including heads of states and governments, foreign ministers, finance ministers, central bank governors, global entrepreneurs and influential scholars.

Wang wrote a series of influential stories on China’s economic diplomacy and got good feedbacks from NPC Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and China Development Bank.

She has made a series of field researches and report works in countries along the One Belt One Road and in Africa, like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uganda, South Africa, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, India.

October 25th, 2016

Instability in North Africa and Middle East: a global threat?
Supplementary material

1. Zoubir, Yahia H. 2012. Qaddafi’s spawn. What the dictator’s demise unleashed in the Middle East. Foreign Affairs, available here
2. Zoubir, Yahia H. 2012. The Sahara-Sahel Quagmire: Regional and International Ramifications. Mediterranean Politics, 17:3, 452-458.
3.  Zoubir, Yahia H. 2012. Algeria and the Sahelian Imbroglio: Preventing War and Fighting Terrorism. Al Jazeera Center for Studies. Available here
4. Zoubir, Yahia H. 2009. The United States and Maghreb-Sahel Security. International Affairs 85:2, 977-995. Available here
5. Niu, Xinchun. 2014. China’s Interest in and Influence over the Middle East. Contemporary International Relations, 24:1, 37-58
6. Gong, Zheng. 2014. The Impact of Islamic State on U.S. Middle Eastern Strategy. Contemporary International Relations, 24:5, 141-146
7. 牛新春：《中国国际身份刍议———国际横向比较视角》，《现代国际关系》 2014 年第12 期，第10-16页
8. 龚正：《”伊斯兰国“崛起冲击美国中东战略》，《现代国际关系》 2014 年第9 期，第61-64页
9. 龚正：《叙利亚反对派武装组织》，《国际研究参考》2014年第10期，第22-27页

Related Posts