Seminar Archives - Dr David Zweig

Chinese Politics – China and Political Science: Parts 1 & 2

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 06:35:56 +0000

Dear Friends, colleagues and others interested in China,

I just passed another milestone in my career!

In 2015, at the request of my former university, HKUST, I worked for several months with a great team to video two courses on China, Part 1, on domestic politics, called “China and Political Science,” and Part 2, on “China and the World.”

Well, two weeks ago I taught my 20,000^th student! As of today, 14,564 students have heard me lecture on domestic China and 6,132 have attended China and the World.

The feedback is quite positive (83.6% rank it 5 of 5) and although some things have changed since 2015, the contours of Xi Jinping’s centralization of power, his plans related to the China Dream and the “Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation,” his Belt and Road Initiative, his problems with Southeast Asia in the South China Sea, the use of economic power to expand China’s influence, and troubles with the US, were already in play. (The biggest gap is probably Trump’s challenge to China)

There are 19 hours of lectures in Part 1 which can be found at: https://www.coursera.org/learn/chinesepolitics1 and 14 hours in Part 2, found at: https://www.coursera.org/learn/chinese-politics-2

Check it out!

David

The post Chinese Politics – China and Political Science: Parts 1 & 2 appeared first on Dr David Zweig.

Webinar: America Challenges China’s National Talent Programs

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 07:12:53 +0000

Thursday, July 2, 2020

4 -5:30pm PDT
Speaker: David Zweig

Venue:
Zoom – Webinar

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__5J_q-upRqa8DyQlWM14_A. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Link to video of the event

China’s “Reverse Migration” Strategies under Attack: A Case Study of the 1000 Talents Plan

admin — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 13:44:37 +0000

Monday, January 27, 2020

5:30 PM to 7:00 PM EST

Speaker(s):

David Zweig

Venue:

National Committee on U.S.-China Relations

New York, NY

In recent years China has been appealing to scholars who went overseas to study and remained abroad to return to China. Among its “reverse migration” policies is the Thousand Talents Plan, initiated in 2008 to encourage “strategic scientists or leading talents who can make breakthroughs in key technologies or can enhance China’s high-tech industries and emerging disciplines” to accept positions at leading Chinese universities (Recruitment Program of Global Experts). The U.S. government has taken exception to the program, claiming that it encourages economic espionage and intellectual property theft.

On January 27, 2020, the National Committee hosted a program to discuss China’s “reverse migration” efforts, presenting the Thousand Talents Plan as a case study. Dr. David Zweig, professor of political science emeritus at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, shared his research findings.

Here are the five key takeaways from his presentation:

The Chinese Communist Party launched the 1000 Talents Plan (TTP) in 2008 to attract top scientists, academics, and entrepreneurs who had settled abroad.
The United States fundamentally does not understand other countries’ sensitivity to brain drain because it does not suffer from it – in general, people want to come to, rather than leave, the United States.
Security concerns have arisen primarily from TTP’s part-time component, which involves Chinese researchers residing in America.
While some Chinese scholars and entrepreneurs have abused America’s open scientific environment (“there are some bad guys”), case studies do not demonstrate significant theft of technology or intellectual property.
Securitization of the TTP by U.S. government agencies, research institutions, and media discourages scientific collaboration and threatens to accelerate U.S.-China decoupling.

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Reverse Migration and Technology Transfer in Comparative Perspective: Turkey and India in light of the China experience

admin — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 03:11:05 +0000

Overseas Cooperated Projects

Venue: India, Turkey

Beykent University (Turkey) FICCI (India) CCTR / HKUST

Abstract of Research

The brain drain robs emerging markets of entrepreneurial talent essential for generating new technologies that promote the country’s growth in the new global economy. These developing states, therefore, must find a way to regain the talent they have lost, and along with it, the technology they need. While several studies see

returnees as a vehicle for technology transfer, this project looks at how opportunities created by the possession of technology developed abroad, and that is in short supply in their home country, pulls entrepreneurs back home, creating a “brain gain.” It tests the hypothesis that, given the right conditions, market forces within some emerging economies may create a reverse brain drain and attract the technology from abroad that these countries need.

China has been a leader in generating a “reverse brain drain.” Moreover, data from 2004 show a close link between technology transfer and reverse migration, as returnees have been pulled back by business opportunities in China created by their possession of foreign technology, thereby filling holes in China’s technological landscape. Thus, beginning in the early part of the 21st century, many entrepreneurs returned to China due to their possession of a middle-range technology that was “new for China,” even though it was not necessarily “new for the world.” This middle-range technology, which was readily accessible overseas, still allowed returnees to make significant profits and establish successful firms back home, confirming this close link between possession of middle range technology and the willingness of scientists and entrepreneurs to return to their home country.

But does China’s experience reflect the situation in other Emerging Markets? Do the opportunities created by possession of technology that is in “short supply” in their home country lead entrepreneurs and scientists to return home and bring the technologies that these societies seek? Through surveys in both Turkey and India we will apply the findings of the Chinese case to see if China’s recent past reflects their current situations.

Are there ways these countries can follow the China example? Is technology indeed a major driving force of reverse migration among various countries around the world?

Project Objectives

1. Assess the extent of reverse migration underway in India and Turkey and the sectoral breakdowns of those flows.

2. Understand the forces behind the reverse migration underway in Turkey and India.

3. Assess the extent to which technology is driving reverse migration among entrepreneurs and scientists in India and Turkey.

4. Compare the case of China with those of India and Turkey to see if the Chinese example is generalizable or sui generis?

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China’s New Tide of Reverse Migration

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 02:28:52 +0000

China’s New Tide of Reverse Migration

York Centre for Asian Research

18 September 2018
2 – 4 pm: Room 857, Eighth Floor, Kaneff Tower 4700 Keele St North York, ON M3J 3T8 Canada

ABSTRACT:

The number of Mainland Chinese students returning from abroad has grown by leaps and bounds. In 2017, 608,000 students went abroad and 480,900 returned, yielding a return rate of 79 percent. In 1987, the return rate was five percent and in 2007 was 30.6 per cent.

Why this turnaround? The largest group of students coming back get an MA degree – in 2015, 80.5 percent of returnees were MA students – whose chances of succeeding abroad are not that great. Their major goal is to enhance their resumes for their job search back in China rather than seek a new life abroad. But our research shows that to succeed upon returning, young people need to select the right field or major, affording opportunities back in a changing China, and some work experience abroad.

A recent questionnaire by the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG) that was posted on the website of Zhaopin, a job placement firm in China, yielded 1,700 responses. We looked at seven aspects of students’ decision to return: the time it took to find a job, how satisfied they were with their job and their lives after returning, whether the cost of studying abroad was greater than the benefits, how many years it would take to recoup the investment in their education, their actual income, and whether it was below their expectations. We found that the reason for returning—seeking opportunities back home, a sense of failure abroad, need to be near family or the draw of Chinese culture—greatly affects their life upon returning.

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CCG Launches Hong Kong Council

admin — Sun, 12 Nov 2017 02:37:06 +0000

Conference

The Center for China and Globalization (CCG) launched its Hong Kong Council

The Center for China and Globalization (CCG) launched its Hong Kong Council on Nov. 12, 2017. Mr. Leung Chun-ying, the vice chairman of the CPPCC and former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, addressed the ceremony. Tung Chee-hwa, the vice Chairman of the CPPCC and the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, sent a letter to congratulate the event.

In addition, over 40 distinguished guests from Hong Kong’s policy and business communities as well as members of executive committee of the CCG Advisory Council attended the meeting, including: former Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR and Chairman of the Nan Fung Group Antony Leung Kam-chung; the First Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong SAR and former Deputy Director of HKSAR Basic Law Committee Elsie Leung; Chairman of the Hang Lung Properties Ronnie Chan; former Chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration of the State Council (SASAC) Li Rongrong; Chairman and CEO of CITIC Capital Zhang Yichen; CCG President and Vice President of Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA) Wang Huiyao.

CCG Hong Kong Council is established to unit local academic, business and policymaking forces in Hong Kong to promote its role in the Chinese policy initiatives, such as the “Belt and Road”, the “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area,” the internationalization of the Renminbi, China’s global talent acquisition, and China’s soft power expansion.

Supported by Hong Kong’s elites from all circles, CCG Hong Kong Council is set to leverage the thought leadership of Hong Kong as well as CCG’s capabilities to influence policy and public opinion at home and abroad. The goal is to advice the SAR and central governments on the policies regarding Hong Kong’s role in the regional integration and global governance.

At the 19th CPC National Congress, President Xi Jinping reaffirmed that policy priority for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and regional cooperation in the pan-Pearl River Delta. As China enters into the next phase of economic globalization, Hong Kong is geared to develop a more vibrant and competitive economy linked to the mainland and the rest of the world. It is vital to build a world-class think tank dedicated to the study of the opportunities and challenges facing Hong Kong at the critical juncture of its development.

Mr. Leung Chun-ying said in his address, “Hong Kong has historically served as a bridge between China and the outside world, and a “super-connector” between the east and west. Today, we hope it will continue with its role as the hub of information exchanges for China’s Belt and Road and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area programs. The founding of the CCG Hong Kong Council is a timely and welcome act marshaling the intellectual arsenal for Hong Kong to play the role of “super-connector” in the Greater Bay Area initiative.”

He further pointed out, “CCG Hong Kong Council is the region’s first think tank focused on Hong Kong and its role in globalization. The Hong Kong Council is poised to increase the nation’s prospects for leading economic globalization, thanks to Hong Kong’s unique position.” CCG will become a major intellectual force accelerating Hong Kong’s integration into the Greater Bay and the Belt and Road initiatives, he believes.

Mr. Tung Chee-hwa said in his letter, “President Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the importance of building new types of think tank with Chinese characteristics. Think tanks form a significant force of a nation’s soft power. CCG, as a leading think tank in international affairs whose public policy research and policy recommendations have been well recognized by the international community and the Chinese government. The establishment of CCG Hong Kong Council will play a positive role in fostering a deeper level of integration between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau; strengthening exchange and cooperation among the three on governance, corporate, and financial affairs; and creating new engines for economic growth.” He looks forward to CCG Hong Kong Council’s success in building an intellectual platform unifying the elites in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Mr. Ronnie Chan, CCG Co-chair and Chairman of the Hang Lung Properties, said at the ceremony that since its founding in 2008, CCG has grown into one of China’s best think tanks focused on the globalization of Chinese enterprises and other issues crucial to China’s globalization strategies. He spoke highly of CCG’s prospects of becoming China’s first home-grown world-class think tank.

CCG President Dr. Wang Huiyao pointed out that Hong Kong is a right place at a right time to foster globally-oriented think tanks. At present, CCG Hong Kong Council is building up its research capacity in the fields such as Hong Kong’s role in the Belt and Road initiative, policy collaboration and investment opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, internationalization of the Renminbi, Hong Kong’s talent acquisition strategy, etc. In the meantime, CCG Hong Kong Council aims to raise the profile of Hong Kong through a series of events such as the annual Hong Kong Forum, Forum on Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and Globalization, seminars and symposiums on globalization studies, bi-monthly luncheons, premier fundraising events for charity and philanthropy, and so on.

Mr. Zhang Yichen, CCG Senior Vice Chair, Chairman and CEO of CITIC Capital, applauded CCG’s endeavors to promote China’s greater role in global affairs. He believes the CCG Hong Kong Council will be well-positioned to help Hong Kong realize the development initiatives such as the Belt and Road strategy.

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Comparing Indian and Chinese Returned Entrepreneurs, 第三期东莞人才沙龙成功举办

admin — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 06:36:25 +0000

Presentation
To local Government in Guangdong Provence

5 April 2017

Dongguan Talent Institute

第三期东莞人才沙龙成功举办

日期：2017-04-05 / 人气：805

4月5日下午，以“如何更好地开发利用海外人才资源”为主题的2017年第三期东莞人才沙龙在东莞创新创业人才服务中心举行。本次沙龙由东莞市人才工作领导小组办公室指导，东莞创新创业人才服务中心主办，东莞人才发展研究院承办，东莞市人力资源局和北京智汇邦信息技术有限公司协办。东莞市人力资源局副局长赵毅、松山湖（生态园）管委会委员黄乐瑜、香港科技大学人文与社会科学院副院长David Zweig、香港科技大学霍英东研究院副研究员覃旭松博士等领导嘉宾以及来自东莞市各部门、各镇街（园区）的50余名人才工作者出席参加了沙龙活动。
赵毅副局长在致辞中表示，近年来，东莞以打造“人才型城市”为目标，以“人才东莞”战略为指引，通过建立健全人才领导机制、创新人才政策、建设人才承接载体、完善人才服务等多种方式方法，大力推进各类人才队伍建设，人才引进与培养工作取得显著成效。据统计，目前东莞市共有各类人才130多万，其中高层次人才超过7.8万名，这其中包括中央“千人计划”入选者37名，广东省创新科研团队26个，市创新科研团队27个、省市领军人才55名，特色人才204名，省创新科研团队数量稳居广东省地级市首位。
主讲嘉宾David Zweig教授从1991年开始研究中国到发达国家学习的人才情况，是国际著名的中国人才问题专家。David Zweig教授通过翔实的数据分析，从回国动机、与政府合作关系等多角度比较了中印两国海归企业家的创业状况。他认为相比于印度海归企业家，中国海归企业家与政府的关系更加紧密，得到地方政府的政策和资金支持更多。中国海归企业家更看重国内市场及他们自身拥有的国内短缺的技术，而印度海归企业家更倾向于利用国内廉价的技术人才来出口软件产品。同时，他提出中印两国海归企业家都认为他们在国内会做得比海外要好，不同的是印度海归企业家更注重家庭关系和文化，他们更愿意让子女接受印度文化教育。

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2017東莞人才沙龍 – 如何更好地開發利用海外人才資源

admin — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 02:44:28 +0000

Conference
5 Apr 2017 (Wed)

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Issue Presentation: China Perspectives No. 2016/1 ‘Deng Xiaoping’s Failed Reform in 1975 – 1976’

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 02:46:23 +0000

Book Talk

Issue Presentation

25 April 2016

4-6pm

HKUST Business School Central

Abstract

The last issue of China Perspectives provides a rare and previously unreleased photos essay that narrates and illustrates the struggles and political campaigns carried out in Beijing between 1975 and 1976 and which reached their climax with demonstrations gathering at least two million people on Tiananmen Square within the first few days of April 1976. David Zweig’s photo essay “Deng Xiaoping’s failed reform in 1975-1976”, also constitutes a particularly vivid illustration of the techniques of mass-mobilization used by the CCP since the 1940s, as well as of the ability of the citizens of Beijing to demonstrate their support for continued reform in China. It is also a vivid reminder of the centrality of Tiananmen Square in China’s modern political history.

Speaker and Guest Editor of the Issue

David Zweig is Chair Professor, Division of Social Science, and Director, Center on China’s Transnational Relations, HKUST. He is Senior Research Fellow, Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada; Adjunct Professor, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan; and Vice-President, Center on China’s Globalization (Beijing). His Ph.D. is from The University of Michigan and he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University. He was a Canadian exchange student in Beijing, 1974-76 and a Visiting Scholar at Nanjing University (1980-81, 1986,1991-92). He authored four books, including Internationalizing China (Cornell Univ. Press) and a new edited book, Sino-U.S. Energy Triangles: Resource Diplomacy under Hegemony, with Hao Yufan (Routledge). Recent articles include “Overseas Students, Returnees and the Diffusion of International Norms into Post-Mao China,” with Feng Yang, International Studies Review (Fall 2014), and “Can China Bring Back the Best? The Communist Party Organizes China’s Search for Talent,” with Huiyao Wang, The China Quarterly (September 2103). In 2013, he received The Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, and in 2015 received a grant from the RGC to study reverse migration of entrepreneurs and academics in India and Turkey.

Discussant

Dr. Wang Ai He is the associate professor of the School of Chinese, University of Hong Kong (HKU). Her research interests are fields of Chinese history and anthropology, with topics ranging from ancient cosmology and political agency, to art, subjectivity, and community in Mao’s China. Representative publications include Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China (Cambridge University Press, 2000, 2nd edition 2006) and the Wuming (No Name) Painting Catalogue, 13 volumes (Hong Kong University Press, 2010). In 2013, she was a residential member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, working on a book project on underground art during Mao’s Cultural Revolutions.

Prof. Michel Bonnin is the directeur d’études of EHESS, Paris also an associate researcher of CEFC. He researches on the contemporary Chinese history, especially the period of Cultural Revolution, democratic movements in China, young intellectuals (zhiqing) and peasant-workers (nongmingong) etc. His recent publications include The Lost of Generation. The Rustication of China’s Educated Youth (1969-1980) (The Chinese University Press, 2013) and Shiluo de yidai. Zhongguo de shangshan xiaxiang yundong, 失落的一代 – 中國的上山下鄉運動 1968-1980 (The Chinese University Press).

Dr. Eric Florence, director of CEFC, chaired the seminar.

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Becoming A World Power: Chinese Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping

admin — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 03:03:14 +0000

Workshop

10 March 2016

3:30-6:00pm

Center on China’s Transnational Relations, HKUST Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, Lingnan University

Details

Thanks to the generosity of Centre for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS), Lingnan University (Hong Kong), for sponsoring the event, the Center on China’s Transnational Relations at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will hold a forum on Chinese Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping.

Chinese president Xi Jinping is pushing the envelope of China’s global presence and influences. Today, China has emerged as a central actor in international affairs. This workshop examines the ideas and measures that drive China’s quest for world power status. Speakers of the workshop will examine issues like Xi’s understanding of China’s roles in international politics and his specific policies to re-organize the world order at both global and regional levels. This includes China’s One Belt, One Road initiative and its quest for a new type of great power relations with the United States.

Working Language: English

Our speaker includes:

Prof. Baohui Zhang, Director, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, Lingnan University, will be speaking on“Becoming A World Power: Chinese Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping.”

Mr. Ben Simpfendorfer, Managing Director, Silk Road Associates, will speak on “Xi Jinping’s foreign policy in the Middle East and Central Asia”.

Prof. Richard Hu, Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Social Science, the University of Hong Kong, will speak on “Xi Jinping’s foreign Policy”

And Prof. David Zweig, Director, Center on China’s Transnational Relations, Chair Professor, Division of Social Science, HKUST, will moderate the discussions.

Rundown of Workshop

3:30-3:45pm Registration

3:45-4pm Introduction by Prof. David Zweig.

4:00-4:20pm Dr. Baohui Zhang speaks on “Becoming A World Power: Chinese Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping.”

4:20-4:40pm Mr. Ben Simpfendorfer speaks on “Xi Jinping’s foreign policy in the Middle East and Central Asia”.

4:40-5:00pm Prof. Richard Hu speaks on “Xi Jinping’s foreign Policy”

5:00-5:20pm Prof. David Zweig comments on the speeches.

5:20-5:50pm Q & A

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