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CAU > Seminars and Study Tours > China's Economic Miracle: From Karl Marx to Wal-Mart - Ithaca Pre-reunion Seminar

China's Economic Miracle: From Karl Marx to Wal-Mart - Ithaca Pre-reunion Seminar

June 1-4, 2008

The registration period for this program has passed.
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Ithaca — a pre-reunion seminar.

Overview

Today we are living in an era marked by China’s emergence—or rather reemergence—as a vibrant center of the world economy and an important power in East Asia. Revolutionary Maoism has given way to the entrepreneurial spirit, private wealth accumulation, and guarded political ambitions. With profits replacing dogma, four hundred million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty within one generation. On questions of economic growth, natural resources, environmental degradation, military technologies, consumer culture, and many others, informed discussion must now take into account developments in and around China. With a new center of the world economy in the making, what are the consequences for China’s and the world’s well-being and power?

Faculty

Long the dominant center of an ancient civilization and a world economic force through the 1820s, China suffered a century of humiliation at the hands of Western and Japanese imperialism. Two of Cornell’s most respected scholars and accomplished teachers will lead our explorations into China’s miraculous renaissance, how it happened, and what it means, for its people and its leaders, and for Asia and the world. Peter Katzenstein, the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies in the Department of Government and President-elect of the American Political Science Association, has written extensively about Asian developments and the international political order. As a 2007 Guggenheim Fellow, Victor Nee, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Economy and Society, studies the rise of private enterprise and market capitalism in China. With the occasional help of several other of Cornell’s leading scholars of East Asia, Peter and Victor will help us look broadly and deeply at China’s workings, potential, and accomplishments, and at the gargantuan problems and potentially explosive conflicts its rapid transformation has created.

Program Schedule

Our Pre-Reunion Seminar will begin Sunday evening, June 1, with a welcome dinner and introductions. We will meet each morning and afternoon Monday through Wednesday and conclude with a valedictory dinner Wednesday evening. Daily sessions will include lectures and plenty of time for group discussion.

Program Cost

The program fee of $735 per person includes the full educational program, welcome and closing receptions and dinners, and daily breaks. For those who would like to stay on central campus, we have reserved rooms at the Statler. The Statler rate of an additional $510 per person (the supplement for single occupancy is $280) includes four nights’ lodging, breakfast and lunch daily, and parking. We have also reserved rooms at the Homewood Suites by Hilton. The rate at the Homewood Suites for four nights lodging, including continental breakfasts and shuttle service to campus, is an additional $258 per person (the supplement for single occupancy is $258). Come with your experiences and opinions and be ready for a lively, stimulating return to campus.