American
Studies Center

Peking University

What We Do

Library Development Study Groups Curriculum Lectures Film Presentations Conferences Research

On the anniversary of the founding of Peking University -- May 4, 1998 a revitalized American Studies Center was officially introduced to delegations of scholars and dignitaries, including several university Presidents from the U.S.

Subsequent activities of the ASC include:

Library Development

In 1998, the university allocated to the ASC prime space in its new library complex, and in 1999 added to the Center's staff a reference librarian. On June 29, 1998, during his visit to Peking University President Bill Clinton presented to the ASC a core American studies collection totaling over 500 volumes (courtesy of USIS). This collection has served as the basis for building the ASC reference library.

Study Groups

In 1998 and 1999, Visiting Professor Julia Chang Bloch conducted seminars on U.S.-China relations, focusing on American domestic politics. In 1999, she directed another ASC Study Group with Internet links to classes at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. These interactive sessions covered a wide range of topics and brought to the ASC American and Chinese lecturers with internationally distinguished records in scholarship, government, the military, commerce, and the press. Topics and Participants

Curriculum and Faculty Development

The ASC applied for and received funding for a Senior Distinguished Fulbright Scholar, 1999-2000. With the support of Peking University, the Ministry of Education, and the USIS, the ASC recruited to that position Prof. Richard P. Horwitz, Professor and Graduate Director of the American Studies Department at the University of Iowa. In the two semesters of his appointment, he taught several courses on American Studies in the School of International Studies, gave occasional lectures, and helped organize the introduction of a new survey course, thereafter to be a regular part of the Peking University curriculum. The new course, American Culture and Society, is open to all undergraduate students, regardless of major. It is among the first such university-wide courses, as well as the first to be taught by a team of faculty drawn from seven different departments and schools. It was also the first interdisciplinary American Studies course in China to be taught entirely by regular members of the university faculty. In this way its stability and suitability for Chinese students and faculty should be particularly well assured.

Lectures

Two lecture series have been successfully launched:

• "The American Specialist Series"

Professor Luther Luedtke, an Americanist and President of California Lutheran University, spoke on How to Understand the United States.
Professor Marilyn Callander of Drew University spoke on American Literature.

• "Rule of Law"

Cosponsored by the Peking University Law School, the ASC, and the Harvard Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program, the Annual F.Y. Chang Lecture has been established.
Luo Haocai, Professor of Law and Vice President of the People's Supreme Court, gave the first lecture, Modern Administrative Law in China: The Balance Theory.
In 1999, Zhang Wejen, world renowned Chinese legal expert and Research Fellow at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan and Global Professor of Law at the New York University Law School, gave the second lecture on Difficulties in Early Chinese Legal Thought.

The two monographs will be published in 2000.

Film Presentations

Independent cinematographer Shirley Sun presented her documentary film Vinegar Joe, which formed the backdrop for a symposium on the "The Life of General Joseph Stilwell: History Revisited."

Conferences

To address timely issues and extend the Center's policy outreach, the ASC joined with the State Council Center for Development Research Department of Enterprise Economic Research to convene its first conference, Asia's Financial Crisis: Views from the United States and China. Keynoters included:

Jerome A. Cohen, Director of Asian Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Bob Scalapino, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Linda Tsao Yang, U.S. Executive Director, Asian Development Bank
Wang Xuebing, Chairman, Bank of China.

More than 100 leaders from academia, government, business and the media participated. A conference report was published and distributed to some 1,500 institutions and individuals in China and the U.S.

In the fall of 1999, the ASC hosted a symposium on China's Development and the International Economy. Joining Peking University to co-sponsor the conference was The Asia Foundation. Leading the discussion were Trustees and officers of The Asia Foundation. Among the speakers from China were:

Chang-lin Tien, Chairman, The Asia Foundation
Chen Jiaer, President, Peking University
Chen Zhili, Minister of Education
Deng Nan, Vice Minister of Science and Technology
Fan Gang, National Economic Research Institute
Gong Ke, Vice President, Tsinghua University
Liang Jie, President, Beijing Internet Networking Institute
Lu Mai, State Council Development Research Center
Ma Rong, Director, Center for Sociological Research and Development Studies, Peking University
Yi Gang, Deputy secretary General, the Monetary Policy Committee
Zhu Min, Bank of China Institute of International Finance;

Their discussion focussed on commercial, technological, informational, and regulatory dimensions of globalization, with emphasis on defining an appropriate role for leaders and the public in the U.S. and China.

Research

To increase and consolidate the participation of university departments in ASC programs, joint projects are being developed. The first, an Oral History Project, joins the History Department and the ASC in building a living archive of Chinese overseas students who studied in the U.S. The project aims to shed light on China's study-abroad movement, an important part of educational exchange and cultural cooperation between the U.S. and China for over 150 years. More specifically, the oral histories of these students will be used to enrich understanding of:

• the impact of American education on China's modernization;
• the effect of their American experiences on bridging cross-cultural differences; and
• their influence on U.S.-China relations.

Funded by the Ford Foundation, the first phase concentrates on interviews with the generation who studied in the US before 1949. This phase is well under way. An associated course on oral history was completed in the Fall of 1998 to train graduate students in related methods: interviewing techniques and content analysis of social, cultural, and historical documents.