U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association Fall Seminar

"China during Thirty Years of US-China Relations, 1979-2009"

China’s policy of “reform and opening” began in 1979, inaugurating a period of astounding economic development. Professors Baogang Guo of Dalton State College’s Department of Social Sciences, Penelope Prime who directs the China Research Center at Mercer University, and Qi Li of Agnes Scott College’s Economics Department discussed aspects of the political and economic developments of the past thirty years.

Professor Guo gave an overview of U.S.-Taiwan-PRC developments over the period, with special emphasis on the specific perspective of each player in this important but potentially dangerous relationship.  Strong feelings exist on all sides, which define to some extent the options of national leaders.  In 2009, cross strait relations are in a good phase with progress on direct ties between Taiwan and the mainland in terms of travel, mail and investment.  In an unprecedented development, over 400,000 people from the mainland have visited Taiwan in the last year.

Professor Qi discussed how reforms have affected typical households in China, making the distinction between those that have a rural “hukou” or household registration system, and those that have an urban hukou.  Urban hukou holders have been much more fortunate than rural dwellers in terms of better access to healthcare and education and opportunities to earn higher wages and enjoy better living standards generally.  Both sets of households have improved their livelihoods with reforms, but the urban households continue to do better.  To address these disparities, current reforms are experimenting with allowing rural people to have access to the use rights of the land that they occupy.  In some areas, such as Guangdong Province, the option to sell land use rights has already been in effect.  This change could be as significant as the changes that were implemented in the 1980s.

Professor Prime showed photos from around China in 1976 to emphasize the vast changes that have occurred since then.  Some of the photos, however, could have been taken today.  She speculated the reason is that development across China has been uneven both between urban and rural communities as Professor Qi emphasized, and across geographical areas.  These differences are being addressed by such initiatives as the West China Development program.  While China’s reform policies have been very successful at growth, they have not been very effective yet at providing the services that governments are typically responsible for, such as education, healthcare and environmental and consumer protection.  To China’s leaders credit, these are the challenges that are being addressed today. 

Time:        
4:00 p.m., Sunday, October 25, 2009

Location:              
Agnes Scott College,  Lower Evans Hall
141 E. College Avenue
Decatur, GA 30030
 
Speakers:
Dr. Baogang Guo, Dalton State College
Dr. Li Qi, Agnes Scott College
Dr. Penelope Prime, Mercer University

Free and open to the public.