Sci-Edu
UPDATED: 14:43, May 26, 2007
Stanford center keen on China http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200705/26/eng20070526_378233.html
The Hoover Institution, one of the top think-tanks in the United States, has been devoting more resources to studying China.
"If you want to understand the coming century and be a good think-tank, you better understand the Chinese economy, Chinese culture and Chinese foreign policy," said David Brady, deputy director of The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University in California.
Brady is in Shanghai with a group of Stanford and Hoover scholars attending the three-day Shanghai Forum 2007 entitled "Economic Globalization and the Choice of Asia."
"Understanding China means getting there, talking to people, attending conferences and thinking hard of what constitutes economic growth, how the Party manages and how the leadership works..." Brady told China Daily on Friday.
Brady said both Hoover and Stanford have started a push to improve their understanding of China.
Hoover is hosting several young Chinese diplomats in a six-month program. It has also set up a joint program with Fudan University to share archives and scholars and co-sponsor conferences.
Hoover has also sent delegations to China in the last two years and has been receiving delegations from China's central government ministries and Party organizations.
Hoover has also started to build up its rich China archives since Brady assumed the deputy director post three years ago.
In fact, Hoover's China archives have attracted many researchers and scholars from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. One recent highlight was allowing public access to 1915-45 diaries by Chiang Kai-shek, head of the Kuomintang Government.
The institute has also been entrusted to preserve the diary of Chiang Kai-shek's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, as well as the private papers of TV Soong, a top official in Chiang's government.
Brady said there is great interest in China.
"When I first got to Stanford (20 years ago), all the interest was in Japan, no interest in China whatsoever. Now the situation is reversed. There is very little interest in Japan and lots of interest in China," said Brady.
The number of Chinese MBA students at the school has gone from one to 32. And there are five sessions of Mandarin available to MBA students this year. Brady, also an expert on the US Congress, believes that the Chinese currency and Sino-US trade deficit talks have been over-politicized.
He said the trade surplus was the result of a big demand for Chinese products in the US.
He said people should not just listen to what these congressmen say but they should pay attention to their actions.
Source: China Daily
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