Program
Interdisciplinary Chinese Studies
Seminar Social Science
July 3-July 31, 2006
Peking University and University of Michigan
UM Instructors:
Professor Albert Park, Department of Economics
Professor Mary Gallagher, Department of Political Science
Course Description:
This graduate seminar on social scientific studies of China has two goals. The first is to
enable students to explore in depth a selection of key issues confronting contemporary
China from an interdisciplinary perspective. Topics include financial reforms, China’s
legal system, and local urban governance and the labor market, especially as the affect
the welfare of dislocated urban workers and migrant communities. These explorations, to
be led by UM and Beijing University faculty from different social science fields, will
include in-depth discussions of readings in English and Chinese, field trips, guest lectures
by Chinese experts and scholars, and independent research by students in small groups.
The second goal is to help students learn how to conduct high quality social science
research in China, including how to find and use English and Chinese source materials,
how to conduct interviews, and how to design and conduct structured surveys. Students
will be given the opportunity to use learn and practice each of these research skills.
Course Requirements:
• 4-5 page weekly papers
• Final small-group presentations
Week One: Financial reforms
I. China’s financial reforms
a. Overview of China’s financial system
b. Equity versus efficiency in the financial system
i. How do entrepreneurs get financed in China?
ii. What redistributive role is played by the financial system?
c. Recent reform issues
i. Reducing bad loans
ii. Public listing of state-owned banks
iii. WTO and foreign bank competition
Featured activities:
1) Visit to the People’s Bank of China, Beijing
2) Guest lectures:
• Shen Minggao, China economist, Citibank
• Li Jianguang, Vice President, IDG Investment (key financer of
high-tech startups in China)
II. China’s microfinance movement
a. Theory and practice of microfinance
b. Microfinance in China
i. Rural credit and the poor in China
ii. Institutional environment and history of development in
China
Featured activities:
` 1) Visit to rural microfinance program in Yi County (Hebei),
supported by experts at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
2) Guest lectures:
• Ren Changqing, Research Fellow, Rural Development
Institute (CASS) and former director of the Microfinance
Training Center
• Wang Sangui, Professor, Institute of Agricultural
Economics, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
(well-know expert on Chinese poverty)
Week Two: Law and Legal Issues
III. Understanding the Chinese legal system
a. Overview of the Chinese Legal System
b. Chinese Courts
c. Modes of Dispute Resolution
d. Access to Justice
IV. The Legislative Process
a. Legislation as part of policy-making
b. Fragmentation and Hierarchy in the Chinese political system
Week Three: Local Governance: Urban, Rural, and Migrant
I. Urban Governance
a. Changing Nature of the Danwei
b. Local Institutions: neighborhood communities, district
governments, and new associational life
c. Social Welfare (case focus: urban dibao program)
d. Political Participation
Featured activities:
` 1) Visit to Beijing urban neighborhood committee
2) Guest lectures (tentative):
• Official from Ministry of Civil Affairs
• Yu Xiaoqing or Mei Wang, World Bank Office
II. Migrant Communities
a. Overview of Migrant Issues
b. Social welfare (case focus: migrant schools)
c. Social Organization and Political Participation
Featured activities:
` 1) Visit to migrant community and migrant school in Beijing
2) Guest lectures:
• Researcher on migrant issues, Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences
• Interviews with migrant workers in Beijing
Week Four: Research Methods and Data Collection in China
I. Survey Research
II. Qualitative Interviewing and Ethnography
III. Archival and Historical Sources
Featured activities:
` 1) Students form groups, choose a focused topic, and design and
conduct a short small-scale survey in urban community in Beijing
2) Students present results to the rest of the class