The Global Technology Revolution China, In-Depth Analyses: Tianjin

In 2007, the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) and one of its administrative zones, the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), in northeast China commissioned the RAND Corporation to perform a technology-foresight study to help them develop and implement a strategic vision and plan for economic growth through technological innovation. The principal objectives were to identify the most-promising emerging technology applications for TBNA and TEDA to pursue as part of their plan for growth, to analyze the drivers and barriers they would face in each case, and to recommend action plans for each technology application (TA).

Seven TAs should form a pivotal part of TBNA’s comprehensive strategic plan: cheap solar energy; advanced mobile communications and radio-frequency identification; rapid bioassays; membranes, filters, and catalysts for water purification; molecular-scale drug design, development, and delivery; electric and hybrid vehicles; and green manufacturing.

The specific action plans can be integrated into an overarching strategic plan that rests on three legs: building a state-of-the-art R&D program; updating and expanding TBNA and TEDA’s manufacturing base; and positioning TBNA and TEDA for the global marketplace. The plan offers TBNA a wealth of opportunities that will position it for the future development it envisions, and each TA emerges from one or more of TEDA’s current pillar industries, making for a fluid transition that builds on existing strengths.

Source: The Global Technology Revolution China, In-Depth Analyses: Emerging Technology Opportunities for the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) and the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) | RAND

Diversification of Chinese Companies: An International Comparison

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic comparison of the level of business diversification in China and eight other large economies for the 2001-2005 period. The reasons why publicly listed Chinese firms are more diversified than companies elsewhere are investigated.

Source: Diversification of Chinese Companies: An International Comparison – Article – Faculty & Research – Harvard Business School

China’s Economic Fluctuations: Implications for its Rural Economy

Since the middle 1980s, each fast and slow phase of every cycle has seen China’s urban households fare better than rural households. An analysis of the cycles shows that this reflects how stimulus policies for new fast cycles have focused first and foremost on urban sectors. It also reflects a major component of policies to cool off or slow the economy when it becomes overheated.

Source: Carnegie_Report_Final.indd – keidel_china_fluctuations_final.pdf

An Advanced Reader in Chinese History

“My experience in teaching the Chinese language has led me to feel the need for a textbook which would prepare the student to read books and articles in Chinese independently; that is to say, a textbook that would enable the student to go beyond simplified material glossed in English and to escape dependence on Chinese-English dictionaries. Such a book has to overcome two principal obstacles. The student must become familiar with the different prose styles used by modern Chinese writers, and he must
likewise become accustomed to definitions given in Chinese–an essential if he is to use dictionaries written in the Chinese language.“WALLACE JOHNSON

Source: An Advanced Reader in Chinese History

An Advanced Reader in Chinese International Relations

This book offers three main features. It contains a graded selection of writings by some of the most important modern Chinese writers. Secondly, all new words and phrases encountered in the lessons are defined in Chinese, so that the reader becomes accustomed to the use of dictionaries written in the Chinese language. Lastly, a series of questions is appended to each lesson, which it is hoped will lead the student to use his knowledge of Chinese to discuss the leading points presented in the lessons. All the lessons are written in modern Chinese, but they present several prose styles of differing complexity.

Source: An Advanced Reader in Chinese International Relations

Foreigners in Areas of China Under Communist Jurisdiction before 1949

Link: Foreigners in Areas of China Under Communist Jurisdiction before 1949: Biographical Notes and a Comprehensive Bibliography of the Yenan Hui

People talk about “China Hands” all the time. In this fascinating study Margaret Stanley, Daniel H. Bays, and Helen Foster Snow offer a biographical listing of the non-Chinese who were living and working in communist-controlled areas of China prior to the Communist Party’s victory over the Kuomintang in 1949.

Many of these names will be familiar to students of modern Chinese history,b but there will likely be some surprises as well.

An Advanced Reader in Chinese Literature

2009 Revised Edition of the 1978 original. The revised edition was typed in Microsoft Word with Unicode font to guarantee a searchable full-text format. Previous Zuyin (注音) phonetic markers were updated to Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) with tone markers. Some missing Chinese characters in the first edition, due to limitation of character type font on the Chinese typewriter, were added and typos were corrected. Endnotes were changed to footnotes for easy reading. Lessons with mixed traditional and simplified characters were changed to use either traditional or simplified characters throughout.

Source: An Advanced Reader in Chinese Literature

Breaking the Suicide Pact: US-China Cooperation on Climate Change

U.S.–China climate cooperation is the critical step toward a global climate agreement.Yet the two countries are locked in a “suicide pact”; each refuses to act before the other.

Source: pb57_chandler_final2.pdf

Yuan Real Exchange Rate Undervaluation, 1997-2006. How Much, How Often? Not Much, Not Often

Yuan real effective exchange rate misalignment is esitimated in a behavioral equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) model for the period 1997 to third quarter 2007. Using the Beveridge-Nelson decomposition a vector error correction model (VECM) of the exchange rate as a function of macroeconomic fundamentals, including government expenditures, economic openness, the balance of trade surplus, and net foreign assets, is estimated. We find that the Chinese Yuan has been fluctuating moderately around its long run equilibrium value with undervaluation up to 4% and overvaluation up to 6% at various points in time since 1997. This result is consistent with findings of many of the most recent studies employing alternative econometric methodologies to determine the equilibrium exchange rate. While the Yuan real effective exchange rate has deviated from equilibrium, and it is sticky, taking over five years to correct 50% of the short run misalignment, it does not appear to have been consistently undervalued as has been widely argued.

Source: Yuan Real Exchange Rate Undervaluation, 1997-2006. How Much, How Often? Not Much, Not Often

China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change (2008)

A responsible developing country, China sets great store by climate change issues.Fully aware of the importance and urgency of addressing climate change, followingthe requirements of the Scientific Out-look on Development, and taking into overallconsideration of both economic development and ecological construction, domesticsituation and international situation, and present and future, China has formulated andimplemented a national plan for coping with climate change, and adopted a series ofpolicies and measures in this regard.

Source: (Microsoft Word – 2008.10.30.White Paper \255 China’s Policies & Actions for Addressing Climate Change _English_.doc) – China_Climate_Change_Policies_Actions_English.pdf

NB: How much of this was real, and how much of it was so much posturing? We can now look back and evaluate.