Highlights

Hong Kong and Taiwan: Lost in the Transition

Just a few days ago, young people in Taiwan expressed their protest against the passing of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) by the ruling party Kuomintang at the legislature without clause-by-clause review by brutal interruption of the constitution and taking over the Legislative Yuan. Before long, another incident took place in Hong Kong where a mainland couple who allowed their toddler to pee in the street and some young locals who took pictures of the toddler without permission got involved in a fight. This incident has stirred heated spat between mainlanders and Hong Kong citizens.

These two incidents demonstrate that Hong Kong and Taiwan got lost in politics and culture, which also shows that they are no longer models for the development of mainland China.

One of the most significant characteristics of China for thousands of years is the scale of the state. And by scale, I don’t only mean the size of the country but also the diversity of its culture. Hong Kong and Taiwan in the second half of the 20th century added another dimension of the cultural diversity of China: different cultures and institutions are seen in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

The institutional differences go without saying. Hong Kong was formerly under colonial rule of the UK. It does not apply full democracy, but it employs mature rule of law and an efficient administrative system. There is a complete constitution in Taiwan, but it has been compromised by martial law for quite a while. Now that martial law is abolished, the constitution is upheld again. Market mechanism is set up in both. Hong Kong and Taiwan have made great breakthroughs when China tried to step out of the planned economy. It was businessmen from Hong Kong and Taiwan who first came to mainland China and helped to break the basic planned economy. They showcased what mainlanders imagined for a society where there was rule of law and constitutionalism.

The cultural influence of Hong Kong and Taiwan should not be underestimated. The unprecedented Cultural Revolution in the 1960s has done irrevocable damage to Chinese culture. But Chinese culture survived and flourished in Hong Kong and Taiwan where people still live a traditional Chinese life. The modern Chinese thoughts and scholarship, such as Neo-Confucianism and religions that sought for modern transformation started in the early 20th century, and now fortunately flourish in Taiwan and Hong Kong. After the 1980s, these schools of thoughts and religions came to mainland China and pushed forward the reformation of mainland schools of thoughts. And the fact that Taiwan’s and Hong Kong’s successful combination of Chinese lifestyle, rule of law, and constitutionalism, in a way, broke the illusion held by Chinese enlightenment scholars that Chinese culture is not compatible with rule of law and democracy.

In this sense, it was a blessing to have Taiwan and Hong Kong for Chinese culture in the later 20th century. These two places lead China to rule of law, constitutionalism, enabling mainland Chinese to go back to their own culture. Mainlanders have been holding a grateful and envious attitude towards Taiwan and Hong Kong. Therefore, people from the three places are on very good terms.

However, about five or six years ago, this healthy and harmonious relation began to break: the attitude of people from Taiwan and Hong Kong began to change as the two places set out on a path of “Desinicization”.

The same excuse is employed in both cases: the political institutions of mainland China are not satisfactory, which is a fact recognized by many mainland elites. But the problem is that before the desinicization, the political institutions of mainland China were even worse. In fact, Hong Kong and Taiwan elites helped improving mainland’s political institutions and constitutionalism in their own ways. What caused them to stop their efforts?

I assume the fundamental cause is the subtle change of attitudes among the citizens. The one thing in common between the two unfortunate incidents lately is that the main actors are young people in both cases and they both showed extreme behavior. From what they did, people could see the apparent negative attitude towards mainland and mainlanders with no remorse or compassion.

What brought about this negative attitude? Perhaps it’s because of the loss of confidence. In the past, mainland China was not powerful even though its political system was bad. In contrary, Taiwan and Hong Kong enjoyed multiple advantages. So Taiwan and Hong Kong outran mainland China by wealth, culture and politics. But now the advantage in wealth is gone. The whole world looks to mainland China for its accomplishment, let alone young people from Taiwan and Hong Kong. The size of Taiwan and Hong Kong undermines their confidence facing mainland China even though cultural and political advantages remain.

The reason why the main actors of these two incidents were young people is that they didn’t see much hope in Hong Kong and Taiwan, especially when Hong Kong and Taiwan were to be encompassed in the framework of China. Values of rule of law and democracy are maybe learned from textbooks but they appear to be weak when the young people are faced with a dynamic mainland China. Therefore, a sense of hatred and despise was nurtured and such feelings would have to be let out at one point or another. The mainland couple and the CSSTA were such opportunities for the emotional outlet. It is expected that more such incidents will take place as the young people keep looking for opportunities to express their attitudes.

A deep sense of anxiety is detected from the hatred and brutality of the young people in Taiwan and Hong Kong. They are lost in the transition and they don’t have the slightest clue of where to go.

However, if we take one step further, we’ll see the reason why these young people are lost is that mainland China does not provide perspectives for them. In the past, Hong Kong and Taiwan showed ways for mainland China to follow, which explains the bond between them. As mainland China develops rapidly, the table is turned, which could’ve been no big deal. Hong Kong and Taiwan could choose to find shelter in mainland China and make their own success stories. In fact, the whole world is enjoying the fruits of China’s economic development, and Hong Kong and Taiwan are blessed to have the geographical advantage. However, it is this advantage that makes the attitude of Hong Kong and Taiwan differ from other regions. Elites and young people from Taiwan and Hong Kong identify themselves as Chinese and that mainland China is the main body of the country. However, the political system of mainland China lacks attractiveness and a set of universal values is missing in addition to the lack of traditional culture. Therefore, elites and young people from Hong Kong and Taiwan are reluctant to return to the rule of mainland China. Besides, there is little room for maneuver for Hong Kong and Taiwan in the international arena. Therefore, sense of anxiety and loss is spread.

The solution, though, lies in mainland China. The negative attitude of residents in Hong Kong and Taiwan stems from the fact that mainland China didn’t manage to embrace incomers by upholding culture and morality, or by pacification. In economic terms, mainland China has encompassed Hong Kong and Taiwan, but the appeal of culture and morality, or values, lag behind. Mainland China fails in two aspects: firstly, its institutions cannot meet the long term expectation of Hong Kong’s and Taiwan’s citizens; and secondly, the culture of mainland China lacks attractiveness and values.
Therefore, mainland China, no matter the authorities or the public, especially the media, should understand the sense of anxiety shared by citizens of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and take efforts to improve its institutions and restore its culture. As mainland China gets back on the right track, elites and young people in Hong Kong and Taiwan will naturally find their way and obtain a sense of belonging. Before that, mainland China should adopt a tolerant attitude instead of countermeasures to negative responses.

YAO Zhongqiu (Qiufeng), President of Unirule Institute of Economics

Current Events

Chinese Economics Inter-Disciplinary Innovation Conference Held in Beijing

May 6th to 7th, 2014, Chinese Economics Inter-Disciplinary Innovation Seminar was held in Beijing. In order to address new progress in economics from home and abroad in recent years, and to provide a platform for academic discussion over the latest advances in theoretical studies, Unirule Institute of Economics as a NGO concentrated on economics took up this chance to organize the conference.  (For more information)

2014 “MAO Yushi’s Class” (Session 5) Held in Chengdu

From May 10th to 11th, the 2014 “MAO Yushi’s Class” (Session 5) was held in Chengdu. Joined in this session were Professor MAO Yushi, Honorary President of Unirule, Professor LEI Yi from the CASS, and Dr. ZHAO Nong, Vice President of Unirule Academic Board. There were 41 registered students present and several participants.

On the morning of May 10, Professor MAO Yushi talked on “The Creation and Distribution of Wealth.” Wealth is measured by money as it can purchase commodities. The creation of wealth is the individual contribution to the society, which is measured by market mechanism. There is no exploitation as long as there the market is fair. And exploitation only happens when there is a breach of market rules. Professor MAO Yushi pointed out that fair and free exchange could create wealth and such exchange could bring about win-win scenarios. As all the exchanges are not done on a strictly equivalent basis, i.e. exchanges only happen when the utility of a good is overestimated by one side and underestimated by the other; therefore, the utility of both sides would be improved. (For more information)

The Sixth UCERC Saloon Held in Beijing

April 30th, the Sixth UCERC Saloon was held in Beijing at the office of Unirule Institute of Economics. The theme of this saloon was “Belief and Entrepreneurship”. This saloon was jointly held by Unirule China Entrepreneur Research Center (UCERC) and Unirule Culture and Institution Research Center. This saloon was gracefully joined by independent scholar Professor ZHAO Xiao; Professor LIU Peng from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Professor CHEN Haowu from Peking University; Professor YAN Kewen from Shandong University; Professor ZHAO Nong from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Director of Unirule Culture and Institution Research Center; and independent scholar and columnist Mr. SU Xiaohe. Professor FENG Xingyuan, Director of UCERC hosted this saloon. The six guest speakers gave a 30-minute speech separately. Around 40 participants from business circles were present. (For more information)

News

New book Embedded Civilization: Thoughts on Chinese Liberalism by Professor YAO Zhongqiu (Qiufeng) Published

Professor ZHANG Shuguang and Professor FENG Xingyuan Meet Nobel Prize Winner Professor Thomas J. Sargent

April 20, 2014, Professor FENG Xingyuan, Deputy Director of Unirule, and Professor ZHANG Shuguang, President of Unirule Academic Committee, met with Professor Thomas J. Sargent, Nobel Prize Winner in economics, at “Influence·China” Spring Summit held by Time Weekly in Guangzhou.

Current Researches/ Consulting

Business Ethics Declaration of Chinese Entrepreneurs

Over the last three decades, China’s economy has been embracing rapid growth with entrepreneurs being a key drive. The biggest and most significant structural change is the rise of entrepreneurs who constitute the pillar of the society nowadays. Today, the biggest, and the youngest group of entrepreneurs are going international, bridging China and the world.

However, because of the abnormal political, social and ideological environment of China for the last five decades, Chinese entrepreneurs happen to be widely confused and for the last thirty years, the emerging group of entrepreneurs has been suffering from severe anxiety over identity:

Firstly, due to the long time anti-market ideological propaganda by the authorities, many entrepreneurs believe they have the “original sin”. They are led to believe that their profits are based on exploiting the workers, which further leads to their confusion and anxiety over the ethical justification of their fortune and profits.

Secondly, this anti-market ideology also affects the public; leading the public to envy the fortune of entrepreneurs while disrespect them since their deeds are “unethical” and “dishonest”. This public opinion, in return, affects entrepreneurs’ self-identity. They, therefore, can’t convince themselves of the contributions they make to the society, or identify themselves within the social hierarchy.

Thirdly, Chinese entrepreneurs, especially those whose enterprises have gone international, are bothered with this severe identification anxiety. Chinese people stand out in entrepreneurship, so do Chinese enterprises. But what are the driving forces behind? Thanks to the long time culture break-up from the traditions, and the anti-tradition propaganda, Chinese entrepreneurs find it hard to comprehend and identify their cultural and social roles. This leads to the chaotic and restless mental state of entrepreneurs. This also results in the lack of a cultural supportive pillar for enterprise management in China.

“Business Ethics Declaration of Chinese Entrepreneurs” aims to provide answers to the anxiety over identity for Chinese entrepreneurs, to re-identify them by providing authentic and orthodoxical conceptions, to help them mature their thoughts and corporate social responsibilities.

This research project is committed to establishing a value system for Chinese entrepreneurs. To confront the anxiety over identity for Chinese entrepreneurs, this project provides answers to the three questions below:

1.Do Chinese entrepreneurs have the “original sin”?
2.What do Chinese entrepreneurs contribute to the society?
3.How do Chinese entrepreneurs gain respect?

Improving Entrepreneurs' Survival Environment: Abolishing Death Penalties in Relation to Fund-Raising Cases in China

In recent years, environment for private enterprises has been taking a deteriorating turn, which attracts attention from the media and the academia. The causes are complex and multi-faceted, including: 1, the abuse of powers by government officials as the government powers expand; 2, “the private-owned deteriorating with the state-owned advancing”(guojin mintui) worsens the picture where the survival environment for private enterprises gets more and more squeezed; 3, external demands of enterprises decrease while internal cost increases; 4, financial suppression escalates with the industrial restructuring and updating lagging behind; and 5, the fluctuation of macroeconomic policies by the government poses uncertainty for production and investment. Moreover, many innocent entrepreneurs were labeled and persecuted for their “gangster behaviors” by the policy and law enforcements in Chongqing city, which was just a glimpse of similar occasional “gangster crashing” movements in the country. Many entrepreneurs are suppressed and sanctioned in the name of “illegal fund-raising”. According to active law, the court can sentence entrepreneurs to death penalty with this charge.

Unirule Institute of Economics is planning to undertake research on the problems of the crime of “illegal fund-raising” and specific method to abolish this charge.

It is fit for Unirule to carry out this research project. Unirule Institute of Economics is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, which focuses on institutional economics with expertise in economics, laws, and politics. It has been dedicated to independent research on China’s institutional reforms and public policies as well as the reform of private finance. In 2003, 2011, and 2013, Unirule held seminars on the cases of Mr. SUN Dawu, Ms. WU Ying, and Mr. ZENG Chengjie. These seminars have been very influential before and after the close of the cases.

Unirule Institute of Economics has undertaken research projects in corporate finance and private finance in recent years. Over the years, Professor FENG Xingyuan has been carrying out pioneering research on private finance and private enterprises. He has gained rich experience and published many publications and papers on relevant topics, including Report on the Freedom of China’s Corporate Capitals, Report on the Survival Environment of China’s Private Enterprises 2012, Research on the Risks of Private Finance, etc. In August 2013, Professor FENG Xingyuan and his research team completed and released the Report on Private Enterprise Fund-Raiding in West Hunan and the Case of Mr. ZENG Chengjie, which analyzed and assessed the process, nature, problems, and causes of a series of events and proposed policy recommendations concerning the fund-raising activities in West Hunan and the case of Mr. ZENG Chengjie. Besides, Professor MAO Yushi, Honorary President and celebrated economist of Unirule Institute of Economics, is also an expert in private finance as Professor FENG Xingyuan.

Theoretical Research and Reforming Solution on Opening the Markets of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products

The present system of petroleum industry in China generally has 3 characteristics —— it focuses on state-owned business, price control and restricted access. Thus China’s petroleum industry shows a highly administrative monopoly. A few enterprises have completely monopolized the supply lines from its exploration, mining, refining, wholesale and retail, even to its imports and exports. The research intends to break the administrative monopoly of petroleum industry, stating its objective for the reform and meanwhile figuring out feasible reforming solutions to further liberate the markets of crude oil and product oil.

Strategy of Developing Areas and Planning Studies on Urban Industrialization For Yangcheng County in Jincheng City of Shanxi Province

On the basis of rethinking the strategy of development, the transformation of urban functions and the adjustment to industrial structure for Yangcheng County, Unirule Institute of Economics has developed a unique space-institution mathematical economic model, which can reunite three-dimensional space-time of cities and regions, their industries and institutions, and their economic policy analysis. The Unirule Institute will put the strategy into practice. Meanwhile, such mathematical model will be used to simulate market mechanism, to predict the final size for the long-term developing balance of cities and regions, the space distribution of population density and other economic density, the development time and process of cities and regions, the industrial distribution and its development track, and to test the flexibility of economic systems and policies. Thus the model can be used for the spatial planning of urban and rural areas in Yangcheng County.

Fairness and Efficiency of Financial Resource Allocation

The first scale problem of the fairness and efficiency of financial resource allocation is whether the overall tax bearing standard falls within the optimal interval, whether the design of tax kinds and the mechanism will harm the development of the economy. The second scale problem is whether the expenditure structure of the existing financial resource allocation, especially transfer payment, obeys the principal of justice, and the efficiency of financial expenditure especially the general administrative costs.
Unirule Institute of Economics is going to undertake research on the fairness and efficiency of financial resource allocation with the emphasis on the second scale problem. In order to fulfill the ideal of justice in a society, the involvement of financial resource allocation is one of the methods, and a universal one. A state can promote justice by implying financial expenditure in two ways: the direct and the indirect way. When applying the direct way of implying financial expenditure measures to promote justice, financial expenditure is directly distributed to individuals to fill the gap of incomes between individuals. Among the financial expenditure items of China are pensions and relief funds for social welfare, rural relief funds as well as social insurance funds. The indirect way is by governments' increase in expenditure used for supporting agriculture and villagers, construction of infrastructure, education and medical treatments. This research is on the justice of financial resource allocation and it deals mainly with whether the transfer payment of financial resources obeys the second rule of Rawls's theory of justice, which states that when violation to the first rule has to be made, resource allocation can be towards the poorest group of people. Besides the justice issue, efficiency is also involved in the financial resource allocation. The administrative costs of China have long been above the average standard of other countries in the world, therefore, a big amount of public financial resources are wasted (trillions of RMB per year as estimated). In regard with the efficiency issue of the financial resource allocation, this research deals mainly with the change of ratio of administrative costs by government agencies (in addition to other costs, such as medical treatments of government officials covered by public budgets, and housing subsidies) of financial income. The reform of the fiscal and taxation system is one of the core issues in China's on-going reforms. This research aims not at a comprehensive examination of the fiscal and taxation system, but a specific aspect which is the "fairness and efficiency of financial resource allocation", and evaluating the status quo of China's financial resource allocation.

Research on China's Urbanization on the Local Level

Urbanization is one of the most essential economic and social policies of the new administration. The emphasis of this policy is posed on medium and small cities as well as townships. As noticed, there are thousands of industrialized townships in China with their social governance lagging far behind their economic development.
Firstly, a big population is located in between the urban and rural level, which can't transform into citizens. Hundreds of millions of people have left their villages and moved to commercialized and industrialized towns. They are in industrial and commercial occupations and it is highly unlikely that they would go back to their villages. However, they are not entitled to local Hukou registration, which further leads to the deprivation of various rights, for example, the right of education. Secondly, public governance in such industrialized and commercialized towns, in general, is at a rudimentary level. The number of officially budgeted posts is asymmetric with the population governed, which leads to the employment of a large number of unofficially budgeted staff and unjustified power to govern. There is a lack of financial resources for the local government to carry out infrastructure construction or to provide public goods sufficiently. Thirdly, the urbanization results in imbalanced development of the structure of society. Since the industrialized and commercialized townships are unable to complete urbanization, urbanization in China has basically become mega-urbanization which is dominated by administrative power. Local governments centralize periphery resources with administrative power and construct cities artificially, which impedes townships and villages from evolving into cities by spontaneous order. Fourthly, industry upgrading can't be undertaken in those industrialized and commercialized townships and the capacity for future economic development is greatly limited. The industry upgrading is, in essence, the upgrading of people. Enterprises ought to draw and maintain technicians, researchers, and investors, to meet their needs for living standards, which cannot be satisfied by townships. Similarly, the lagging urbanization reversely sets back the cultivation and development of the service industry, especially the medium and high-end services.
Unirule Institute of Economics is going to carry out research on urbanization of China on the local level, aiming at improving public governance of the industrialized townships, optimizing the urbanization methodologies, and improving the "citizenization" of migrant workers, therefore further pushing social governance towards self-governance and democracy.

Research on the Public Governance Index of Provincial Capitals

At the beginning of the year 2013, Unirule conducted field survey, including more than 10 thousands of households in 30 local capital cities. According to the field survey, the Public Governance Index was derived. The main conclusions of the PGI report as below:
Three statements summarize the status quo of public governance in provincial capitals. Firstly, public services have generally just gotten a pass. Secondly, protection to civil rights is disturbing. Finally, governance methodologies need improvements. These statements point out the solution: the structure of the society needs to be altered from that with a government monopoly to a civil society with diverse governance subjects. The ranking of provincial capitals in the public governance assessment from the top to the bottom is as follows: Hangzhou, Nanjing, Urumqi, Tianjin, Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing, Nanchang, Xi'an, Xining, Shijiazhuang, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Yinchuan, Hohhot, Chongqing, Shenyang, Changsha, Jinan, Kunming, Nanning, Haikou, Fuzhou, Guiyang, Harbin, Hefei, Changchun, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan and Lanzhou. Generally speaking, all provincial capitals are graded comparatively low in the three public governance assessments from 2008 to 2012. Even those that ranked the highest in performance have just barely passed the bar of 60 points. Few provincial capitals with poor public governance got over 50 points.
There is a certain amount of correlation between the changes of ranking and improvements in public governance in provincial capitals. In the short term, should the capital cities be willing to raise their rankings, they can achieve this by increasing transparency in government information and civil servants selection, encouraging local non-governmental organizations, or promoting wider participation in local affairs. There is but a weak correlation between public governance and the local GDP level. However, a strong correlation exists between the rankings and the equity of local fiscal transfer payment. That is to say, a region gets a higher ranking in public governance if subsidies to local social security, medical care, education and housing are distributed more to the poorest residents in that region. On the contrary, a region's ranking falls if such resources are distributed with prejudice to the groups with high incomes. This phenomenon shows that equity is of significance in the assessment of the government by the people.
When residents are not satisfied with medical care, elderly support system, water supply and electricity supply, the situation can be improved when they complain to the government. But when similar situations take place in public transportation, environment greening, heating systems, and garbage management, whether by collective actions or filing complaints to government agencies, residents can hardly be satisfied with what the government does.
According to the three public governance assessments carried out from 2008 to2012, we discovered that the Gini coefficient of residents in provincial capitals was decreasing and the income fluidity was improving. From 2010 to 2012, citizens' comments on protection of civil rights are deteriorating, especially in terms of property and personal security. The request for freedom of speech is also increasing. For the moment, citizens in provincial capitals have a low evaluation on the cleanness and honesty of local governments.

Research on Disclosure of Government Information

Room for reforms is getting narrower as the opening-up and reforms deepen. It also leads to a more stabilized vertical mobilization of the demographic structure with the conflicts in the distribution of interests exacerbating. A collaborative system centering the political and law system and involving close cooperation between the police, courts, petition offices, and the city guards (Chengguan) is developed to deal with social unrest. This system is operated by local governments and finalized as a system of maintaining stability (Weiwen). There have been Internet spats over the amount of Weiwen funds. It is unsustainable to maintain such a Weiwen system, and the disclosure of government information is the most significant approach for this end. The essence of public governance is to dissolute conflicts instead of hiding and neglecting them. And one way to achieve this is by sufficient communication. Public and transparent appraisement and supervision cannot be achieved without transparent government information, otherwise the result will be the exclusion of citizens from public governance.
Unirule Institute of Economics has been undertaking research on the disclosure of government information since 2011. This research is carried out not only from the perspective of the regulations for the disclosure of government information which evaluates whether governments of various levels are obeying the regulations and their performances, but also by examining information disclosure laws in developed countries while looking at the status quo in China. There are seven aspects where government information disclosure can be improved, namely, information disclosure of government officials, transparency of finance, transparency in the decision-making mechanism, transparency in administration, transparency in public services, transparency of enterprises owned by local governments, and transparency in civil rights protection.

Upcoming Events

Unirule·Journey of World Civilization (I) The Trip of Seeking Resources---Israel 
Unirule Institute of Economics plans to host a 9-day trip to Israel to seek resources. We set up 6 topics for visiting and discussion including Judean Glamour, Faith Core, Jesus Footprint and Wisdom Business. We are going to visit the humanities and natural landscapes in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Galilee, etc. Besides, we will develop both formal and informal discussion to unlock the mystery in our minds. Only 30 people are designed to join us in this trip. Unirule·Journey of World Civilization combines visiting, learning and exchanging and disseminates the positive energy of civilization. Welcome to join us! For more information or signing up in advance, please contact:

Email for signing up: wmzl@unirule.org.cn
Contacts: LI Yunzhe 13718353757 ZHAO Huijuan 13661058464

PS.
1.Cost：Applicants must pay RMB1000 for application fee. After approval, the overall cost of the trip should be separately paid for RMB68,000.
2. Tips: Applicants sign up before the official enrollment i.e. the applicants in advance will enjoy 88% discount (cost of the trip RMB59,840 ). The application deadline is April 5, 2014.
3. Cost for family members: The family members of applicants signing up before April 5 can get 70%discount and those signing up after April 5 can also get 80%discount.
4. Gentle hint: For the sake of SAFETY, we don’t suggest that the kids under 10 years old join this trip.

2014 Unirule Education Forum
“2014 Unirule Education Forum” will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2014. This event will focus on the development of private education and social science of higher education.

Unirule Biweekly Symposiums 
Unirule’s Biweekly Symposiums are known in China and throughout the world for their long history of open and in-depth discussions and exchanges of ideas in economics and other social sciences. Over 380 sessions have been held and over 15,000 scholars, policy makers and students, as well as countless readers on the web, have directly and indirectly, and participated in the Biweekly Symposium for close to 20 years. 
Biweekly Symposiums begin at 2 p.m. every other Friday and are free and open to the public.

Schedule 
Biweekly Symposium No. 502: 11th June, 2014
Biweekly Symposium No. 503: 20th June, 2014

Previous Biweekly Symposiums

Biweekly Symposium No. 499
Time: April 25th, 2014
Topic: Why Do I Study Zhang Xun's Restoration?
Lecturer: Professor ZHANG Ming
Host: SHENG Hong
Commentators: MA Yong, YAO Zhongqiu (Qiufeng), LEI Yi, YUAN Gang

Professor ZHANG Ming introduced the historical background of society, political arena, the military junta, and the bureaucrats’ bloc around 1917 when ZHANG Xun’s Restoration took place. He thought the attempt to establish democracy during the era of the Republic of China (1912-1949) was premature, which also revealed the flaws in China’s polity on the institutional level and this flaw remained even up until now. He thought this is also why modern China did not establish democracy. Lastly, he pointed out the three conditions for democracy in China: the wide awareness of democracy, wisdom for transition and time.

Executive Editor: LIU Qian
Editor: MA Junjie
Revisor: Hannah Luftensteiner