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WORLDVIEW
The Present and Future of China
 The number of migrant workers in China is roughly half the entire population of the United States, and the economy is growing at the rate of nine percent per year. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well, and the emergence of China as the world’s factory is undeniable.
But this growth raises important questions: how can the environment sustain 1.3 billion people, all in search of a Western lifestyle? Can the Communist Party maintain its power? And are the U.S. and China on a collision course?
We talk with political scientists, human rights investigators, and environmentalists to gain a better perspective on a country President Bush has called a “strategic competitor.”
Chicago Public Radio is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Audio Library
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Dam Projects and Environmental Sustainability
Originally broadcast January 25, 2005
Susanne Wong—East and Southeast Asia Campaigner, International Rivers Network
China's environmental protection agency has suspended 26 large hydroelectric dam projects because officials didn't complete proper environmental assessments. Could China be changing its thinking on the desirability of large dams?
Related Link
International Rivers Network
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Related Audio
Originally broadcast May 27, 2004
A conversation with two Chicagoans who are trying to save China's Nu River from a series of 13 dams |
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Related Audio
Originally broadcast May 27, 2004
A conversation with a Chinese scientist whose work has been instrumental in suspending the Nu River dam project |
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The World's Manufacturer
Originally broadcast January 24, 2005
Ted Fishman—Journalist
Copyright infringement is a longstanding problem in China—and a multi-billion-dollar annual liability for U.S. businesses. We examine the role of piracy in China's manufacturing sector.
Guest Ted Fishman wrote about the issue in his article, “Manufaketure,” which appeared in the January 9, 2005, issue of the New York Times magazine. Fishman is finishing the book, China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World (Scribner, 2005). |
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Value of the Yuan
Originally broadcast January 24, 2005
Dali Yang—Professor of Political Science and Director, Committee on International Relations, University of Chicago
China's currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar. But as the Chinese economy improves, the Bush administration is pushing China for a change in monetary policy that would reflect the real value of the yuan. |
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Demand for Oil
Originally broadcast January 24, 2005
Nick Lardy—Senior Fellow, Institute for International Economics
China's demand for oil continues to increase as more and more people there buy cars. What are the consequences of this demand for both China and the rest of the world? |
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China—Zhou Ziyang and the Tiananmen Square Massacre
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Andrew Nathan—Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
Andrew Nathan joins us to discuss the late Zhou Ziyang and his role in the Tiananmen Square Massare. |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective One
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Gordon C. Chang—Attorney
Conventional wisdom holds that the Chinese Communist Party can hold on to power as long as the economic boom continues. Can the Communist Party adapt to the changing economic situation in China?
Gordon C. Chang is author of The Coming Collapse of China. |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective Two
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Peter Gries Hays—Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Colorado-Boulder
Peter Gries Hays weighs in on What is ahead for the Chinese Communist Party.
Peter Gries Hays is author of China's New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy. |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective Three
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Michael Swaine—Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Michael Swaine weighs on what is ahead for the Chinese Communist Party. |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective Four
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Dali Yang—Professor, Political Science, University of Chicago
Dali Yang weighs in on the future of the Chinese Communist Party.
Dali Yang is the director of the Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago. |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective Five
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Andrew Nathan—Professor, Political Science, Columbia University
Andrew Nathan talks about the tension between reform and control in the Chinese Communist Party. |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective Six
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Sharon Hom—Executive Director, Human Rights in China
Sharon Hom discusses the promise of economic prosperity in China and the odds of the Communisty Party's survival.
Related Link
Human Rights in China |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective Seven
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Wen Huang—Writer
Wen Huang participated in the 1989 Tiananmen student democracy movement in China. He gives his prediction for the future of the Chinese Communist Party. |
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China—Future of Chinese Communist Party: Perspective Eight
Originally broadcast January 21, 2005
Ted Fishman—Journalist
Ted Fishman talks about the balance between wealth creation and control in the Chinese Communisty Party. |
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Human Rights Concerns
Originally broadcast January 20, 2005
Sharon Hom—Executive Director, Human Rights in China
The New York-based organization, Human Rights in China, was founded by Chinese scientists and scholars after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. And the group has been working to make sure economic development doesn't push human rights from the spotlight.
Related Link
Human Rights in China |
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Stories of Dissent
Originally broadcast January 20, 2005
Ian Johnson—Journalist
We talk with former Wall Street Journal Beijing correspondent Ian Johnson about his book, Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China (Pantheon, 2004). It tells of everyday people fighting for their rights against extraordinary odds. |
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Environment and Development
Originally broadcast January 19, 2005
Elizabeth Economy—Director of Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
China's economic boom has improved living standards for millions of people, but also created environmental problems such as acid rain, poison crops, and increasing desertification. Can China continue growing while also protecting the environment?
Guest Elizabeth Economy is author of The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future (Cornell University Press, 2004). |
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Nationalism
Originally broadcast January 18, 2005
Peter Gries Hays—Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Colorado, Boulder
China certainly has reasons to be patriotic and proud, but some say nationalism has become a replacement for a failed communist ideology and that it's eroded traditional Maoist values. Has China rushed into a new nationalism?
Guest Peter Gries Hays is author of China's New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy (University of California Press, 2004). |
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Death of Zhao Ziyang
Originally broadcast January 17, 2005
Wen Huang—Writer
A former general secretary of China's Communist Party, Zhao Ziyang spent the last 15 years of his life under house arrest after siding with the activists during the 1989 democracy movement. Guest Wen Huang participated in the 1989 democracy movement. He lives in Chicago. |
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Asia's Regional Hegemon?, Perspective One
Originally broadcast January 17, 2005
John Mearsheimer—R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science; Codirector, Program on International Security Policy; University of Chicago
How much of a strategic threat does China pose to U.S. influence in Asia? We're first joined by the University of Chicago's John Mearsheimer, who thinks the U.S. and China are destined to butt heads in the region.
Mearsheimer and former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski debate the possibility of a serious U.S.-China strategic rivalry in the January/February 2005 issue of Foreign Policy magazine. Prof. Mearsheimer is also author of the book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. |
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Asia's Regional Hegemon?, Perspective Two
Originally broadcast January 17, 2005
Michael Swaine—Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
We now turn to Michael Swaine from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He doesn't think China's growing presence in Asia necessarily poses a strategic threat to U.S. influence in the region. |
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Related Segments from Previous Editions of Worldview |
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Global Activism Story: Trying to Save a River in China, Part One
Originally broadcast May 27, 2004
Gerald Adelman—Executive Director, Openlands Project
Doug Stotz—Conservation Ecologist, Field Museum
China is one of the most heavily dammed nations in the world. The Nu River in Yunnan Province is one of only two undammed rivers in the entire country. We talk with two Chicagoans who are trying to save it from a series of 13 dams.
Related Link
NuJiang River Website |
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Global Activism Story: Trying to Save a River in China, Part Two
Originally broadcast May 27, 2004
Yang Yuming—Professor of Environmental Sciences and Vice President, Southwest Forestry University
We talk with environmental scientist Yang Yuming, whose work helped suspend a project to dam the Nu River in China's Yunnan Province. He was in Chicago to accept an award from the Field Museum.
Yuming is a board member of the China Botanical Society. His remarks are interpreted by Ken Jao from the Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange. |
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Large Dam Projects Displace Millions
Originally broadcast May 26, 2004
Dr. Jing Jun—Director, Social Policy Research Institute, Tsinghua University
Dr. Jing Jun studied people displaced by large dams for more than 12 years, but switched to HIV/AIDS research, finding it less depressing. A former Chinese prime minister has spoken out against the controversial Three Gorges dam, and we ask Dr. Jun if that criticism has had any impact on the popularity of such projects.
Dr. Jun is a policy advisor for China's National Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. |
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Dealing with SARS and HIV/AIDS
Originally broadcast February 9, 2004
Dr. Jing Jun—Director, Social Policy Research Institute, Tsinghua University |
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Doctors Visit Chicago for HIV/AIDS Training
Originally broadcast February 9, 2004
Scott Cook—Director of Community Services, Howard Brown Health Center
Way Wu Tswee—Epidemiologist, Center for Disease Control, China
Don Don Zhang—Epidemiologist, Center for Disease Control, China |
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China: Internet filtering
Originally broadcast August 7, 2003
Ben Edelman—Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School |
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China: Internet dissidents
Originally broadcast August 7, 2003
Mickey Spiegel—Senior Researcher for Human Rights Watch-Asia Division |
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Global Activism Story: Documenting victims of China’s Cultural Revolution On-line
Originally broadcast August 7, 2003
Youqin Wang—author of the Chinese Holocaust website, Senior Lecturer and director of the Chinese language program at the University of Chicago
Related Link
Chinese Holocaust Memorial website |
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