Political Economy in Beijing

DIRECTORS
Roy F. Grow, Frank, B. Kellogg, Professor of International Relations and Penelope Prime, Professor of Economics

Professor Grow is a frequent traveler to China. He began to study Chinese Mandarin in 1960 and then worked as an interpreter and area analyst for the U.S government. He works with American and Japanese firms involved in the China market and writes about Chinese enterprises, economic decision-making, and Sino-foreign trade. Professor Grow frequently teaches business programs across the United States and Asia. He is married to Mary Lewis Grow.

Professor Prime first traveled to China in 1976 and then lived in Nanjing from 1982 to 1984. She began to study Chinese Mandarin in 1974. She is an expert on Chinese provincial economic development and writes about Chinese industrialization and finance policy. Professor Prime taught in Carleton’s Economics Department in the 1980’s, and now teaches in the Georgia State system. She is married to John Garver, an expert in Chinese foreign policy, and has two children – Alex and Vanessa.

ELIGIBILITY

The seminar is based on the assumption that students from a wide variety of majors can contribute valuable cross-disciplinary perspectives. The political and economic focus of the seminar makes an interest in social science questions highly desirable, but not absolutely necessary. The seminar directors recommend that students complete ONE of the following sets of courses before the seminar begins: Economics 110, 111 or Political Science 120,170 or History 152, 251 and/or 252.
While a knowledge of spoken Chinese would, of course, contribute to a student’s enjoyment of the experience, fluency in Mandarin Chinese is NOT a requirement since all the classes will be conducted in English.

LOCATION

The seminar will have as its home base the campus of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing. The campus is located in the embassy district of Beijing, a twenty minute drive from Tiananmen Square and China’s most important government offices and economic agencies. UIBE is China’s most important school for training personnel, both undergraduate and graduate students, for work in China’s ministries, banking institutions, and trade organizations. Most of UIBE’s faculty speak English, and the school has superb relations with China’s economic organizations and policy-making institutions. The UIBE campus is new and (by Chinese standards) modern. Most of the residence halls and classrooms have been constructed in the past ten years. The Chinese student body numbers about 2,500. Because of the students’ interest in international business and economics, they are, as a group, unusually outgoing and cosmopolitan.