SPPM January Newsletter: Field Trip Special Edition

Transcription

1 SPPM January Newsletter: Field Trip Special Edition Dear MID Students and Alumni, Hello and we hope this message finds you well. Attached you may find the latest e-newsletter of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, bringing you the most up-to-date information of our school. This month s issue includes: Assistant Dean Meng Bo Celebrates Spring Festival with International Students WTO s Tang Xiaobing Delivers a Lecture at SPPM MID s Visit to Pearl River Delta SPPMers Celebrated Spring Festival on Campus Spring Festival Celebration of Year 2012 was held on the evening of January 22. Assistant Dean, Ms. Meng Bo and dozens of international students from SPPM, including MIDers and IMPAers, attend the celebrations. For many international students, this is the first time they celebrated Chinese Lunar New Year. Organizers decorated the cafeteria with fiery-red lanterns and over-sized Chinese couplets; although the celebration took place in a cafeteria, everyone felt a great deal of festivity. Students and faculty members participated in a wide range of traditional celebration activities. Dumplings were made on the spot by attendees; many of our international students mastered the art of dumpling making. After the dinner, Ms. Meng Bo handed out gifts to all SPPM students. The celebration was attended by more than 350 students and around 30 faculty and staff members from all departments of our university, including Hu Heping and Shi Zongkai, Secretary and Vice Secretary of the University Party Committee, respectively. Contributed by Jason Liu, MID 2010 WTO s Tang Xiaobing Visited SPPM and Delivered a Lecture On January 3rd, 2012 Mr. Tang Xiaobing, Counsellor of the World Trade Organization Market

2 Access Division, visited Tsinghua University and delivered a passionate lecture on the topic "Function of the Multilateral Trade Mechanism and the Impact on Developing Countries". Professor Yu An, Professor Zhang Yanbing, and a roomful of eager students listened in on the lecture. After the lecture, students and Mr. Tang engaged in lively discussions and exchanged personal thoughts. A PhD student of our school asked: "What has been the biggest change since China's accession into the WTO?" Mr. Tang Xiaobing responded: "This change must be viewed in the perspective of impacts on all developing nations; We must pay attention to shocks and influences which China exerts on the rest of the world. After the lecture, students stayed and continued to ask questions and exchange thoughts with Mr. Tang. A MID 2011 student from Mexico, Rocio, expressed: "Mr. Tang has given a very interesting lecture. It was very informative!" Mr. Tang Xiaobing worked in China s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC, which is now the Ministry of Commerce) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on issues relating to trade policy, trade laws and multilateral trade negotiations. He currently works at the Market Access Division of the World Trade Organization. Contributed by Jason Liu and Jamie Davella, MID 2010 MID Winter Field Trip in the Pearl River Delta From January 8 th to the 13 th ten MID students from 2010 and 2011 took their studies of development from the classroom to the field on their trip to the Pearl River Delta. Departing from Beijing West Station on Sunday night and arriving in Shenzhen twenty-four hours later, the students were emerged in the southern region of China that has been an engine of its economic growth since opening up. Visiting Shenzhen and Zhuhai, cities on the East and West side of the Pearl River delta in Guangdong province, and ending the trip in the special administrative region of Hong Kong, the contrasting sites offered a window of understanding into the constraints, progress, and plans that define development. With

3 over ten sites visited throughout the week, it was hard not to get caught up in the speed, sheer size and planning that is moving the region closer towards a global center. The trip began in Shenzhen one of China s most successful Special Economic Zones that today has the highest GDP per capita in the country. What this means is that twenty-five years ago this unconnected fisherman s town with narrow alleys, hanging nets, and close quarters, that today can still be felt walking through Baishizhou neighborhood, has transformed into hundreds of high-rises, an expansive subway system, and superblocks filled with cars and lined with flowers. The city has attracted millions of migrants with job opportunities and this growing wealth has led to investment in cultural activities such as a beautifully designed oval opera house and a large metal stadium. The idiosyncrasies generated from this speed of growth were felt in the barren usage of the new stadium that is not yet open for public recreation and requires high ticket prices for events scheduled. For understanding the cities development as a special economic zone, we visited the Shenzhen museum that documented the cities progress in both theory and practice along a timeline. While the museum was enlightening and comprehensible, the grit of Shenzhen s development was driven home by a showcase of products that were first made in the factories, among them a snoopy waffle maker, a product that even today in China would be solely produced for foreign markets. Learning more about the infrastructure of Shenzhen today, the students visited ECOV a privately owned Intelligent Technology company and the Nanshan Technology Park. ECOV is a company that was started by a few Chinese students and has grown into China s largest computer hardware manufacturer and the world s third largest. When touring the company headquarters, EVOC displayed an impressive computer made to withstand the hardships of war, no less than being run over by a tank. It also displayed innovative ATM hardware compartmentalization, medical equipment, and hardware parts that can be found throughout the subway systems of China. While many students are drawn to Shenzhen to create startups, the city also physically assembles and attracts high tech companies to bring human capital to the growing area, which we visited at the Shenzhen Virtual University Park in Nanshan District. With low rental prices, tax incentives, and prime location, the director gave us a tour of the office buildings where competing companies can sometimes be found across the hall from each other. Looking towards the future, the students visited the Qianhai Development Zone which will be another Special Economic Zone within Shenzhen currently under construction. As a well-established strategy for development in China, these special economic zones allow the government to control for concentrated investment. This reclaimed land will service import and export as well as look to attract international talents in a culturally diverse environment. The zone has chosen the American concept design of Water Front City with boardwalks and recreational activities along the coast and will seek to accommodate the future city of 800,000 workers and 300,000 residents. To attract international talent the SEZ offers special tax incentives including income tax reimbursement for foreigners that are required to pay taxes abroad. In addition, the area is allowed to formulate its own business laws to successfully bring in industry and growth. The students spoke with Qianhai officials about their detailed development plans and visited the vast, dirt construction site that connected the planning and vision involved in formulating a new city. Taking the ferry across the Pearl River to Zhuhai, the students saw a sharp contrast to Shenzhen, and on the one hour ferry ride back, had time to think about the constraints

4 transportation restrictions played in this special economic zones lag in development and success. As a measure to address these transport restrictions, the students spoke with Huafa group, one of the contractors on the HK-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. This bridge will relieve some of the growing traffic between the Shenzhen-HK borders, and further integrate the movement of goods and people within the three cities by significantly decreasing transportation time and convenience. The HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will consist of one of the world s longest bridges transitioning to underwater tunnels on manmade islands that will fully extend the engineering skills of the people of mainland, Hong Kong and Macau. Students also spoke with government officials of the Henqin new area in Zhuhai. In an office down the beaten path of dirt roads and blasted mountains the officials painted a picture of the area which has been designated a special economic district similar to Binhai new area in Tianjin and the Pudong new area in Shanghai. The area is envisioned to host deep water ports, modern business services, leisure and tourism and hopefully scientific and technological R&D and high-tech industries. The officials of the Henqin new area were excited for upcoming expansions but wavering in their vision of the industries that will shape it. Shenzhen has become well known, connected, and established in manufacturing infrastructure making it a challenge for Zhuhai to attract the investment that will finance and shape the area. The directors know this and were eager to invite us back to the city to work after graduation. Our final destination to Hong Kong allowed us to feel a slight shift in thinking and differences with the mainland. Hong Kong is one of the most unique cities in the world with its dense streets, steep hills, and high-rises built along mountaintops, and the University of Hong Kong was no different. Like most infrastructure in the city, the University was built vertically. Our discussions with the director, Dr. Peter Cheung, tapped into the value of our individual experiences and gave us a more critical view of what we saw in Zhuhai including a discussion of upcoming electoral change with the HK-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and the implications of moving Macau University to Zhuhai, a full extension of the theme One country two systems. Hong Kong is not without its own set of issues including housing prices, over crowdedness, and migration. To look further into ways the government addressed these issues, we visited the Lek Yuen Public Estates in the Shatin District which is Hong Kong s oldest housing complex. These subsidized flats are self-contained neighborhoods with full provision of services that are modernized every 10/15/and 20 years. We had the privilege of visiting an elderly woman who had spent her life living in the public housing estates. Greeted at the door by her smiling face, we entered her two bedroom apartment with two grandchildren diligently working on homework in the living room. After a tour around the compact apartment, we were told that in the past, this four person apartment could not be rented without ten

5 residents. Today, the conditions are easier and the tenant seemed quite content. While some of the population remains in public housing throughout their lives, the board encourages the use of public housing as a stepping stone for professionals to accumulate wealth and move on which is a popular process for Hong Kong residents. Today the queue for a flat can be as long as 6 years, but the board works diligently to monitor and ensure that tenant owners truly need the flats, leading to about 3,500 recovered apartments per year. Finally, the students were given a tour of the Legislative Council and spoke with Parliamentary member Priscilla Leung. Ms. Leung was elected by the people to represent the Kowloon West constituency which is in contrast to many of her coworkers. Presently, the council includes 60 members, 30 directly elected from geographical constituencies and 30 elected from functional constituencies, which are made up of persons elected from special interest and corporate entities that represent different areas of the economy. Our short time in with Ms. Leung gave us a better understanding of the parties and politics that concern Hong Kong s government. In all, the MID trip placed the theories of development that have been talked about throughout our classes into a physical understanding of its practices. From discussions with officials, to touring current and future infrastructure sites the trip held a common theme of actions and plans that move a city forward. While a few of the official sites, such as our trip to the Singyes Solar Company, were not mentioned in the article, most of our personal experiences created the most unique learning experiences. May it be standing on long lines for border crossing, or waiting for the ferry to stop and dump garbage into the ocean or eating and drinking on the streets of Hong Kong, these experiences and laughs made the trip one of the most valuable experiences the Tsinghua masters has provided. Contributed by Jamie Davella, MID 2010