About the Stanford China Program

The Stanford China Program (SCP) was formally established in January 2007. An integral component of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC), SCP will facilitate multidisciplinary, social science-oriented research on contemporary china, with a dual emphasis on basic and policy-relevant research. The program recognizes the singular importance of training new generations of Stanford students for broader and deeper interactions with China. SCP involves students in research projects and workshops, both at Shorenstein APARC and in nascent programs within China.

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SCP’s goal is to establish Stanford as the leading center for the study of contemporary China in the U.S.
-Jean Oi, Director, SCP

China’s rapid development has captured the world’s attention. The Stanford China Program (SCP) examines China’s current political, economic, and social transformations, traces these events to the country’s preceding era of revolutionary upheaval, and explores the implications of China’s rise for the global community. Unlike programs that operate within a single social science discipline or an exclusive national-area focus, SCP promotes interdisciplinary research that seeks to address both disciplinary and area studies audiences.

Research and Program Activities

Program activities include events both at Stanford and in China: cutting-edge conferences, intellectual exchange with Chinese scholars, public events highlighting Greater China, in situ educational opportunities for Stanford students, and educational programs for government officials and top-tier professionals. SCP faculty and students carry out extensive fieldwork in urban and rural areas to gain a first-hand, in-depth understanding of the institutional changes in China.

SCP-affiliated faculty are doing cutting-edge research on a wide range of challenges facing China: fiscal shortfalls and local governance, property rights reform and corporate restructuring, social inequality and mobility, food security, markets, education and poverty alleviation, environmental pollution and public health, and political participation and popular protests. Findings from these and other projects are presented at SCP seminars and conferences, and published as journal articles and books.

During fall 2007, with support from Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies, SCP organized an international conference, “Growing Pains: Tensions and Opportunities in China’s Transformation,” to examine current problems that may threaten China’s political stability and future development. The proceedings will be published as a book as part of Shorenstein APARC’s joint series with the Brookings Institution Press. In 2008, with funding from the Smith Richardson Foundation, SCP will convene a workshop titled “Zouping Past and Present.” Scholars will examine the last ten years of change in one county in the heartland of rural China. The workshop continues a collaborative research effort in tribute to the late Michel Oksenberg—longtime faculty member of Shorenstein APARC and senior fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI)—who established a pioneering rural research site for American scholars in Zouping County, Shandong Province, in the 1980s.

SCP also seeks to promote academic exchange and dialogue with Chinese scholars and government officials. SCP has had fruitful meetings with scholars and officials from a wide range of agencies and sectors, including the China Reform Forum of the Central Party School, the National Development and Reform Council, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. SCP has hosted visiting scholars from research centers such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Development Research Center under the State Council, and the People’s Bank of China; and from corporations such as PetroChina. SCP faculty have collaborated with numerous academic institutions, including Peking University, People’s University, Qinghua University, and Zhejiang University.