Dali L. Yang | |
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Born | Dali Yang |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Political scientist, sinologist |
Dali Yang | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 楊大利【力】 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 杨大利【力】 | ||||||
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Dali L. Yang is an American political scientist and sinologist. He is the William Claude Reavis Professor in the Department of Political Science and Senior Advisor to the President and Provost on Global Initiatives at The University of Chicago. Between 2010 and 2016,he was the founding Faculty Director of the University of Chicago Center in Beijing,a university-wide initiative to strengthen exchanges and collaboration with Chinese academic institutions. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations,and a member of the China Committee of the Chicago Sister Cities International Program. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago.
Yang was educated in China and the United States. At age 19,he earned a bachelor of engineering from the University of Science and Technology,Beijing in 1983. He taught English in the foreign languages department of his alma mater briefly before coming to the United States. He then switched to political science,earning a master's degree from Portland State University in 1988 and his doctorate in Politics from Princeton University in January 1993.
Since 1992,Yang has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He became an associate professor in 1999 and a full professor in 2004. From 2004 to 2007,he served as Chairman of the department. From 1999 to 2002 and from 2003 to 2004,he was director of the Committee on International Relations. He served as director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago from 2008 to 2010 and is the founding Faculty Director of the University of Chicago Center in Beijing. [1] He also directed the Confucius Institute at the University of Chicago,an initiative to enhance support for faculty and student research on China (2010–14). [2]
Yang has held visiting appointments at a number of Chinese universities and at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore. He was director and professor of that Institute from 2007 to 2008. [3]
Yang is the author of a number of books that have made a difference in our understanding of China. His earliest book,Calamity and Reform in China,was one of the first scholarly books on the Great Leap Famine,the worst famine in human history. It shows the era of Mao Zedong went to the radical extremism of the Great Leap Forward and how the Maoist excesses were self-destructive and contributed to the post-Mao reforms in rural China. [4] The book was known for its innovative quantitative analysis on the political and economic causes of the Great Leap Famine at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s. It then revealed the patterns and severity of the Famine in the Chinese provinces were linked to the subsequent rural reforms in the 1960s and in the post-Mao reform era.
Yang's study of the political causes of the Great Leap Famine has stimulated much interest in follow-up studies. Yang and his co-authors returned to the debate in 2014 with a dissection of a study that purported to explain the political radicalism of provincial leaders. [5]
Yang is also the author of Beyond Beijing:Liberalization and the Regions in China. This book highlights the politicization of regional policy but argued the severe regional disparities in China could not be easily corrected by the Chinese government. Yang also advanced a theory of "competitive liberalization" to explain how competition among the multitude of local governments helped accelerate some of China's reforms.
However,Yang has parted company with scholars who believed China has evolved into some sort of Federalism,Chinese Style [6] that has played a market-preserving function. In an article in the Annual Review of Political Science [7] and in a paper presented at the Ronald Coase Conference on China's Economic Transformation,Yang has argued one could not use the Market-Preserving Federalism model to explain China's rapid development.
While the proponents of the Chinese-style Federalism theory have been wary of the role of China's central government,Yang has focused much of his energy examining China's governance reforms and the transformation of the Chinese state in a volume edited with Barry Naughton and in his own Remaking the Chinese Leviathan. These studies have allowed Yang to analyze "how China’s leaders have reformed existing institutions and constructed new ones to cope with unruly markets,curb corrupt practices,and bring about a regulated economic order." According to Yang,"the Chinese leadership's emphasis has so far been on order rather than democratic ideals,technocratic control rather than popular participation (except at the grassroots level),governability rather than regime type." [8] The book offers one of the few academic studies of how China made the Chinese People's Liberation Army and other state institutions divest of their business empire. It also made Yang one of the earliest to predict the Chinese leadership was turning around China's once moribund state banking system. These developments meant China was better able to weather the Great Recession that struck in the developed economies in 2008-2009.
How China responded to and coped with the Great Recession is the subject of The Global Recession and China's Political Economy (Yang ed.,2012). Yang and his co-author pay special attention to the phenomenon of "the state sector advances and the private sector retreats" or 国进民退and discuss how local authorities have invoked central government directives to promote industrial consolidation at the expense of private enterprises.
Yang has in recent years paid attention to the development of China's regulatory system and studied a number of regulatory institutions ranging from sports doping,to drug manufacturing,and food safety. [9] He dissected the tragic failures associated with the State Food and Drug Administration,which ended in the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu,its former commissioner,in 2007. [10] Together with Waikeung Tam,he discussed,in 2005,how China's fragmented regulatory structure contributed to a major baby formula scandal [11] The incidence of the Sanlu milk scandal,which resulted in at least four babies dead and more than 50,000 hospitalized,lent further evidence to their analysis. A recent working paper,The Politics of Blood Safety Regulation in China,is on how the scandalous blood plasma economy in Henan and elsewhere prompted the health authorities to develop a blood safety regulatory regime.
Yang is the author of Wuhan:How the Covid-19 Outbreak in China Spiralled Out of Control,published by Oxford University Press in 2024.
Yang was frequently quoted in the media in analyses of China's responses to the Covid-19 outbreak/epidemic in Wuhan/Hubei. He highlighted how preoccupation with stability maintenance by the authorities in Wuhan/Hubei contributed to the explosive spread of SARS-CoV-2. [12] Before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic,he said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the COVID-19 epidemic "will be a crisis of Chernobyl proportions,especially because we will have to contend with the virus for years to come. Those who have sustained losses,in particular,will be asking questions,as has happened before in the aftermath of a crisis." [13] He explained that General Secretary and President Xi Jinping would mobilize all resources to fight the war on the coronavirus in China. [14] He wrote subsequently on "The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Estrangement of US-China Relations." [15] He is known to have written a book manuscript on the themes of "Cognition,Information,and the Politics of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Wuhan,China." [16] He has also published on China's Zero-Covid campaign. [17]
The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign within the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1958 to 1962,led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruct the country from an agrarian economy into an industrialized society through the formation of people's communes. Millions of people died in mainland China during the Great Leap,with estimates based on demographic reconstruction ranging from 15 to 55 million,making the Great Chinese Famine the largest or second-largest famine in human history.
Wei Jingsheng is a Chinese human rights activist and dissident. He is best known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement. He is most prominent for having authored the essay "The Fifth Modernization",which was posted on the Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1978. As punishment for writing his manifesto,Wei was arrested and convicted of "counter-revolutionary" activities,and he was detained as a political prisoner from 1979 to 1993. Briefly released in 1993,Wei continued to engage in his dissident activities by speaking to visiting journalists,and as punishment,he was imprisoned again from 1994 to 1997,making it a total of 18 years he has spent in various prisons. He was deported to the United States of America on 16 November 1997,on medical parole. Still a Chinese citizen,in 1998 Wei established the Wei Jingsheng Foundation in New York City whose stated aim is to work to improve human rights and advocate democratisation in China.
The Great Chinese Famine was a famine that occurred between 1959 and 1961 in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Some scholars have also included the years 1958 or 1962. It is widely regarded as the deadliest famine and one of the greatest man-made disasters in human history,with an estimated death toll due to starvation that ranges in the tens of millions. The most stricken provinces were Anhui,Chongqing (15%),Sichuan (13%),Guizhou (11%) and Hunan (8%).
The people's commune was the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas of the People's Republic of China during the period from 1958 to 1983,until they were replaced by townships. Communes,the largest collective units,were divided in turn into production brigades and production teams. The people's commune collectivized living and working practices. Many individual homes were abolished in favour of communal residences,with many houses taken apart and demolished. Regardless of age or relationship,many men and women lived separately,and often,multiple families were placed in the same communal homes. One's land,tools,resources were pooled together,with working hours and farming practices completely dictated by the CCP.
The history of the People's Republic of China details the history of mainland China since 1 October 1949,when CCP chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) from atop Tiananmen,after a near complete victory (1949) by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War. The PRC is the most recent political entity to govern mainland China,preceded by the Republic of China and thousands of years of monarchical dynasties. The paramount leaders have been Mao Zedong (1949–1976);Hua Guofeng (1976–1978);Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989);Jiang Zemin (1989–2002);Hu Jintao (2002–2012);and Xi Jinping.
Yang Jisheng is a Chinese journalist and author. His work include Tombstone (墓碑),a comprehensive account of the Great Chinese Famine during the Great Leap Forward,and The World Turned Upside Down (天地翻覆),a history of the Cultural Revolution. Yang joined the Communist Party in 1964 and graduated from Tsinghua University in 1966. He promptly joined Xinhua News Agency,where he worked until his retirement in 2001. His loyalty to the party was destroyed by the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Hungry Ghosts:Mao's Secret Famine is a book about the Great Chinese Famine by British author Jasper Becker,the former Beijing bureau chief for the South China Morning Post. Becker interviewed peasants in Henan Province and Anhui Province,both of which were significantly affected by the famine. Hungry Ghosts was the first major English book to provide a "comprehensive accessible account" of the man-made famine.
Liu Shaoqi was a Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1954 to 1959,first-ranking vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from 1956 to 1966,and the chairman of the People's Republic of China,the head of state from 1959 to 1968. He was considered to be a possible successor to Mao Zedong,but was purged during the Cultural Revolution.
Yang Xiaobo was a Chinese structural engineer,politician,and insurance executive. He served as President of the Central South Architectural Design Institute (2003–2007),Mayor of Huangshi,Hubei (2009–2014),and President of Changjiang Property Insurance Company (2014–2020),and was a delegate to the 12th National People's Congress (2013–2018). He died of severe pneumonia during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei.
Li Jingquan was a Chinese politician and the first Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Sichuan following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. He supported many of Mao Zedong's policies including the Great Leap Forward.
Chen Junsheng was a Chinese politician. As a provincial official in Heilongjiang in the early 1980s,he distinguished himself as an advocate of the household responsibility system,resulting in the implementation of the reform in China's last bastion of collective agriculture. Consequently,he was elevated to the national government and served as Secretary-General of the State Council (1985–1988),State Councillor (1988–1998),and Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1998–2002).
This article documents the chronology and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in January 2020,the virus which causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The first human cases of COVID-19 were identified in Wuhan,China,in December 2019.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology,Chinese Academy of Sciences is a research institute on virology administered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS),which reports to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The institute is one of nine independent organisations in the Wuhan Branch of the CAS. Located in Jiangxia District,Wuhan,Hubei,it was founded in 1956 and opened mainland China's first biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory in 2018. The institute has collaborated with the Galveston National Laboratory in the United States,the Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie in France,and the National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada. The institute has been an active premier research center for the study of coronaviruses.
Wang Chen is a Chinese pulmonologist and physician currently serving as vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and president of the Peking Union Medical College. He is a member of the Chinese Hospital Association (CHA) and Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA).
This article documents the chronology and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019,the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The first human cases of COVID-19 known to have been identified were in Wuhan,Hubei,China,in December 2019. It marked the beginning of the 2019–2020 COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China.
The Seven-Thousand Cadres Conference was one of the largest work conferences ever of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It took place in Beijing,China,from 11 January to 7 February 1962. The conference was attended by over 7,000 party officials nationwide,focusing on the issues of the Great Leap Forward which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions in the Great Chinese Famine. CCP chairman Mao Zedong made self-criticism during the conference,after which he took a semi-retired role,leaving future responsibilities to Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.
Yang Yao is a Chinese economist,academic and author. He is a professor,director of China Center for Economic Research and Dean of National School of Development at Peking University. He is the executive director of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development and is an editor of China Economic Quarterly. Yao is also appointed by Ministry of Education as Cheung-Kong Scholar Chair Professor.
The Chinese government has actively engaged in disinformation to downplay the emergence of COVID-19 in China and manipulate information about its spread around the world. The government also detained whistleblowers and journalists claiming they were spreading rumors when they were publicly raising concerns about people being hospitalized for a "mysterious illness" resembling SARS.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China,the government of China under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's administration pursued a zero-COVID strategy to prevent the domestic spread of COVID-19 until late 2022. Aspects of the response have been controversial,with the zero-COVID approach being praised and the government's lack of transparency,censorship,and spread of misinformation being criticized. The government abandoned its zero-COVID policy on 7 December 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic in China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak of the disease,the first to impose drastic measures in response,and one of the first countries to bring the outbreak under control.