David Zweig | |
---|---|
Nationality | Canadian |
Occupation(s) | Social scientist, academic, and author |
Academic background | |
Education | BA (hons), MA, York University PhD Political Science, The University of Michigan Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University |
Academic work | |
Institutions | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology National Tsinghua University,Taiwan |
Website | https://www.drdavidzweig.com |
David Zweig is a Canadian social scientist,academic,and author. He is a Distinguished Visiting professor in the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science at National Tsing Hua University,professor emeritus at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,and for 10 years was an adjunct professor at the National University of Defense Technology. [1] He also serves as a Vice President of the Center for China and Globalization. [2]
Zweig has authored four books,including Internationalizing China:Domestic Interests and Global Linkages,China's Brain Drain to the United States,and Agrarian Radicalism in China,1968–1981,and has edited seven books,including Globalization and China's Reforms,and Sino-U.S. Energy Triangles:Resource Diplomacy under Hegemony. [3] His areas of expertise include China's talent migration,foreign economic policy,energy policy,resource diplomacy,returnees and new diaspora,and Hong Kong-Mainland Relations. [4] He was the Founding Director,Center on China's Transnational Relations,HKUST,2004–10 and directed it from 2015 to 2019. [4]
Zweig was a Senior Fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (2013–15),a non-resident fellow of the Pacific Council on International Policy,2006–2009,and President of the Hong Kong Political Science Association,2008–10.
Zweig earned a Honours B.A. in political science in 1972 and an M.A. in political science in 1974 from York University in Toronto. He studied in Beijing between 1974 and 1976,earning a diploma in Mandarin Chinese from the Peking Languages Institute and a diploma in philosophy from Beijing University. He then earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan in 1983 and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University for a year. [5]
Zweig began his academic career as an assistant professor of Political Science at Florida International University in Miami in 1982. Having held that position for two years,he briefly served as an assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo. Later,he was appointed an assistant professor in The Fletcher School at Tufts University in 1986 and was promoted to an associate professor there in 1991. He moved to Hong Kong in 1996,held an appointment as an associate professor in the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 1996 until 2002,and subsequently was appointed as a professor. From 2005 until 2019,he was Chair Professor at HKUST, [6] and twice held concurrent appointments as Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science at HKUST (2006–08,2011–13). [7]
Zweig holds extensive professional experience in his field,and has consulted with many banks,investment firms,and governments. [8] Between 2008 and 2012,he served as the emeritus President and President of the Hong Kong Political Science Association. He has two online courses about Chinese politics on Coursera where,as of 2023,he had taught over 35,000 students worldwide.
Zweig has authored numerous publications. For many years he was a Contributing Writer to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. His research works span the areas of Chinese politics,political risk,China's domestic and international political economy,its 'resource diplomacy,' reverse migration of diasporic talent (including India and Turkey),China's energy policy and Hong Kong-Mainland Relations. [4]
Zweig has conducted research on reverse migration in China and is most known for his investigations into China's efforts and strategies for reversing the brain drain and attracting and retaining high-quality talent from abroad. Zweig's main perspective is that by enhancing their human capital through their time abroad,and filling in the 'shortages' in science,technology,R&D and education in China,returnees can earn 'economic rents' in the domestic political economy and rewards from the state that wants their knowledge to enhance China's growth and development. [9]
To assess this phenomenon,he has interviewed and surveyed mainlanders who have chosen to stay abroad and conducted a number of surveys of returnees since 1991–92 to advance our understanding of this issue. [10] Focusing on efforts to mitigate the brain drain,he showed that domestic reforms and institutional change promote the reverse migration of high-level talent to China. One of his research studies illustrated that universities with a reformed institutional culture attracted more high-quality talent as compared to non-reformers. [11]
In a highly cited paper,Can China bring back the best? The Communist Party organizes China's search for talent,he investigated the "1000 Talents" plan initiated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),finding that despite the CCP's best efforts,China faced great difficulties attracting back the best Chinese scientists and academics working abroad. He has also addressed the factors that influence Chinese students' decisions about going back to China. [12] [13] According to his research,technology transfer that can address China's technological and economic challenges,pulls returnees home,and the returnees who bring new technology to China gain from it. [14] His research also outlined the various initiatives that have been launched at the national,provincial,and local governments,as well as research facilities. He directly tested whether the government or the market is a more powerful draw,and found that the latter is more influential for entrepreneurs. [15] [16] Furthermore,he concluded that,in comparison to their domestic counterparts,Chinese returnees—including academics and entrepreneurs with higher levels of education and skills—directly contribute more to China's economic and technological development. [17]
More recently,Zweig drew attention to the contrast between returnee entrepreneurs' experiences in India and China in terms of perceptions,experiences,and state policies. He and his colleagues discovered that returning entrepreneurs in China showed more confidence and openness to cooperate with the local government. [18]
While visiting southern Jiangsu Province in 1988,Zweig discovered that,unlike many counties in the province which were facing a critical shortage in the supply of fertilizer,Wujiang County had no such shortage. Why? Because they exported silk,for which they were paid in US dollars,they could import fertilizer from Japan. Zweig realized that Wujiang's 'transnational linkages' gave them comparative advantage vis a` vis other counties,delivering better economic growth than localities without such global ties. In 1991–92,Zweig tested this hypothesis through field research in rural Jiangsu,at eight universities across China,in harbours and development zones in Jiangsu and Shanghai,and in a study of foreign aid to China. This research resulted in the book Internationalizing China:domestic interests and global linkages,as well as a series of articles on the impact of transnational linkages on China's internal development. [19]
Zweig has also examined China's energy policy,and its 'resource diplomacy.' In his paper in Foreign Affairs,he showed that the search for energy was a key driver behind much of Beijing's foreign policy. [20] He also asserted that a "resource-based foreign policy" is crucial for both the country's economic development and the CCP's continued political survival. He also tested the argument that much of China's resource diplomacy occurred within a triangular relationship,including the US hegemon,China,and the third resource rich country. [21]
David A. Anderson reviewed Zweig's book,Sino-US Energy Triangle:Resource Diplomacy under Hegemony,co-authored with Yufan Hao (2016),and called it "superbly researched." He recommended it to a wide audience by saying,"This book is a good read for... seeking a better understanding of the dynamics of energy diplomacy,national security,and state economic grand strategy. [22]
Zweig began his academic career studying rural Chinese politics. In 1980–81,when rural China was impoverished,he lived in the near and distant suburbs of Nanjing Municipality,interviewing local officials to assess the extent to which local variations determined whether more radical or collectivist policies were introduced during the Cultural Revolution or whether no such policies were undertaken locally. At the time of this research,rural China was undergoing decollectivization,as areas where he was working began to dismantle the People's Communes which had been the main organizational structure since 1958. In 1986,he returned to the same areas to study the second stage of rural reform,which involved privatization of land and other parts of the collective property,the opening of private markets,and increased rural-urban migration. [23] His research also analyzed the countryside's integration into the global economy. [24] C. Montgomery Broaded praised Zweig's book,Freeing China's Farmers:Rural Restructuring in the Reform Era,and stated,"Zweig's rich primary data come from several periods of field research... He is thus in the position to assess the impact of variations in local economic conditions in determining the implementation of national policy." [25]
Education in Hong Kong used to be largely modelled on that of the United Kingdom,particularly the English system. Since 2012,the overhaul of secondary school diploma has introduced changes to the number of school years as well as the two-tier general examinations. The DSE has replaced the old HKCEE and the A-levels. Education policy in Hong Kong is overseen by the Education Bureau and the Social Welfare Department.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Tai Po Tsai,Clear Water Bay Peninsula,New Territories,Hong Kong. Founded in 1991,it was the territory's third institution to be granted university status.
Social issues in China are wide-ranging,and are a combined result of Chinese economic reforms set in place in the late 1970s,the nation's political and cultural history,and an immense population. Due to the significant number of social problems that have existed throughout the country,China's government has faced difficulty in trying to remedy the issues. Many of these issues are exposed by the Chinese media,while subjects that may contain politically sensitive issues may be censored. Some academics hold that China's fragile social balance,combined with a bubble economy makes China a very unstable country,while others argue China's societal trends have created a balance to sustain itself.
A Hong Kong returnee is a resident of Hong Kong who emigrated to another country,lived for an extended period of time in his or her adopted home,and then subsequently moved back to Hong Kong.
Reverse brain drain is a form of brain drain where human capital moves in reverse from a more developed country to a less developed country that is developing rapidly. These migrants may accumulate savings,also known as remittances,and develop skills overseas that can be used in their home country.
Emigration from Hong Kong refers to the migration of Hong Kong residents away from Hong Kong. Reasons for migration range from livelihood hardships,such as the high cost of living and educational pressures,to economic opportunities elsewhere,such as expanded opportunities in mainland China following the Reform and Opening-Up,to various political events,such as the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong during the Second World War,the 1967 unrest,uncertainties leading up to the 1997 handover,and the 2019–2020 unrest. The largest community of Hong Kongers living outside of Hong Kong is in Mainland China,followed by the US,Canada and the UK.
Anthony Cheung Bing-leung,GBS,JP is a Hong Kong politician and academic. He was the Secretary for Transport and Housing from 2012 to 2017 and 5th President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). He was one of the few government officials coming from a pro-democracy background.
Tony Fan-Cheong Chan is a Chinese American mathematician who has been serving as President of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) since 2018. Prior to that,he was President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2009 to 2018.
Wei ShyyJP is an aerospace engineer who served as the 4th President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) from 2018 to 2022 with his acting presidency starting from 1 February 2018. He also holds a concurrent appointment as Chair Professor of Mechanical &Aerospace Engineering. He first joined HKUST in August 2010 as Provost.
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of state,intergovernmental,or non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international system.
Chi Ming Chan,is a Chinese chemical engineer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
Leroy L. Chang was an experimental physicist and solid state electronics researcher and engineer. Born in China,he studied in Taiwan and then the United States,obtaining his doctorate from Stanford University in 1963. As a research physicist he studied semiconductors for nearly 30 years at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center,New York. This period included pioneering work on superlattice heterostructures with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leo Esaki.
Otto Lin was born Chui Chau Lin (林垂宙) in Shantou,Guangdong,China,in 1938. He came to Hong Kong as a refugee and went to Taiwan in 1953 where education at K-12 level was free. He attended National Taiwan University and received a BS in chemical engineering in 1960. After serving in ROTC,he was admitted to University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana for post-graduate studies. Later he transferred to Columbia University in the City of New York,received the Ph.D. degree in 1967 in chemistry. His doctoral research was on the relationship of macromolecular conformation and hydrodynamic properties of DNA.
Barry Victor Sautman is a professor emeritus with the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He holds both Canadian and American nationalities and he speaks both English and Cantonese.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library is housed in the Lee Shau Kee Library,located at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It has over 1 million books,728,426 printed volumes,754,146 in electronic format,as well as tens of thousands of e-journals,and streaming audio and video collections. A good part of its special collections,like its Antique Maps of China Collection has been digitized.
Shenzhen International BT Leadership Summit is a biology-focused business conference. It is held each year in September. It is arranged by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government. It is held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been an important part of the Chinese economy since the 1980s. During the Mao period,most foreign companies halted their operations in China,though China remained connected to the world economy through a limited scale of international trade. Since 1978,China was again open to foreign investment and within two decades it became the largest recipient of foreign direct investment among developing countries. While China's acceptance of foreign investment is commonly associated with Deng Xiaoping’s policies,Chinese leaders including Mao Zedong and Hua Guofeng already acknowledged the need to import foreign capital and technology in the early 1970s. The investments from the 1970s up till the 2000s mainly focused on the manufacturing sector,earning China the label “world’s factory”. However,female migrant workers who contributed to the growth through participation in the foreign-owned manufacturing sector had to work in poor conditions,with insufficient labor protection,and under restricted migration opportunities due to the hukou system.
Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy is the current diplomatic and foreign policy doctrine of the People's Republic of China. It is a part of the larger Xi Jinping Thought,which is derived from the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping. According to Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi,Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy is "the fundamental guideline for China's diplomatic work is an epoch-making milestone in the diplomatic theory of New China." The main point of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy is to orient as much of diplomacy as possible to the bilateral level,while still supporting the formal architecture of the international system. In terms of China's foreign policy,Xi Jinping's "Major Country Diplomacy" doctrine has replaced the earlier Deng Xiaoping era slogan of "keep a low profile and build up power" and has legitimized a more active role for China on the world stage,particularly with regards to reform of the international order,engaging in open ideological competition with the West,and assuming a greater responsibility for global affairs in accordance with China's rising power and status.
Energy diplomacy is a form of diplomacy,and a subfield of international relations. It is closely related to its principal,foreign policy,and to overall national security,specifically energy security. Energy diplomacy began in the first half of the twentieth century and emerged as a term during the second oil crisis as a means of describing OPEC's actions. It has since mainly focused on the securitization of energy supplies,primarily fossil fuels,but also nuclear energy and increasingly sustainable energy,on a country or bloc basis.
Pan Hui is a computer scientist at the University of Helsinki and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Currently,he is a Chair Professor of Computational Media and Arts (CMA),a Chair Professor of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas,Director of the Center for Metaverse and Computational Creativity,and also Director of the HKUST-DT Systems and Media Laboratory (SyMLab) at HKUST. He was elected as an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2020,a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (FIEEE),a Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE),and a Distinguished Scientist of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He has been elected to the endowed professorship Nokia Chair in Data Science.