I-Week: Exploring China’s Future
International Week pamphlet

This year’s International Week, China in the 21st Century, runs February 19-23.

Soon after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the Chinese government embarked on an ambitious program of economic reforms.

Eschewing ideological radicalism in favor of rapid growth, the reforms emphasized the modernization of science and technology, the development of a market economy, and China’s full reintegration into the international community.

For better and for worse, the past two decades of reforms have occasioned profound changes in China’s state and society. They have empowered previously disenfranchised groups but created new social and political tensions.

China’s growing economic might has allowed it to be more assertive on the world stage. As the largest Communist country in the world and home to one-fifth of the global population, China is poised to become a major power in the 21st century.

The events scheduled for International Week 2001 will explore the diverse and contradictory impulses that will shape the future course of Chinese politics, society, and culture. Some of the week’s exciting events are as follows:

Linda Barnes, assistant professor of medical anthropology, department of pediatrics, Boston University Medical School, will give a lecture entitled “Needles, Herbs, Gods, and Ghosts: Chinese Healing in the United States” on Monday. The talk is scheduled for Monday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Stockwell Library’s Wendell Will room.

The keynote address will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Bobbitt Visual Aditorium. Anne Thurston, associate professor of Chinese studies, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, will give a lecture entitled “The Prospects for Democracy in China: A View from the Grassroots.”

Wednesday, APALS is sponsoring the 1999 film, The Cup, directed by Khyentse Norbu. The Film is in Hindi with English subtitles and shows at the New Bohm Theatre at 7:30 p.m.

Journalist and author Karin Evans is speaking on “Bridges Across the Pacific: Adopted Chinese Girls and Their American Families” on Thursday. The lecture is scheduled to occur at Bobbitt at 7 p.m.

Friday, Albion students are scheduled give a panel presentation entitled, “Albion Students in China and the U.S.: Adventures in Cross Cultural Education.” The panel begins at noon in the International House lounge.