Recent Press Coverage :

“China at a Crossroads: Searching for a Balanced Approach to Development”
On November 5-6, 2005, Harvard Law School hosted “China at Crossroads,” a multidisciplinary conference on the relationship between equality and development in contemporary China. The conference, organized by the US China Law Society, sounded a note of cautious optimism regarding China’s legal reform efforts and the country’s prospects for addressing its growing rich-poor divide. Panelists – who included scholars, practitioners, and policy analysts from China, Europe, and the United States – reviewed the PRC’s transformation from one of the world’s most radically egalitarian societies to one of its most stratified, and offered a range of policy prescriptions for achieving “equitable and sustainable growth.” Read More

The U.S. China Law Society and Harvard Law School co-sponsored a symposium, China at a Crossroads: Searching for a Balanced Approach to Development, in Cambridge, Massachusetts on November 5 – 6, 2005.

Speakers gather after the second day of the conference. | See more pictures of the event.

Just beneath the surface of China’s breathtaking growth, there is a “Great Divide” between the urban middle class and the landless peasants, the shimmering coastal regions and the dreary inlands, the haves and the have-nots. This widening gap threatens to unravel the delicate social fabric that holds the country together. The country’s top leadership has focused on reducing such inequality since 2003, culminating in the 2004 annual national legislative session devoted to the issue. Recent policies, including a bill adding billions of dollars to rural education budgets, indicate the leadership’s commitment.

The glaring inequality inside the world’s most dynamic economy has attracted much attention, and an urgent need to institutionalize the poverty-reducing policies so that the policies become more than the short-term ideas of a few benevolent leaders is widely recognized. Among China’s top intellectuals, a debate has been raging between the school of thought placing efficiency over equality and the school advocating active intervention from the government. There have been, however, few opportunities for top-level Chinese scholars and officials to discuss the complex issues of equitable development with prominent Western economists and development experts in an honest and open forum.

We seek to bring together the most influential Chinese academics, policy makers, and globally renowned economists, sociologists, legal experts and development leaders in a high-profile forum. The forum will consist of three panels, focusing on the economic, social , and political/legal aspects of the divide respectively.

In order to offer lasting prescriptive solutions, we will publish a bilingual yearbook shortly after the symposium to highlight the most vital papers presented at the event. We will distribute this yearbook to policy makers in China, as well as to international organizations and major academic institutions around the world. We hope this collection of papers will encourage more meaningful debates both inside and outside of China and spur changes that help China achieve sustainable growth in the long term.