January 2008

Welcome to e-TrueBlue: China, brought to you by the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. Our goal is to provide you a regular communication to update you on our efforts to build a global program that benefits the University and its faculty, students and alumni.

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Michigan News

U-M officials visit Shanghai

Several high-level U-M administrators traveled to Shanghai in November for the board meeting of the Joint Institute with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a partnership between the two universities for engineering students. The group included Teresa Sullivan, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; Jun Ni, dean of the Joint Institute and professor of engineering; David Munson, dean of engineering; and Philip Hanlon, vice provost and professor of mathematics.

In addition to meeting Chinese officials, the group met second-year Chinese students in JI’s new 2+2 engineering program. These students will be the program’s first to complete BSE degrees at Michigan when they transfer here next fall.

It was Provost Sullivan’s first visit to China since 1978, and she said that Shanghai is “a very exciting city, well worth visiting.” A highlight for her was a stop at the fabled Garden of the Humble Administrator. “One can see why that would be appropriate,” she said.

Conference studies humanities in China

In November, the U-M Institute for the Humanities hosted a two-day conference titled “The New Humanities in China.” The event featured a range of topics including media research in China, academic professionalism and the revival of Confucianism. One of the speakers was Haiping Yan, a professor of theater, performance studies and critical theory at UCLA. She is currently in residence at U-M as the Distinguished Norman Freehling Visiting Professor in the Institute for the Humanities. In 1999 she was selected as one of CNN’s “six most influential Chinese cultural figures” for her scholarly and creative works.

LSA magazine spotlights China theme semester

The fall 2007 issue of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts magazine features three articles on the ChinaNow theme year. They are:

• “Enter the Dragon,” which tells the story of Qu Yuan’s poem “The Lament” as an introduction to the theme year.
• “Dispatches from Shanghai” is by recent LSA alumna Lisa Weir, '06, who lives and works in Shanghai. She walks us from Guangling Yi Road, the back street adjacent to her now-former apartment, and takes us on the subway around town, sharing reflections of the passing scenes.
• “The Road to China” tells the story of entrepreneur couple Paul Liu, ’83, and Grace Liu, ’84, who met outside U-M’s Frieze Building and have combined talents in business and art with tremendous enthusiasm for China’s continuing development. Having taken Shanghai’s “Three on the Bund” project to its present iconic state, Paul has started his own company and is involved in another huge project in the Hongkou District called simply “1933.” Grace is founder and head of Asianera Limited, a manufacturer of hand-painted fine China.

Alumni Association News

Stay connected with our online community

inCircle, the Alumni Association's online directory and networking community for U-M alumni and students, is growing. Use inCircle to connect with old friends, find people who share your interests, find a job or create a group for U-M alumni who live and work in your region of the world. All you need to get started are a uniqname and password. Don't have a uniqname? You can register for one online.

Update your University record

The Alumni Association is committed to keeping you informed about our efforts to build a global alumni program. We are better able to meet this goal if your contact information with the University is updated. More than 500 alumni from China and Hong Kong have already updated their records. You can update your University record online at http://alumni.umich.edu/china/AAUMChinaRec.php.

Projects and Partnerships

Law professor teaches at Tsinghua University

For 10 days last summer, Professor Kyle D. Logue traveled to Tsinghua University to teach a class on US federal income taxation as part of an ongoing relationship between the U-M Law School and the university, located in Beijing.

“For several years now, we have been sending at least two professors every summer to teach a course, either jointly or separately, to Chinese law students at Tsinghua,” said Logue. The program was organized by law Professor Reuven Avi-Yonah.

While in China, Logue also participated in a tax conference held at Peking University (Beida), also organized by Professor Avi-Yonah and including presentations by a number of Chinese and US tax scholars. “The joint Michigan-Beida tax conference has become something of an annual event now, and we plan to hold a 2008 conference in Ann Arbor.”

While at Tsinghua University, Logue was impressed by the faculty he met. “The faculty were excellent colleagues. They were hospitable hosts. And they were serious and devoted scholars and teachers.” He added the students, all fluent in English, were equally impressive. “The students were extraordinarily hard-working and dedicated to their studies, and they seemed very interested in learning everything they could not only about US tax law but also about the US legal system.”

He was able to relate to them on a more personal level as well. “They already seemed to know a good deal about US popular culture, and they were not shy about discussing it with me. As a huge basketball fan, I was pleased to learn how enthusiastic the Chinese are about that sport.”

Project examines China’s legal system

To U-M researcher Mary Gallagher, what is interesting about the legal system in China is not only how it works top down, but also bottom up. As China’s relatively weak rule of law continues to evolve, Gallagher is interested in how normal citizens are using the law despite the assumption that it is only a tool for the government. She has discovered that although they are often disappointed by how ineffective it is for people without money or position, they still build self-confidence through the attempt. “They vow to use the law again, but to be better at it next time,” she said.

Professor Gallagher is examining these issues as part of a project funded by a Fulbright Research Award and the National Science Foundation. It includes research from a 2004 trip to a legal aid center for indigent workers in Shanghai. “[It] was one great example of how people are becoming more interested in mitigating some of the negative consequences of rapid growth and social change.”

Club News and Events

Local events/contacts

• The Hong Kong Alumni Club invites alumni to bimonthly luncheons at which the young alumni group announces additional upcoming events. For information about upcoming dates, contact umalumni.hkluncheon@gmail.com.
• Ross Business School alumni host monthly happy hours in Shanghai, and all are invited. For more information, visit http://www.shmba.org/.
• For additional alumni contacts in China, please feel welcome to call upon alumni listed at http://alumni.umich.edu/china/contacts.php.

Did You Know?

Chinese philanthropy booming

As China’s economy booms, its philanthropy is growing as well. According to a recent MSNBC.com report:

• China is home to nearly one-third of Asia-Pacific’s super rich—that is, people with more than $30 million in assets.
• China accounts for 21 percent of the wealth of the Asia-Pacific’s US dollar millionaires, second to Japan, which accounts for 44 percent.
• Thirty percent of China’s millionaires are women.
• Donations from the top 50 publicly disclosed philanthropists in China have risen eightfold in the past few years, totaling US $10.9 billion so far this year.
• Education is the biggest beneficiary of philanthropy, followed by social welfare causes, health care and poverty alleviation.
• Individuals can offset 2 percent of their salary against tax for charitable and philanthropic donations; plans have been announced to increase that to 12 percent.
• Companies will be able to deduct up to 10 percent of their profits from tax for charitable donations under an overhaul of China’s corporate tax system due to come into effect next year.

As the Chinese Relations program continues to evolve, our goal is to update you on our efforts to build a global program that benefits the University and its faculty and students. If you would like to be on the permanent eTrueBlue: China mailing list, please send an email request to cjspiess@umich.edu.

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Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, 200 Fletcher St., Ann Arbor, MI, 734.764.0384, 800.847.4764, m.alumni@umich.edu