Contact: Helen Dalrymple 202-707-1940
Public contact: Robert Saladini (202) 707-2692
Website: www.loc.gov/kluge
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August 8, 2003

Kluge Center at Library of Congress Plans Symposium on China in Transition

The John W. Kluge Center, along with the Library’s Asian, and Science, Technology and Business divisions jointly present a symposium titled "China in Transition: Will Economic Reform Lead to Democracy in China?" from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23. The program will be held in LJ 119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, 10 First Street S.E, Washington, D.C., and is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

A panel of scholars will discuss how economic reforms have transformed Chinese society and affected China’s authoritarian, single party system. The scholars will address issues that face the new Chinese leadership, examine questions regarding the relevancy of China’s single party system, and discuss challenges that contemporary Chinese society poses to the legitimacy of the country’s current political structure.

Robert Worden, director of the Federal Research Division in the Library of Congress, will moderate the panel discussion. Panelists for the afternoon program are Bruce J. Dickson, professor of political science and international affairs, George Washington University; Minxin Pei, senior associate and co-director, China Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Lanxin Xiang, holder of the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress; and Quansheng Zhao, professor and division director of comparative and regional studies, American University and associate-in-research at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University.

Through a generous endowment from its namesake, the Library of Congress established the John W. Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world’s best thinkers to stimulate, energize and distill wisdom from the Library’s rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington, D.C. The Kluge Center houses five senior Kluge Chairs (American Law and Governance, Countries and Cultures of the North, Countries and Cultures of the South, Technology and Society, and Modern Culture); other senior-level chairs (Henry A. Kissinger Chair, Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics, and the Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education); and nearly 25 postdoctoral fellows.

For more information about any of the fellowship, grants and programs offered by the John W. Kluge Center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E, Washington, DC 20540-4860; telephone (202) 707-3302, fax (202) 707-3595, or visit the Web at www.loc.gov/kluge.

Learn more about the Science, Technology and Business Division online at www.loc.gov/rr/scitech, and the Asian Division at www.loc.gov/rr/asian.

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PR 03-139
08/08/03
ISSN 0731-3527

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