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REAP Co-Director Scott Rozelle recently spoke at a Lung Yingtai Cultural Foundation (龍應台文化基金會) event about China and the middle income trap. Using the contrasting experiences of South Korea and Mexico as a guide, Rozelle provided a glimpse into the economic ramifications of allowing the gap between rural and urban education in China to grow wider. Read the CommonWealth Magazine article in Chinese here.

Universities in China have been urged to enroll more students from rural areas in a major effort to close the gap between rural and urban higher education. The Chinese government announced at a State Council Standing Committee meeting on May 15th, the decision to increase the quota of students from poor rural areas attending key universities from 10,000 to 30,000 this year. The Rural Education Action Program has submitted official policy briefs to the State Council in support of this and other long-term policies to improve the education level of rural students, and continues to partner with policymakers across China to close the rural-urban education gap. Read more about the announcement on the Pheonix New Media website in Chinese here.

The Korean Studies Program Prize for Writing in Korean Studies recognizes and rewards outstanding examples of writing in an essay, term paper, or thesis produced during the current academic year in any discipline within the area of Korean Studies, broadly defined. This competition is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. The prize will be awarded at a special ceremony in the spring, and the winning essays will be published in the Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs. The first place winner will receive a certificate, a copy of the Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, and $1,000; Honorable mention winner(s) will receive a certificate and a copy of the Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs.

Application Deadline: May 15, 2013

Eligible Students: All currently-enrolled Stanford students

Application Instructions:

Submit the following items by email to John Groschwitz, CEAS Associate Director:

• Current CV
• One Korean Sudies paper/essay (minimum 20 pages double-spaced, Times 12pt., 1″ margins)
• One recommendation letter from a Stanford professor (emailed by the professor directly to CEAS)

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group,made his last public speech before stepping down as CEO at an event co-hosted by Alibaba Group and the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University on May 4. Dr. Jian Wang, the company’s chief technology officer, was also a featured speaker at the event, which was put on in partnership with the Greater China Business Club of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“No Silicon Valley, No Alibaba”

Ma began his talk by acknowledging how his Silicon Valley days encouraged him to pursue a career as an internet entrepreneur: “The street lights in Silicon Valley and the late night conversations in restaurants energized me.” Inspired by the tech boom, Ma returned to his hometown of Hangzhou to follow his dream in the mid-1990s.

At first Ma faced lots of skepticism, as people did not believe that e-commerce would be successful in China where a credit system had not been developed so consumers didn’t have access to the credit cards that made conducting transactions online so easy in the U.S. Despite the initial setbacks, Ma built Alibaba into one of the largest internet companies in China.

“No Money, No Technology, and No Plan”

These are the three reasons that Ma offered for Alibaba’s success. When he first arrived in Hangzhou, Ma was an English teacher with limited wealth and resources, but he had a vision of creating a company that would “make it easy to do business anywhere in the world.” He and his cash-strapped team thought carefully about the most innovative and cost-effective ways to build the business of their dreams.

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Ma stated that “he doesn’t make plans,” explaining Alibaba's constant readiness to adapt to technological advances. Since Alibaba’s inception, Ma always encouraged his employees to embrace change. Ma advised business students not to stick to their business plans, as the world is fast changing and effective global leaders must know how to manage the fast turnover of technology and the turn of events.

China in the Next 30 Years

China will experience tremendous changes in the next 30 years. The Chinese economy will transition from the selling to the world to selling to a major domestic consumer market. Technology will play an even more important role as it continues to touch almost every aspect of people’s lives. Additionally, mobile will potentially become a bigger market than PCs in China. The next wave of mobile penetration will come from the second and third-tier cities that have relatively low computer penetration rates.

“But change creates opportunities for ordinary people like you and me,” noted Ma. The significant changes in China will offer young people opportunities to shine as technology has leveled the playing field.

Once in your life, try something. Work hard at something. Try to change. Nothing bad can happen.
    -- Jack Ma, Founder & Executive Chairman, Alibaba GroupIt is against this transformative context that Alibaba will continue to stay true to its original mission— making doing businesses easy anywhere in the world, Ma stated. For example, Alibaba’s SME-loans business aims to finance private enterprises that historically faced difficulties raising capital. Alibaba cloud computing service (AliCloud) is another example of the company’s products that will influence China’s digitization, according to CTO Jian Wang. AliCloud has already made contributions to the broadcasts of 2012 London Olympics and the official digital catalogue of drugs in China, Wang noted.

“In the industrial age, winning was determined by size and depth; in the information and technology era, it is ruled by innovation and individualism,” Ma argued.

As Ma concluded his talk, he shared his final insights with the assembled Stanford students and Silicon Valley professionals: “Once in your life, try something. Work hard at something. Try to change. Nothing bad can happen.”

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Dr. Jian Wang, Alibaba’s CTO and the first keynote speaker, opened his speech with a discussion of Alibaba’s technology. Alibaba Group currently operates one of China’s largest online marketplaces, a payment network, and is also producing a mobile OS. Due to its scale, the company faces challenges few others do: Alibaba has processed over 100 million transactions and nearly 60% of the internet’s fraudulent websites have been discovered through the company’s tools. Alibaba also maintains a cloud computing service. What makes Dr. Wang most excited, however, is Aliloans—the company’s foray into finance. “The smallest loan made has been one yuan,” he announced excitedly, “and we do it on credit!” This is a big step in a country where it has traditionally been difficult for ordinary people to secure a loan.

After Dr. Wang’s speech, Founder and CEO Jack Ma took to the stage to discuss Alibaba from a less technical perspective. “Why did we survive the internet bubble and grow to become the company we are today?” he asked the audience. His answer: “Because first, we didn’t have money; second, I don’t understand technology; and finally, I never planned.” Elaborating on his management style, he explained that a lack of money forced the company to be scrappy in its early days; because he couldn’t understand technology, Mr. Ma wasn’t prone to micromanaging his engineers; and finally, because he never confined himself to business plans, Mr. Ma was able to take advantage of unforeseen changes. As he put it, a business plan for a website in 1999 that connected Chinese manufacturers with Western buyers would never have included starting China’s equivalent to eBay or creating a financial-services unit.

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Dr. Jian Wang, Alibaba Group's CTO, spoke at the event.

“We live in an epic era, both the best of times and the worst of times,” he commented. “In order to change the world, one needs an idea and the ability to execute on it; but execution isn’t enough, and competition is harsh. Success comes from living at the right time, having good friends, and luck.” Responding to the question of how to build a good company culture, he responded that there’s no such thing as a “good” culture; only a culture that fits certain kinds of people. “It’s like the relationship between a husband and wife.” That said, he mentioned his belief that Alibaba is different from other big-name technology companies because of an emphasis on learning. Alibaba doesn’t necessarily hire the best and brightest, but those most willing to learn about things outside their area of expertise.

In the week after securing a US $8 billion loan and announcing a US $586 million investment in Sina Weibo, Mr. Ma came across as relaxed and optimistic. Though he claimed to be “too old for the internet” and will step down from his role as CEO shortly, Mr. Ma ended his speech by inviting the audience to consider working in China, even if it’s not at Alibaba, and most importantly, to “enjoy life and be healthy.”

The Program on Human Rights at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), together with the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, are pleased to introduce the 2013 Summer Human Rights Fellows. These four remarkable Stanford undergraduates were selected from a competitive pool of applicants to spend the summer serving in organizations advancing human rights work around the world.

The Summer Human Rights Fellowship enables undergraduate students to gain practical experience at international organizations that promote, monitor, evaluate, or advance human rights work. In order to apply, potential fellows must identify their ideal placement and work with the partner to ensure there is a viable project that allows the student to contribute meaningfully to the organization’s work. This year, the fellows will be working on the ground in India, Jordan, and Guatemala with informal workers, at-risk children, trafficking victims, and using technology to advance social justice worldwide. Upon their return to Stanford next year, each of the Human Rights Fellows will participate in campus events to describe their work.

Below are the profiles of our four fellows highlighting their summer projects, interest in human rights and some fun facts. Click here to learn more about the fellowship program.

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Name: Firas Abuzaid (’14)

Major: Computer Science

Hometown: Plano, Texas

Tell us about your project. I'll be working with Visualizing Justice in Amman, Jordan. The mission of Visualizing Justice is to empower people worldwide to create visual stories for social justice and human rights. My mission for the summer is to exploit new software innovations in web development to augment Visualizing Justice’s data visualization capabilities, thus making their stories more expressive and accessible worldwide.

What first sparked your interest in human rights? I think there is a disconnect between the technologies we develop and the societies we live in, and that gap is most noticeable in the area of human rights. In particular, our innovations in technology have created an information overload problem. We are now inundated with information about various human rights issues, but struggle for a more nuanced or contextualized understanding of those issues. Also, the quality of the information has not kept up with the growth in quantity. If we can invest the time to build better tools and re-couple the quality of information with its quantity, then we, as a society, can make a lot more progress in the field of human rights.

What are your post-Stanford aspirations? I want to develop new tools that make it easier for individuals to create compelling data visualizations, especially those that lie outside the traditional domains of technology.

Fun fact about yourself: I can solve a Rubik's cube in under a minute.

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Name: Lara Mitra (’15)

Major: Human Biology

Hometown: Washington, D.C.

Tell us about your project. I’m traveling to Ahmedabad, India to work with Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a union of 1.4 million informal economy workers, which provide community-driven socioeconomic services, including healthcare, local banking, social security, and housing to marginalized groups. Given my interest in public health, I will focus on SEWA’s initiatives responding to people's inherent right to a healthy life, working with the health team to analyze and document the changing role of front-line health workers who deliver care to expecting mothers. I aim to assess the effectiveness of services provided by three unique classes of health workers, and identify how their knowledge and skills can be harnessed to deliver primary health care to a broad swath of the rural and urban population.

What first sparked your interest in human rights? The day of my 16^th birthday found me waiting in line at the DMV in Washington, DC. When I reached the front of the line, I was given one final form to fill out. I mindlessly scribbled my name and date of birth before I stumbled upon a question that I did not know the answer to: “Would you like to be an organ donor?” This was my first exposure to a human rights issue that I hope to pursue well into the future. Upon doing some research, I became hooked on the topic of organ donation. The future human biology major in me enjoyed reading about the dire need for kidneys in the US, but the humanitarian in me found another area of the debate more gripping – the black market for organs. 

What are your post-Stanford aspirations?  Find a job that allows me to combine my interests in medicine and human rights! 

Fun fact about yourself: My parents made me take classes in juggling and unicycling growing up in case the whole college thing didn't work out.

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Name: Nicolle Richards (’16)

Major: Human Biology (planned)

Hometown: Vienna, Austria

Tell us about your project. I will be traveling to Guatemala to work with Kids Alive, a nonprofit that works to rescue orphans and at-risk children. In Guatemala, they run a care home for girls who have been abandoned or abused – often in the form of forced labor and/or physical and sexual abuse. I will be working with the girls in the care home, and also evaluating a program that works to continue supporting the girls who have returned home.

What first sparked your interest in human rights? Throughout high school, I volunteered at a care home in Romania for women and girls who had experienced abuse. This first exposure to drastic poverty sparked my interest in social work and development, and led me to explore different aspects of human rights. Later in high school, I taught summer school in the Dominican Republic to at-risk children, where exposure to obvious injustice solidified my passion to fight for human rights. As a Christian, I believe that I have a responsibility to help those less fortunate – and fighting for human rights is an obvious way to do this!

What are your post-Stanford aspirations? I hope to study international human rights law and eventually work combatting human trafficking around the world. 

Fun fact about yourself: I get to spend my vacations in Seoul, South Korea where my family currently lives.

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Name: Garima Sharma (’15)

Major: Economics

Hometown: New Delhi, India

Tell us about your project. I am going to be working with Apne Aap: Women Worldwide, an anti-trafficking NGO based in Forbesganj, India. Forbesganj is in close proximity to the Indo-Nepalese border, which has led to its emergence as a source, transit center, and destination for women trafficked for prostitution. I have spent the past two quarters designing an interactive human rights education curriculum focused on sex trafficking, which I will use in Forbesganj to engage with at-risk girls who are the daughters of sex workers in the red light district, as well as 12-14 year-old girls belonging to the Nutt (lower-caste) community. Simultaneously, I will be working with older men, women and community leaders, with the goal of making preliminary headway into a community-wide anti-trafficking strategy.

What first sparked your interest in human rights? I cannot count the number of times that I have been verbally harassed, whistled at or sung to by strange men in the course of my fairly “normal” existence as a middle-class girl in India. My passion for wanting to ensure that women are able to demand and access a life of dignity is a consequence of having grown up in a society that normalizes aggression against us. This prompted me to intern at the National Human Rights Commission of India, where I spent my time reading reports on trafficking, examining anti-trafficking legislation, and talking to activists and victims of human rights violations. I realized we critically need to place greater focus on the prevention of violations and develop a true, nuanced appreciation for the concept of human rights – a change I am hoping to effect through this fellowship.

What are your post-Stanford aspirations? A few years down the line, I hope to work as a policymaker advancing women’s rights in India.

Fun fact about yourself: I am one of two—I have a twin sister named Anima, who attends medical school in India.

Comparative, policy-oriented research aimed at improving health care and the overall quality of life across the Asia-Pacific region is at the heart of AHPP’s mission and activities. As a research program within a world-class university, focusing exclusively on comparative health policy in Asia, it is unique. AHPP aims to provide evidence for addressing key health policy challenges in the Asia-Pacific, from links between poverty and ill health, to improving “value for money” and defining appropriate government and market roles in health systems. The program brings researchers to Stanford for on-site collaboration, and creates opportunities for Stanford students to conduct research in and about Asia.

The study of comparative health policy at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) dates back almost a quarter century, with its roots in the Comparative Health Care Policy Research Project inaugurated in 1990. Starting with pioneering research on health economics in Japan, the program has expanded since then to encompass research on health policy and demographic change throughout the region, albeit with a continuing focus on East Asia in comparative perspective.

Collaborative initiatives and global researchers

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AHPP is also analyzing evidence on health service delivery and financing in the Asia-Pacific region, such as the impact of expanding insurance coverage, reforming provider payment incentives, and contracting with the private sector. In addition, the program is conducting a comparative analysis of the historical development of health care institutions — like physician drug dispensing and recent reforms to separate prescribing from dispensing. AHPP also sponsors collaborative initiatives to address critical global health issues, including tobacco control, promotion of child health, and control of infectious diseases.

Preparing future health care policy experts

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In addition to numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, recent AHPP publications include Aging Asia: The Economic and Social Implications of Rapid Demographic Change in China, Japan, and South Korea and Prescribing Cultures and Pharmaceutical Policy in the Asia-Pacific. AHPP also runs its own working paper series that is open to scholars and health policy experts around the world.

Annual workshops and engaging seminars

Each year, AHPP assembles some of the world’s greatest health policy minds at Stanford to examine focused topics at conferences and workshops, resulting in special issues of journals, edited volumes, and ongoing collaborative research. In this thirtieth anniversary year of Shorenstein APARC, director Karen Eggleston organized a conference on “Economic Aspects of Population Aging in China and India,” co-sponsored by several related research programs at Harvard University.

In addition, AHPP organizes numerous public seminars throughout the academic year. Recent topics have included the battle against HIV/AIDS in Cambodia; immunizations and child health in Bangladesh; population aging in Japan; Vietnam’s health policy challenges; tobacco control in China; air pollution in South Asia; private health insurance in South Korea; and many other important health policy-related issues.

Although the Japan Studies Program (JSP) was formally established in 2011, the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center’s (Shorenstein APARC) newest addition has a rich history that equals or even exceeds that of the Center itself. The archives—through dozens of occasional and working papers, studies, photographs of landmark events, and books—reveal three vibrant decades of research on Japanese economics, industry, government, and international relations.

Japan studies took root when the Center was founded in 1983 and has evolved with the political, economic, and social changes in Japan, and with developments in U.S.-Japan relations. Under the leadership of co-founding Center director Daniel I. Okimoto, one of the earliest projects explored U.S.-Japan competition and collaboration in high-tech industries during the 1980s and 1990s. Other initiatives led to a definitive three volume comparative study of Japan’s political economy, and an exploration of the United States’ evolving ties with its Northeast Asia allies, including Japan.

Director emeritus Daniel Okimoto receives Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, in recognition of decades of work, 2007.

After Japan’s economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, the country underwent a range of political, economic, and social transformations. Even amidst challenges, Japan has adapted, as its firms continue to be globally competitive in many areas, and it persists as an Asian economic powerhouse; on the security front, Japan remains one of the closest allies of the United States. Emerging out of these transformations is a new Japan that offers quite a different picture from the old rapid-growth era.

The newly instituted Japan Studies Program aims to make Stanford a U.S. leader in the field of contemporary Japan studies. As an integral component of the Center, JSP facilitates multidisciplinary, social science–oriented research on contemporary Japan, emphasizing both academic scholarship and policy-relevant research. The program aims to become a central platform for Stanford students and the broader community for understanding and engaging with Japan.

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JSP experts actively contribute to Shorenstein APARC’s publishing program of timely, policy-oriented edited volumes and working papers, and regularly contribute op-eds and journal articles to numerous leading newspapers and scholarly journals, including the Journal of East Asian Studies, Socio-Economic Review, and Energy Policy.

Looking ahead, Takeo Hoshi, who joined the Center as JSP’s director in December 2012, says, “I want to make Shorenstein APARC the first place that researchers, policymakers, business practitioners, and students visit to understand more about the Japanese economy and politics—I look forward to working with everyone at Shorenstein APARC (and beyond) to achieve this goal.” With a strong, growing core of affiliated faculty, researchers, and staff, the future for Japan studies at Stanford looks bright.

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In 2007, Daniel Okimoto, Shorenstein APARC director emeritus, received Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, in recognition of decades of work. (Credit: courtesy Daniel Okimoto)

(l-r) Kenji Kushida, Masahiko Aoki, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, and Takeo Hoshi ( JSP director). Kurokawa, chair of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, spoke at JSP on how the scientific community can help policymakers respond to change in a globalized world. (Credit: Wena Rosario)