A matrix with m rows and n columns looks like a rectangle filled with tiny boxes: m times n boxes, to be exact. But after visiting the Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU) for three months, my mental matrix of the world looked more like a weird trapezoid. New acquaintances added rows and their unique perspectives added columns. My brain drew lines from geography to economics to politics, but the lines were on crumpled paper. Ah and don't forget history. So multiply the rectangle by time t and out comes a 3D trapezoid.

How do we mentally travel through odd shapes with any sense and efficiency? China Studies in Beijing classes at the SCPKU sharpened our tools for the endeavor. On day one, Thomas Fingar emphasized that the goal of a foreign policy class is not to remember a list of facts, but to build a personal matrix of relations and to learn tricks for traversing the matrix. Jean Oi demonstrated how people's ideals can constrain the goals of business and political leaders. Scott Rozelle showed how economic developments in China changed real lives. Clarity reduces the dimensions we care about. Sometimes we need to melt and reshape the whole matrix. Other times we just need to prune a few rows and columns. We have the algorithms, technologies, "intelligences." Our tools, both natural and artificial, can be useful for navigating political spheres and leading to action.

But tools are not all we have. Other people's matrices sometimes slam into our own. Warping it, filling it. At Peking University (PKU), I met students with different stories and missions. One student transfers industrial expertise from China to Southeast Asia. Another connects Stanford and PKU students to openly discuss US-China relations. I also collaborated with PKU researchers. The scientists are fast learners and deeply curious. The clinicians are hard working and harder feeling. They all faithfully give their time and spirit. Despite the different bases of our matrices, language in particular, we could cooperate and together build a fuller model of the world.

What was the visiting graduate student's place in all of this? As a psychologist, I study humans and their brains. The brain itself is a messy matrix. Figuratively, a life history of data to curate; literally, cells that code spacetime. Maybe the psychology and geometry of every other brain is not so foreign from each of our own. Our science can keep digging deeper and tilling truer in search of common ground. We can build an empirical basis for humans to flourish together.

Sometimes, after long times, a complex matrix can instead be depicted as a fractal. Like flakes of snow. Each one is unique, starting with the same properties of H₂O but morphing through many phases. Maybe with study and reflection we will look back at both China studies and brain studies and, rather than see a messy matrix, find a fractal. Hopefully such a model can also be useful to guide our way forward.

About the author Josiah Leong: Awarded a SCPKU Predoctoral fellowship for research from August to November 2018. He is a doctoral candidate in psychology and his research is about how brain creates emotions and makes decisions. During his visit, he started a neuroimaging study with the Peking psychology department and taught neuroimaging data analyses to addiction researchers at the Peking Sixth Hospital. He also engaged with researchers in anthropology, history, and political science, and he audited courses from the China Studies in Beijing overseas program. These experiences clarified his vision for how psychological science can guide the policies that govern everyday life. He has seen how scientific collaboration builds communities across borders, and he remains optimistic that the practice of science can lead people to question their assumptions and reshape their matrices, so to speak.

5,100 miles separate Tokyo from Stanford. But for Hiroyuki Fukano, the distance was measured in more than miles. It was also a journey of time and memory–of 30 years, to be precise.

As a visiting fellow in the 1988-89 cohort of APARC’s Corporate Affiliate Program (now called Global Affiliates Program), Fukano joined Center alumni and friends from the last four decades for reunions in Beijing and Tokyo. In all, more than 100 former affiliates and visiting fellows gathered to reconnect with peers, meet new ones, and reflect on their times at Stanford.

"These gatherings are a reminder, both to our faculty and alumni, of the power of the APARC experience to change lives,” shared Director Gi-Wook Shin, who delivered welcoming remarks at both events. “We have with us alumni and affiliates from the private and public sectors, as well as from academia. They are doing amazing work in their specific fields; work influenced, in part, by their time at Stanford.”

“Clearly, the APARC experience stretches beyond barriers, both geographical and temporal.”

The gatherings also underscored the influence of the APARC experience on strengthening connections across Asia at large. For example, one Korean affiliate flew in for the Tokyo event, while a Japanese alum, now working in China, joined his Stanford peers at the Beijing gathering.

“It’s an especially unique bond that the affiliates share,” noted Global Affiliates Program Manager Denise Masumoto. “Regardless of the industry or field from which they come, their fellowship year at APARC is a unifying experience for them; it’s something each of them carries forward into everything they do.”

Fukano, who delivered remarks at the Tokyo event, echoed this sentiment. As he reflected on the thirty years that had passed since his time at Stanford, he shared that, even to this day, his year at APARC still held great significance for him.

Director Shin was joined at the events by several Center faculty members. Professor Takeo Hoshi, director of the Japan Program at APARC, updated the Tokyo audience on new research and partnerships being explored by the program.

Professor Jean Oi, director of the China Program at APARC, addressed the Beijing gathering at the Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU). Professor Oi spoke about the program’s collaboration this fall with SCPKU on their "On the Road to China" program, which brings Stanford students to SCPKU for three months of coursework and area experiences.

We thank everyone who joined us for these alumni events and look forward to seeing even more friends and partners next time.

Prof. Takeo Hoshi, Lei Guo (2016-17 Visiting Scholar, Peking University), and Masami Miyashita (2011-12 Corporate Affiliate, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan)

Luguang Li (2002-03 Corporate Affiliate, PetroChina) and Professor Gi-Wook Shin

Masami Miyashita (2011-12 Corporate Affiliate, METI, Japan, now based in Hong Kong) and Zhuoyan Wang (2016-17 Corporate Affiliate, PetroChina)

Zhuoyan Wang (2016-17 Corporate Affiliate, PetroChina)

Jung-Yi Lee (2013-14 Visiting Scholar, Hanmaum Peace & Research Foundation)

Xiuxiao Wang (2016-17 Visiting Scholar, Central University of Finance and Economics) and Professor Gi-Wook Shin

Liang (Leon) Fang (2014-15 Corporate Affiliate, China Sunrain Solar Energy Co., Ltd.) and Zhuoyan Wang (2016-17 Corporate Affiliate, PetroChina)

Hong Cheng (2016-17 Visiting Scholar, Wuhan University), Lei Guo (2016-17 Visiting Scholar, Peking University), Professor Takeo Hoshi, and Jianxiong Liu (2016-17 Visiting Scholar, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Professor Jean Oi and Guofeng Sun (2003-04 Corporate Affiliate, Research Institute of People’s Bank of China)

Lei Guo, 2016-17 Visiting Scholar from Peking University, and Professor Andy Walder

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Beijing reception on September 10, 2018

Toshiyuki Watanabe (2017-18 Corporate Affiliate, The Asahi Shimbun) and Takahito Inoshita (2017-18 Corporate Affiliate, Kozo Keikaku Engineering)

Hiroyuki Fukano (1988-89 Corporate Affiliate, ITOCHU Corporation)

Takashi Imoto (1998-99 Corporate Affiliate, Kansai Electric Power Company), Yasuhiro Kanda (2005-06 Corporate Affiliate, Kansai Electric Power Company), and Professor Takeo Hoshi

Aki Takahashi (2015-17 Corporate Affiliate, Nissoken), Kenichi Kamai and Kimie Kawamoto (affiliate representatives from Nissoken)

Ryuichiro Takeshita (2014-15 Corporate Affiliate, Huff Post Japan), Toshiyuki Watanabe (2017-18 Corporate Affiliate, The Asahi Shimbun) and Takahito Inoshita (2017-18 Corporate Affiliate, Kozo Keikaku Engineering)

Yotaro Akamine (2007-08 Corporate Affiliate, Tokyo Electric Power Company)

Professor Gi-Wook Shin and Keiichi Uruga (2013-14 Corporate Affiliate, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan)

Tadashi (Brian) Miyakawa (2000-01 Corporate Affiliate, IBM, Japan)

Yohei Saito (2016-17 Corporate Affiliate, Future Architect Inc.), Col. Daisuke Nakaya (2016-17 Corporate Affiliate, Japan Air Self Defense Force), Akihiko Sado (2016-17 Corporate Affiliate, The Asahi Shimbun), Hiroki Morishige (2016-18 Corporate Affiliate, Shizuoka Prefectural Government) and Aki Takahashi (2015-17 Corporate Affiliate, Nissoken)

Tokyo reception on September 5, 2018

In Beijing’s bustling Chaoyang District stands a multi-story building known as the Gonghe Senior Apartments: a 400-bed nursing home for middle-income seniors who are disabled or suffer from dementia. Why is Gonghe unique and why is it worth considering? Because Gonghe is a public-private partnership (PPP), a collaborative organizational structure supported by the District Civil Affairs Bureau Welfare Division that donated the land and building and the nonprofit Yuecheng Senior Living that operates the facility. And because PPPs like Gonghe might just be the right model to address the challenges surrounding elderly care in China as well as in other nations that face a looming burden of population aging.

This was a core message shared by Alan Trager, founder and president of the PPP Initiative Ltd., who spoke at a special workshop organized by Shorenstein APARC’s Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP). Focused on PPPs in health and long-term care in China, the workshop was part of a two-day convening related to the Innovation for Healthy Aging project, a collaborative research project led by APARC Deputy Director and AHPP Director Karen Eggleston that identifies and analyzes productive public-private partnerships advancing healthy aging solutions in East Asia and other regions.

The Innovation for Healthy Aging project is driven by the imperative to respond to a world that is aging rapidly. This demographic transition, reminded Trager at the opening of his talk, is a defining issue of our time, as aging is a multisectoral issue that increases the demand for health care, long-term care, and a large number of other social services. The aging challenge is exacerbated by its convergence with the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases. For while NCDs affect all age groups, they account for the highest burden among the elderly.

China: Ground Zero for Global Aging

Alan Trager discusses health and long-term care in China in the GSB's Highly Immersive Classroom

The need to advance healthy aging and NCD prevention is a matter of grave concern in China, whose older population is larger than in any other country. Moreover, the aging challenge in China is interwoven with unique social trends. In particular, filial piety—which, for thousands of years, has been a fundamental family value and a mainstay of health and elder care—is under pressure, as young people strive to balance the demands of careers, fewer children per family, and migrating to cities for school and work, without affordable housing or long-term care financing support for their parents and other elderly relatives, who often stay in rural areas.

China’s health system is yet to adapt to the shift in the disease burden and health care needs driven by the aging population. Its existing health insurance programs are insufficient for outpatient management and care of chronic conditions, and as Trager emphasized, there is a lack of investment in training geriatric medicine professionals and incorporating geriatric principles into clinical practice.

How can China meet the high demand for elder care, increase workforce capacity, and promote healthy aging?

The answer, claims Trager, lies in developing multisector, integrated solutions to the challenges posed by population aging. While system-level efforts, such as building the social protection system and sustaining universal health coverage, continue to be led by the government, PPPs can play a major role in capacity building to ensure the sustainability of such systems through the advancement of technology, human resources, and innovation. Trager shared PPP Initiative Ltd.’s recent efforts to develop PPP solutions for aging populations in China and elsewhere. The workshop was held on October 10 at the Stanford GSB’s Highly Immersive Classroom, which is equipped with advanced video conferencing technology that allows participants in Palo Alto and at the Stanford Center at Peking University to collaborate in real-time. Experts from Beijing joined the discussion and followed Trager’s presentation with comments on how to move from awareness to action.

Private Efforts, Public Value

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Public-private collaborations—or rather collaborative governance–in China as well as in the United States is the subject of an upcoming volume co-authored by Eggleston with Harvard scholars Richard Zeckhauser and John Donahue. Both Zeckhauser and Donahue joined Eggleston the following day, October 11, at an AHPP-hosted seminar to discuss this upcoming publication, titled Private Roles for Public Goals in China and the United States: Contracting, Collaboration, and Delegation.

Eggleston, Donahue, and Zeckhauser define collaborative governance as private engagement in public tasks on terms of shared discretion, where each partner bears responsibilities for certain areas. Their upcoming book explores public-private collaborations in China and the United States, two countries where public needs require solutions that far outstrip the capacities of their governments alone. Beyond considering merely health and elderly care, the book features research into public and private roles in the governance of multiple other sectors, including education, transport infrastructure, affordable housing, social services, and civil society.

At the seminar, the three scholars reviewed different models of private efforts providing public value, outlined the justifications for collaborative governance, and explained some of the conditions that make such collaborative partnerships productive and valuable. They emphasized the need to account for the unique contexts in China and the United States and to steer clear of one-size-fits-all solutions.

Imperative for the Young Generation

One thing, they all agree, applies to both countries: government collaboration with private entities is inevitable if China and the United States are to achieve their articulated goals and meet rapidly increasing demand for high-end public services.

This sentiment echoed a claim Trager made the preceding day: a tidal wave of noncommunicable diseases in an aging world is approaching us quickly and governments cannot handle it alone. Young people must care about advancing creative solutions to this pressing problem because they will be the ones who will pay for the consequences if we get it wrong.