The conference addresses significant challenges that contemporary China faces in four broad areas— the model of economic growth, demographic change, domestic stability, and international relations.  These challenges reflect both the successes and the limitations of reforms implemented in China over the past three decades.  We make them the focus of our conference because these challenges have also prompted many analysts (both within and outside China) to suggest that the country  now faces a range of problems that will demand the attention of the new generation of leaders taking up their top posts in Beijing during 2012-2013.  As such, our conference will address issues of fundamental importance to China’s future prospects.

12:00-1:00pm: "Research on Educational Policies for Ethnic Minorities with Cultural Sensitivity----Cases from Ethnic Minority Areas in Western China."
Speaker: Professor Sude, Professor and Dean of the School of
Education, Minzu University of China

1:00-2:00PM: Screening and discussion of the film "Children of Blessing" with Professor Teng Xing, Professor of Educational Anthropology at the School of Education, Minzu University of China and Fulbright Scholar. "Children of Blessing" is a documentary depicting ethnic minority Lahu girls' experiences as they are sent away from home to be educated at a boarding school.