Foreign Correspondents Club of China

Recent Lectures

The FCCC organizes frequent speaker presentations and helps set up other press events throughout the year on issues relevant to news and longer-term trends in China. Here are some recent highlights:

*The Athens 2004 Olympic Marathon Gold medalist Stefano Baldini and coach Luciano Gigliotti talked on the topic of "Beijing 2008: Preparing for the Games".

*James Miles from the Economist talked on "Lhasa Timeline: Photos & Account of the Riots".

*W. John Hoffmann and Michael J. Enright talked about "China into the future: making sense of the most dynamic economy".

*The Australian best-selling author Christopher Koch talked about his books.

*Christopher Kremmer, one of Australia's most respected and popular writers of narrative non-fiction, talked about his books.

*The legendary China expert Sidney Rittenberg talked on "NPC 2008: China's New leaders".

*Guillaume Jeannet, sports lawyer and former Olympic athlete talked on "Beijing 2008: Clean Games?".

*Rupert Hoogewerf, author of the Hurun Report China Rich List, talked about the "Anatomy of a Chinese Billionaire".

*Andy Xie Guozhong, who worked at Morgan Stanley from 1997 to 2006 and was the firm's chief economist in Asia, spoke on "China's 2008 Outlook: Boom or Bust?".

*Mel Elfin, long-time witness of Washington diplomacy as Newsweek's Washington Bureau Chief (for 20 years), spoke on "Nixon's historic China visit and its legacy in Washington and around the world".

*Veteran foreign correspondent, China hand and online media pioneer Rebecca MacKinnon spoke on "Technology, Censorship and Surveillance: Who cares?". She is currently assistant professor of new media at Hong Kong University's Journalism and Media Studies Center.

*Shanghai-based foreign correspondent Duncan Hewitt introduced his new book "Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China."

*"Economist correspondent Ted Plafker introduced his book "Doing Business in China: How to Profit in the World's Fastest Growing Market", drawing on his 18 years of experience in China.

*Wang Hai, Chinese consumer-rights advocate, talked about his work on "Improving Product Safety and Opposing Counterfeit Goods" (Presentation in Chinese with English translation).

*Nick Young, editor of CDB, discussed the "Future of China Development Brief".

* "Sports Journalism Panel: A Guide to Covering the Olympics", with Francesco Liello, from La Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy), Kei Matsumura, from Kyodo News (Japan) and Scott McDonald from Associated Press (USA).

*Dr. Steve Noerper spoke on “Forward to 2008: North Korean Nukes, Rising China, and Asia Policy in the U.S. Presidential Campaigns".

*Koryo Tours director Nick Bonner spoke about the film he co-produced, “Crossing the Line” by Daniel Gordon, about James Joseph Dresnok, the last U.S. soldier who defected to North Korea in the 60’s. (His talk followed the film’s premiere screening in China).

*Peter Bosshard, Policy Director of International Rivers Network, Ali Askouri, Founder and President of the Piankhi Research Group. Based in London and Khartoum and Daniel Ribeiro, Coordinator of the Water, Dams and Development Unit of Justica Ambiental, talked on "China in Africa: challenges and opportunities".

*James Murray, Xian-based Country Director of Plan China, the Chinese arm of global child-centred community development organization Plan International, talked on "Rural health problems and their social costs".

*Kate Wedgwood, China and North Korea country director of the British NGO Save the Children, talked on "Human trafficking: China's most vulnerable children."

*Prof. Wen Tiejun, dean of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Renmin University, talked on "The Crisis of Urbanization: is Land Privatization the Solution?", on the eve of the NPC session which passed legislation on private property rights.

*Yang Fuqiang of the Energy Foundation, an U.S. NGO, talked about China's "Energy Efficiency: Targets and Reality" on the eve of the National People's Congress session where energy conservation was an important topic.

*On the day the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change unveiled its first report for six years, Christopher Tung talked on "The Economics of Climate Change in China: Sustainable Growth, Emissions and Profit."

*New media expert Andrew Lih talked about "Living with a Crippled Internet" and explained tips to help you find where you want to go on the Web.

*Pension-fund specialist Stuart Leckie talked about "China's looming pension fund crisis - how Beijing hopes to meet its mounting pension needs."

*William Lindesay talked about "How the Great Wall has changed through the last, most destructive century of its history" and previewed his upcoming Great Wall exhibition at the Capital Museum.

*Michael Ellis of the Motion Picture Association spoke on "The Cost of Motion Picture Piracy ?to China, Asia and the World."

*Paul French of the business consultancy AccessAsia talked about his newly published book "Carl Crow - A Tough Old China Hand." Crow arrived in Shanghai in 1911 and wrote "400 Million Customers," a pioneering book on China's advertising industry.

*Prof. Jerome Cohen, a renowned expert on Chinese law, talked about "Criminal Justice, the 17th Party Congress and the Olympics".

*Prof. Muhammad Yunus, 2006 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, talked about "How micro-credit lifted millions from poverty".

*Carl Walter, managing director and chief operating officer for China Asia Pacific at JP Morgan, talked on "China's Plan for Stock Market Reform -- or Everything You Always Wanted to Know about China's Stock Markets (But Were Afraid to Ask)".

*John Pomfret, Washington Post correspondent, introduced his newly published book "Chinese Lessons", a revealing portrait of China's recent history through the lives of 5 former Chinese classmates he met in the early '80s.

*Far Eastern Economic Review Editor Hugo Restall and Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal, talked about "FEER in its 60th Year: Still Making Waves" (jointly sponsored by FEER and the FCCC).

*Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs talked on "Water pollution and how China is dealing with the challenge".

*John Humphrey, managing director of J.D. Power and Associates in China talked on "What Chinese customers want in their cars, and what are Chinese auto makers missing as they try to win over international customers".

*Sidney Rittenberg, the legendary China expert who was Mao’s translator, talked on “Remembering Mao: what his legacy means for today’s Chinese.?

*Nick Young, head of the China Development Brief, spoke about "recent government audits of Chinese NGOs, and related developments".

*Yoichi Maie, deputy director general of the Japan External Trade Organization's Beijing office, spoke about Japanese investment in China during the first half of 2006.

*IOC Communications Director Giselle Davies spoke on "The IOC, the Olympic Movement, and an advance look at media preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.?

*Zhang Dongming, research director of the internet consultancy BDA China, spoke on "Competition between foreign and domestic Web companies in China."

*Hutong protection expert Hua Xinmin spoke on “The legal rights of owners of Beijing 's traditional courtyard homes."

*Stephen Ma and Isabelle Meister of Greenpeace China spoke on "the Future of Genetically Modified Food in China".

*In an FCCC panel on "the Future of News", four Beijing-based journalists representing German, U.K., Canadian and U.S. media discussed the impact of new technologies, changing reader preferences and harsher business pressures on the print news industry. Moderated by Andrew Lih, head of Hong Kong University's Technology, Journalism and Media Studies Center.

*Environmentalist Lester Brown introduced his new book and talked about "Food security, desertification and their links to China's booming economy."

*Nobel Prize-winning economist Prof. Robert Mundell talked about "China’s Macroeconomic Policy in the World Economy".

*Thai author Sirin Phathanothai discussed "The Dragon's Pearl", the book where she describes her extraordinary experience in China.

*On the 70th anniversary of the legendary 10,000-mile journey, author Sun Shuyun discussed her latest book "The Long March"

*Journalists' panel on "Tips from the Field: How to work safely and effectively." Panelists included Patrick Brown, veteran China correspondent for Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Chris Buckley, Reuters correspondent, and Philip Pan, Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post.

*Standard Chartered Bank senior economist Stephen Green talked about "The renminbi and 10 reasons to oppose the Graham-Schumer Bill".

*Rob Watson, director of the International Energy and Green Building Projects at the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), spoke on "China's Cities at a Crossroads: Can China cope with the largest migration in human history?"

*Professor Fei Anling talked about "The importance of the Real Right Law in protecting property ?and why it is not yet approved", during the third and last appointment of our "Law week" special series.

*Professor Liu Renwen speaked about "How to guarantee the quality of death penalty cases" in China in the second round of our "Law Week".

*Lawyer Mo Shaoping speaked about legal issues in China in the first round of our "Law Week" lectures series.

*Former executive and human rights campainger John Kamm talked about "Human Rights and US-China Relations in a Dog Year".

*Brook Larmer, author and former journalist, spoke about his book "Operation Yao Ming: The Chinese Sports Empire, American Big Business, and the Making of an NBA Superstar."

*Karen Smith, independent art curator, spoke about her book "Nine Lives: The Birth of Avant-Garde Art in China."

*Dr. Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to China, spoke on "Avian Flu: China's Challenge."

*James Brock, analyst with leading international advisors Cambridge Energy Research Associates, spoke on "China's energy demand and long term energy options".

*Andy Rothman, China analyst with CLSA in Shanghai, talked about "Bird flu: the economic impact on China."

*David Hurd, Deutsche Bank's Head of Oil and Gas research in Asia, spoke about "The structure of China oil: How the industry and major firms operate".

*John Hamre, president of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, and his colleagues talked and answered questions about “US-China Relations on the Eve of the Next Summit: Perspectives from Washington on Political, Economic, and Security Issues?

*Prof. Jerome Cohen, a reknowned U.S. expert on China law, spoke about “Justice and Injustice in China?

*Global Witness representatives talked about their newly released report, "A Choice for China: Ending the destruction