Chinese Studies Postgraduate Conference 9 October 2009

Chinese Studies Postgraduate Conference

Date: Friday, 9 October 2009

Location: Tutorial / Committee Room, Ground floor, Baillieu Library.

RSVP to Bick-har Yeung bhy@unimelb.edu.au by 5 October 2009 for catering purposes.

The Chinese Studies Postgraduate Conference is free and open to all Chinese Studies postgraduates from other institutions. Booking is required.

Program

Morning Session: Chinese Studies Seminar : Space and Society.

Chair:Dr. Lewis Mayo, Asia Institute.

09:00 – 09:15
Registration and morning tea

09:15-09:20
Opening remarks:Dr. Lewis Mayo, Asia Institute.

09:20 – 10:00
Topic: Evolution in Nature and Revolution in Society - a paradigm for sustainable design and development
Speaker: Yan Gu, PhD candidate, National ICT Australia (NICTA VRL), Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Summary: The global debate of sustainable development over the latest three decades has questioned the viability of industrial development pattern, mostly prevalent in Western societies since Industrial Revolution. This pattern is characteristic of excessive exploitation of energy and natural resources without concerning the impact upon the natural ecosystem. Nowadays, the industrial development pattern has transferred to China with the economic globalisation since the “Reform and Open Door’ policy in 1980s. In result, the national economic development is in flourish whereas alongside environmental degradation over the country, which becomes a dilemma threatening fundamental social well-being and stability for the long term development. At this seminar, I will talk about some sustainable propositions in reference to China’s context, based on the research framework established in my PhD thesis: an intelligent model for sustainable design in open systems evolution.

 The intelligence of open systems evolution exhibits as the system spontaneously takes use of available resources from the host environment for its evolution. During the evolution, the system is aware of its on-going performance, of its impact upon the host environment. By adapting to the host environment and self-organising a highly ordered internal structure, the open system minimises its negative impact and optimises its interrelation with the host environment, subjected to the constraints. In addition, this evolutionary mechanism of open systems implicates a significant ethic value. The essence of open systems evolution is specified as maximising the allocation of resources as the broadest commitment to all ranges of constitutional components within the system, in turn, minimising negative impact to the host environment. Through this evolution, diversity is generated in the system, facilitating an efficient and smooth transfer of the system from the past to the future for sustainable development. This model of open systems evolution provides a theoretical framework for sustainable design and development embedding in social, economic and environmental contexts.

10:05 – 10:45
Topic:The impact of economic factors on farmers’ use of groundwater – a case study in Hebei.
Speaker: Kai Rebensburg, Ph D. Candidate, Melbourne School of Land and Environment.
Summary:

10:45 – 11:05 Morning tea

11:05 – 11:45
Topic:Utzon's China - A Historical Survey of Danish Architect Joern Utzon's (1919-2009) Early Perception of Traditional Chinese Art and Architecture.
Speaker: Chen-Yu Chiu, Ph. D. Candidate, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Summary: This presentation is part of the report of presenter's PhD overseas fieldwork taken up both in Denmark and China in 2009 June and July. It will introduce some key facts and critical aspects of Utzon's social and cultural background and launch out a more contextual framework on Utzon's different perceptions of traditional Chinese art and architecture, before his 1958 trip to China. This talk will focus on several people, places and events in Utzon's life and explain their roles and significant tributes to Utzon's relationship with 'China.' At the same time, it will also try to reveal the motivation and intention of Utzon's interest on 'China' and further explain "Why is China?"

11:50 - 12:30
Topic：Making Capitalism in China.
Keynote Speaker: Professor Michael Webber, School of Resource Management & Geography.
Summary：This presentation explores the history of primitive accumulation in China, from the early 1980s to the mid 2000s. It observes that the principal means of primitive accumulation have been the transformation of state and collective enterprises into capital, the peasants’ loss of land through various forms of dispossession, and the voluntary migration of peasants from agricultural to industrial pursuits. These mix dispossession and market mechanisms in complex ways. They have involved the creation of markets; but more, the creation of workers and capital. While the processes that drive primitive accumulation have economic logics, they also have logics that derive from concerns over social welfare, over environmental management, and over ethnic struggles. Furthermore, the state has been closely involved in the entire process—as a regionally differentiated actor, directly involved in ownership, asset transformation and the control of migration. Primitive accumulation in China does not have one motive, does not simply reflect class interests, is not a particular case of a global capitalist project, but is complex and localised.

12:30 – 1:10
Lunch

Afternoon Session: Chinese Studies Postgraduate Workshop

Chair: Dr. Lewis Mayo, Asia Institute.

01:15 – 01:55
Topic: Pubishing journal articles
Speaker: Associate Professor Anne McLaren, Asia Institute. (to be confirmed)

2:00 – 3:00
Topic: Bibliometrics : analysis of publication and citation data.
Speakers: Lynn Horwood, BioMedical Librarian and Sabina Robertson, Arts Librarian, the University of Melbourne Library.

3:00 – 3:15 Afternoon tea

3:20 – 4:00
Topic: Attending Conferences and closing remarks
Speaker:Dr. Lewis Mayo, Asia Institute.

Acknowledgment:
This event is proudly sponsored by the International Relations Office, the University of Melbourne , the University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association Inc. (GSA), and Chinese Language & Studies, Asian Institue, the University of Melbourne.

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