China’s awakening in the last two decades has sent shock waves throughout the world, leading to a gradual reconfiguration of the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.   Tai-chu Kuo, research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, will offer insight into historical forces of change that have helped reshape the region based on her interpretations of the diaries of Chiang Kai-shek, a 20th century Chinese political and military leader.  Particular focus will be on Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership, political thinking, and policies.  The lecture is the seventh in the annual Center for Asian Studies’ Wan-Lin Kiang Endowed Lecture Series, established by Mrs. Assumpta Kiang in memory of her husband, Wan-Lin Kiang, a noted international scholar, political advisor and businessman.

"Chiang Kai-shek Reappraised: Unlocking Modern China History"
with Tai-chun Kuo, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Thursday, May 6, 2010
Reception: 6:00-6:45 p.m.
Social Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Patio 1517
Lecture: 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Social Behavioral Science Gateway, Room 1517

Please RSVP to Sandy Cushman, scushman@uci.edu or 949 824-3344.

About the speaker:

Tai-chun Kuo is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. In 2003, she was a visiting lecturer at the Center for East Asian Studies, also of Stanford, and an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of American Studies, Tamkang University in Taiwan from 1997–2000. She served as press secretary to the president of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1990–95, deputy director–general of the First Bureau of the Presidential Office from 1989–97, and director of the ROC Government Information Office in Boston from 1987–88. 

Since 2003, she has assisted the Hoover Institution Archives to develop its Modern China Archives and Special Collections, which include the archives of the Kuomintang (Nationalist) party, the diaries of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo, and personal papers of T. V. Soong, H. H. K’ung, and other leading Chinese individuals.

About the center:

Comprised of more than 40 interdisciplinary UC Irvine faculty members who study China, Japan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia, the Center for Asian Studies enhances the study of the many countries and cultures of Asia.  The center provides a forum for discussions across geographic and disciplinary boundaries both on campus and within the community.

About Dr. Kiang:   

Dr. Kiang graduated from National Taiwan University with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. He went on to earn a master’s from New York University and his doctorate in systems sciences from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Kiang was a member of the American Economic Association, Association of International Business, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 1991, he was elected as international counselor and senior member of the prestigious Conference Board.  Dr. Kiang taught for many years at California State University’s School of Business Administration in Long Beach. He was also director of management sciences atNational Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan and founder of Taiwan’s Academy of Management Sciences. Among many of his appointments, he served as advisor to the Commission of National Enterprises, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan Power Corp., and RSEA.  In 1983, at the request of the acting governor of the Central Bank and chair of the Economic Development Council, Dr. Kiang returned to Taiwan and was appointed president and CEO of the China Development Corporation (CDC), Taiwan’s premier industrial development bank. On the verge of collapse, Dr. Kiang orchestrated CDC’s complete recovery, and in 1993, Euromoney elected CDC as the “Best Financial Institution in Taiwan.” In 1984, Dr. Kiang served as chairman of China Security Investment Trust Corporation, China Venture Management, Inc., and China Venture Capital Association, among over forty other public companies and organizations.   He wrote and published on technical, economic, managerial, financial, and banking matters, including two books in Chinese, Industrial Innovation and Vision and Development.  In 1993, Dr. Kiang shifted his work to China and was appointed as an advisory professor of Shanghai Chiao-Tung University and Zhejiang University. He was also a visiting professor of management at Tsinghua University in Beijing. In February 1994, he joined Emerging Markets Corporation as a senior executive in charge of Asian operations, responsible for providing guidance over the AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund – a billion dollar direct investment fund for China and ASEAN countries based in Hong Kong. He formed Sino-Century Capital and Development LTD in 1999 which now has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiain and Taipei.