Introduction and Background (US-China Conf.)

David Schaberg (BA, Stanford University, 1986; PhD, Harvard University, 1996) is Co-Director of the Center for Chinese Studies and Associate Professor of Asian Languages & Cultures at UCLA. Schaberg has published articles on early Chinese literature, historiography, and philosophy as well as Greek/Chinese comparative issues in Early China, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, and Comparative Literature.  He is author of A Patterned Past:  Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography, which was awarded the 2003 Levenson Prize for Books in Chinese Studies (Pre-1900 Category).  More recent work addresses the history of oratory in early China

Richard Baum (PhD, UC Berkeley, 1970) is Professor of Political Science at UCLA. Baum was the Director of the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies from 1999 to 2005. He is author and editor of nine books and numerous articles on Chinese politics and foreign policy. His latest book, China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom, will be published later this year by the University of Washington Press. Professor Baum serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary China, China Quarterly, China Information, Asian Survey, and Communist and Post-Communist Studies. He is the founder and director of chinapol, a private, online forum for professionals (scholars, journalists, diplomats, and others) invovled in the analysis of contemporary Chinese politics. As a commentator, Professor Baum has shared his expert knowledge of Chinese politics with media all across the globe.