Experts to discuss China’s unprecedented economic boom April 9

James Fallows

Asia experts James Fallows and Orville Schell will discuss China’s unprecedented economic boom in a talk April 9 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The free public program, “China Rising: What does China’s unprecedented boom mean for the global economy, U.S. foreign policy, human rights and the environment?” will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the FedEx Global Education Center. The center is located on McCauley Street, between Pittsboro and South Columbia streets, just south of the Carolina Inn. Free parking is available for attendees in the deck under the building starting at 5 p.m.

Orville Schell

Fallows and Schell come to campus as the Frey Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professors in the College of Arts and Sciences. Their talk will be moderated by Michael Tsin, UNC associate professor of history and global studies and an expert on contemporary Chinese history.

Fallows, a longtime NPR analyst and national correspondent for The Atlantic, is back from China where he had lived and reported since 2006.

Fallows has chronicled China’s explosive growth and its impact on foreign policy, human rights, the environment and the global economy. He is a former editor of Slate and U.S. News & World Report, and served as President Jimmy Carter’s chief speechwriter for two years, the youngest person to hold that White House post. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. He is the author of nine books including, most recently, “Postcards from Tomorrow Square: Reports from China.” He has won the National Book Award, the American Book Award and the National Magazine Award.

Schell is an Asia specialist, author and journalist who now directs the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations.

Schell focuses on promoting constructive dialogue between Chinese and U.S. leaders regarding foreign policy, politics, economics, media and the environment. He is the author of 15 books, including 10 about China. His forthcoming book will explain China’s economic boom in the context of the past 125 years of history. He has been a correspondent for several PBS/Frontline documentaries on China and Tibet. He also reported on China for CBS and NBC, and his work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, Harpers, The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs and TIME. He has won many awards including the Overseas Press Club of America Award and, most recently, the Shorenstein Journalism Award from Stanford and Harvard for the best coverage of Asia.

The Frey Foundation Professorship was established in 1989 to bring to campus distinguished leaders from government, public policy and the arts. Alumnus David Gardner Frey chairs the foundation established by his parents, Edward J. and Frances Frey of Grand Rapids, Mich.