题目：晚清及当代中国财富分配

Topic:Wealth　Distribution　in　Late　Imperial　and　Contemporary　China　Precis

主讲人：香港科技大学　李中清　教授

Speaker: Prof. James Lee, HKUST

时间：2013年12月12日　晚　19:00-21:00

Time:　2013/12/12　19:00-21:00

地点：　ACC 3　号会议室

Venue:ACC 3#

Introduction:

Why is wealth distributed more unequally in some societies than others? Toanswer this question, this talk discusses wealth distribution in lateimperial and contemporary　China　from a comparative-historical perspective.First, it examines wealth distribution in the　UK　and US during the lastthree centuries to discover a high level of inequality and a highproportion of have-nots in the West. Second, it emphasizes the importanceof population categories in Chinese history as a political means ofmaintaining relatively equal wealth distribution and re-distribution.Third, focusing on detailed data from one rural county in Heilongjiang from 1870 to 1948, it demonstrates along with other recent scholarship that the distribution of land was surprisingly equal before and unequal after Communist Land Reform. 　Fourth, it discusses this continuedequality of wealth distribution in Post-Mao China by looking atcontemporary China's remarkably high home-ownership rate. Last, it suggeststhat these counter-intuitive findings of an equal China and an unequal Westcan serve as an example of a new direction in social and economic historythat challenges existing narratives by focusing on comparative wealthdistribution between past and present as well as East and West.

讲者简介：

李中清（James Lee），美籍华裔历史学家、社会学家，以其对人口学的研究而知名，1983年毕业于美国芝加哥大学并获历史学博士学位。后在加州理工学院人文社科系任教。现为香港科技大学人文社会科学学院院长。他是诺贝尔物理学奖得主李政道之子，其弟李中汉为康奈尔大学化学教授。