On Tuesday, June 8, the Paulson Institute was pleased to host the latest Decoding China event featuring Damien Ma, Managing Director and co-founder of MacroPolo, PI’s think tank, in discussion with Cheng Li of Brookings Institution about his most recent book Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping US-China Engagement.
Li’s Middle Class Shanghai argues that American policymakers must not lose sight of present-day China’s expansive dynamism and diversity. The caricature of the PRC as a monolithic Communist apparatus set on exporting its ideology and development model is simplistic and misguided. Drawing on empirical research in higher education, avant-garde art, architecture, and law, to highlight the strong and constructive impact of bilateral exchanges, he contends that both countries should build upon the deep cultural and educational exchanges that have bound them together for decades.
Ma and Li’s discussion combined eclectic human stories with striking new data analysis to explore how the development of China’s class structure and cosmopolitan culture—exemplified and led by Shanghai could provide a force for reshaping US-China
