The growing importance of Asia in general and China and India in particular, will be the highlight of an international conference scheduled to be held next month.
The New Zealand Asian Studies Society is organising the three-day event at the Massey University Campus in Palmerston North from July 2 to 4, 2011.
Established in 1974, the New Zealand Asian Studies Society has been promoting studies on the economies of Asia but it is only in recent years that the importance of the rising giants in the Continent has been recognised. The Conference is 19th in a series, with a number of keynote speakers of international standing presenting papers on subjects of significance.
Among them are Chair of Political Science and Coordinator of Contemporary China Research Project Professor Joseph Yu-shek Cheng, Urban Planning Director and Master of Science Dr Mee Kam Ng (both from the City University of Hong Kong) and Chinese Historian and School of Historical Studies (Melbourne) Professor Antonia Finnane.
The Conference will -present an ideal opportunity for the delegates to understand Asian Arts, Cinema, Culture, Politics and Society.
The papers would include issues related to East, South East, West, South and North Asia. The conference is aimed at scholars and postgraduate students researching on Asian studies.
Conference organisers said they would publish the proceedings for the larger benefit of those interested in Asian studies.
It coincides with the Centenary Year of the Xinhai Revolution in China.
The Revolution began on October 10, 1911, ending Chinese Aristocracy and heralding the Republic of China and Communist China in the subsequent years.
The three-day meeting will also explore how the Revolution continues to impact the Chinese society.
The Conference will be dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Earthquakes that rocked Christchurch and Japan.
