Professor Geremie R. BARMÉ
Director of the Australian Centre on China in the World
After graduating in Asian Studies from the ANU (majoring in Chinese and Sanskrit), Geremie studied at universities in the People’s Republic of China (1974
77) and Japan (1980-83), with periods working as a journalist, freelance writer and translator in China. Geremie’s research work in Chinese culture and intellectual history has been interspersed with film, web site and writing projects in the United States and China.
Geremie’s research interests include 20th century Chinese intellectual and cultural history; contemporary Chinese cultural and intellectual debates; modern historiography; Ming-Qing literature and aesthetics; Cultural Revolution history (1950s-70s) and Beijing, its history and reconstruction.
Geremie cites his personal career highlights as being the premiere of The Gate of Heavenly Peace at the New York Film Festival in 1995; foreign publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, Life, and Cosmopolitan‘s China edition, premiere of Morning Sun at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2003; being awarded the Joseph Levenson Prize for Modern China, 2004; working with the New York photographer Lois Conner on the Garden of Perfect Brightness (Yuanming Yuan) in Beijing (1998-2003); and working on the sacred geography of China with the photographer Lois Conner and the Sinologist and translator John Minford.
CHEN Guanzhong
Journalist, Film Producer and Author
Chen was born in Shanghai and raised and educated in Hong Kong. He received a Bachelor of Social Science degree at the University of Hong Kong.
He has published more than a dozen Chinese books in Greater China. His latest novel, “The Fat Years”, will soon be in English and other major languages.
Chen was a reporter at an English newspaper in Hong Kong before he started the monthly magazine “City” in 1976, where he was the chief editor for several years and its publisher for 23 years until the magazine was sold.
He started screenwriting in 1981 and went on to be a producer of more than 10 Hong Kong movies and 3 US movies.
Chen was involved in the investment and management of many media-entertainment businesses in the region, including newspapers, magazines, television, internet media, music and book publishing in Greater China.
He was one of the founders of the Hong Kong environmental group Green Power. He is now a board member of Greenpeace International.
He now lives in Beijing.
Antony DAPIRAN
Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Hong Kong
Antony Dapiran is a leading international lawyer, and has lived and worked in Greater China for over 14 years. He spent 11 years with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, becoming managing partner of the firm’s Beijing office. In November 2010 he joined premier global law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in Hong Kong as a founding partner of their Hong Kong practice.
Antony advises on corporate transactions, specialising in securities offerings, private equity and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He has advised on the largest and most complex initial public offerings (IPOs) in the China market, on transactions raising in aggregate more than US$58bn, including most recently the IPO of Agricultural Bank of China, China’s largest IPO to date. He is also counsel to Fortune China 100 companies advising them on regulatory, compliance and general corporate matters.
Antony is admitted as a legal practitioner in Hong Kong, England and Wales, New South Wales and the High Court of Australia.
Antony was named one of the “Advance Asia 50” Australian leaders in Asia, and has been recognised by The American Lawyer as one of the “New China Hands”. He is a frequent commentator on Chinese business and legal matters, and his views have been quoted in media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Week, Sydney Morning Herald and South China Morning Post.
Antony was educated at The University of Melbourne and Peking University, and is fluent in Mandarin.
John GARNAUT
SMH China Correspondent
John Garnaut is The Age and Sydney Morning Herald's China correspondent.
John graduated in law and arts from Monash University and worked for three years as a commercial lawyer at Melbourne firm Hall & Wilcox before joining the Herald as a cadet in 2002.
In 2002 John was appointed the Herald's Economics Correspondent in the Canberra press gallery and in 2007 was posted to Beijing as the Asia Economics Correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
Sam GEALL
Deputy Editor of Chinadialogue.net
Sam Geall is Deputy Editor of chinadialogue.net, a bilingual journal for analysis and discussion on all environmental issues, with a special focus on China. He has a BA in Chinese Studies from Leeds University and an MA in Anthropological Research from Manchester University, where he is also a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology.
Sam’s research focuses on Chinese environmental Journalists and he is currently a visiting researcher at Peking University.Sam previous studied at Harvard University on a one-year scholarship from the Kennedy Memorial Trust. He was also a recipient of a British Association of Chinese Studies scholarship and is currently on a scholarship from the British Inter-university China Centre.
His writing on the environment and Chinese affairs has appeared in a number of international publications including Foreign Policy, Far Eastern Economic Review, New Internationalist, Green Futures and The Guardian. He is author of a forthcoming publication from International Media Support, Climate-change Journalism in China: Opportunities for International Cooperation.
Jeremy GOLDKORN
Founder and Editor of Danwei.org
Jeremy Goldkorn founded the popular China media website Danwei.org, and acts as editor and publisher. The site has tracked the changes in China’s media and internet on a daily basis since 2003 and also produces video interviews with people in culture and the media in China.
According to The London Review of Books, “Danwei gives a range of sources, news and opinions on China that no mainstream news organisation can match”, while Public Affairs magazine called Goldkorn “one of China’s most prolific and powerful social media commentators.”
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, he has lived in Beijing since 1995. He has lived in a workers dormitory, ridden a bicycle across Xinjiang and Tibet, and spent the last decade working in the Chinese media, advertising and Internet industries.
Goldkorn produced the documentary film African Boots of Beijing. His writing has appeared in many Chinese and foreign publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, Life (生活), and Cosmopolitan‘s China edition (时尚 杂志), covering a range of subjects from media regulation, Internet business, freedom of expression, the habits of young Chinese Internet users, Sino-African affairs, the Great Wall and Chinese consumer culture.
Philippa JONES
Managing Director of China Policy
Philippa Jones is managing director of a policy research and consulting group in Beijing, China Policy. From 2004-09 Philippa led the agriculture, quarantine, quality and standards programs of the EU-China Trade Project, the EU’s largest trade-related technical assistance program worldwide. Responsible for standards issues across all sectors, Philippa’s own focus was on risk and safety.
Prior to joining the EUCTP Philippa was with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, serving as the trade policy specialist in Australia’s Embassy in Beijing from 1999-2003.
Professor David KELLY
Professor of China Studies at the China Research Centre, University of Technology, Sydney
He studied social sciences and Chinese studies in the University of Sydney, graduating with a PhD in 1982. He subsequently held teaching and research positions in the Contemporary China Centre, ANU, the Australian Defence Force Academy, and the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.
A resident of Beijing in recent years, Professor Kelly’s work ranges widely across Chinese politics: intellectual history, especially of Chinese Marxism and liberalism; political sociology, mainly of intellectuals, urban homeowners and migrant workers; and public policy, focusing on the dilemmas of governance under turbulent current conditions.
Professor Kelly’s publications include:
- India and China: The Lessons of Globalisation, Singapore and New York: World Scientific Publishing Co., 2007 (ed. with Ramkishen Rajan).
- ‘The Rise of Social Justice,’ Contemporary Chinese Thought, vol. 37, no 4 (Fall 2006), guest editor and translator.
- ‘The Mystery of the Chinese Economy: Selected Writings of Qin Hui,’ The Chinese Economy, vol. 38, nos. 4, 5 and 6 (September, October and November 2005); guest editor and translator of three special issues.
- Asian Freedoms: Journeys of an Idea in the Cultural Contexts of East and Southeast Asia, Cambridge University Press, 1998 (ed. with Anthony Reid).
- Chinese Marxism in the Post-Mao Era, Stanford University Press, 1990 (with Bill Brugger).
- ‘Realistic Responses and Strategic Options: An Alternative CCP Ideology and its Critics,’ Chinese Law and Government, 29(2), Spring-Summer 1996, pp. 1-96; guest editor and translator.
LU Jianzhong
Senior Executive, BHP Billiton, Beijing
Dr. Lu is a BHP Billiton senior executive currently based in Shanghai and regularly travels between Shanghai, Beijing and Australia for work. He has led a highly diverse and colourful life, with many notable career accomplishments. As an undergraduate student, Dr. Lu studied Chemical Engineering at Zhejiang University in China, which eventually led him to complete his Masters in Industrial Management and Innovation at the Grande Ecole Centrale de Paris in France. He went on to complete his PhD degree in Electronic Commerce at the University of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.
Upon graduation, he worked for the United Nations as China’s UN Trade Efficiency Program Country Manager. He worked closely with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Cooperation and went on to become an Expert Diplomat for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development but later decided that his expertise was more suitable for the private sector. In 2000, he began his career with the now BHP Billiton group and moved to Australia, where he oversaw the successful merger between BHP Limited and Billiton Plc in 2001. His positions within BHP Billiton have included Country Manager of Technology in China, where he oversaw R&D Strategy, Development, Collaborations with CAS and mining industries in mainland China. He has also managed Business Development within Uranium resources and other joint venture establishments in China. He is currently the Vice President of Corporate Affairs and oversees strategic relations and development collaborations with the Chinese government, media and other community stakeholders.
MA Jun
Director / Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs
Professor Ma began his environmental research and writing in the mid-1990s, when he worked for South China Morning Post. In late 1999 his book China’s water crisis was published by China Environmental Science Press. Based on the assessment and analysis of water challenges in all seven major water basins in China, the book concluded that the country needs a new water management strategy or it would face a water crisis.
Professor Ma worked as an environmental consultant and then a Yale World Fellow from 2002 to 2005. He currently directs IPE (Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs), which developed the China Water Pollution Map (www. ipe.org.cn), a public interface that displays thousands of government sourced pollution data and violation records nationwide. Professor Ma was named a 2006 Green China Man of the Year for his work. He also manages the China Air Pollution Map (air.ipe.org.cn), which was launched in December 2007.
David OLLSON
Partner, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Beijing Chairman, Austcham, Beijing
David is an international lawyer in Mallesons’ Beijing office and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce, Beijing (AustCham, Beijing).
David has lived in Beijing for nearly 3 years and has been practicing as a lawyer in the region of over 20 years. After graduating from the Australian National University, David’s career commenced in Canberra and has subsequently taken him to London, Hong Kong and the Middle East, as well as Sydney and Melbourne.
He now heads Mallesons’ banking and finance practice in China where he advises Australian and international banks and financial institutions on their China market entry strategies, as well as financial product development and regulation. He acts frequently for Chinese banks involved in the financing of a number of landmark Chinese investments into Australia and is also recognised as a specialist in the China derivatives and bond markets.
With AustCham, David has played an active role in setting up and leading the Financial Services Working Group and, as newly elected Chairman of the Board, is leading several initiatives in China to promote greater discussion and debate around the business relationship between Australia and China. He is also focused on developing a single AustCham voice for Australian business throughout Greater China.
Laurie PEARCEY
Chief Executive Officer and Company Secretary, Australia-China Business Council
Laurie Pearcey is a fluent Mandarin speaker and a Visiting Fellow in Pacific and Asian History at the Australian National University. Laurie was appointed as a Scholar of the Order of Australia Association Foundation by the Governor-General for community leadership and excellence in Chinese Studies.
As Chief Executive Officer of the Australia China Business Council, Laurie is responsible for working with the Chairman and the Board of Directors on research, policy and corporate governance as well as managing key relationships with the Australian Government and Chinese consular corps and coordinating the Council’s national engagement with corporate Australia.
Laurie is a Director of the McKell Institute, which is a recently formed progressive public policy think tank designed to develop practical policy proposals to build a fairer and more prosperous society. Laurie is also a Member of the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism’s Approved Destination Scheme Industry Advisory Panel and the Advisory Board of the Australia-China Youth Association.
Laurie has organised several trade and investment delegations to a variety of jurisdictions in mainland China. Laurie has worked on major bilateral visits between Australia and China including the recent Australia China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forums coinciding with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping’s respective visits to Beijing and Canberra.
Richard RIGBY
Executive Director of the China Institute, the Australian National University (ANU)
Professor Richard Rigby graduated in History at the The Australian National University in 1970 and went on to do his PhD - subsequently reworked and published by the ANU Press as The May 30th Movement - under Professor Wang Gungwu in the then Department of Far Eastern History (now the School of Culture, History & Language).
Richard joined Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs in 1975, where he worked until the end of 2001: postings included Tokyo, Beijing (twice), Shanghai (Consul-General 1994-1998), London, and Israel (Ambassador, 2000-2001). He then joined the Office of National Assessments as Assistant Director-General, responsible for North and South Asia, where he worked until taking up his current position with the ANU China Institute in April 2008.
While engaged in government work, Richard continued to pursue his academic interests with a series of translations, book reviews and articles on China-related topics. His personal interests in Chinese studies are primarily literary and historical, but his profession has ensured a thorough immersion in all aspects of contemporary China and other major Asian cultures.
John RUSSELL
Executive Vice President, Weber Shandwick/Powell Tate - Beijing
John Russell is responsible for our corporate communications and public affairs practices in the Asia Pacific region. He has extensive experience gained in Europe and the Asia Pacific. He spent 10 years as the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union before moving to Weber Shandwick/Powell Tate in 1999 to head up our Brussels office.
Since moving to Asia in 2005, John has advised a wide range of corporate, NGO and government clients facing a myriad of issues and stakeholders. He has counselled the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of a G8 Summit in 2008, worked with drinks group InBev on its corporate citizenship strategy for China and assisted Daimler and Mars on developing robust communications structures, issues and crisis management processes in Asia.
Other clients John has advised include MasterCard, Microsoft, BT, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), Air Products, Cerberus and environmental organisation WWF.
Edward SMITH
Managing Director, Beijing Consulting Group and Founder, Australia China Alumni Association
Edward is a highly experienced China business advisor who has lived and worked in China since 1990.
Edward’s career has spanned working as a computer programmer and systems analyst at National Australia Bank in Melbourne, working for the Immigration Department at the Australian Embassy in Beijing, and working with Austrade where he helped set up the Australian Consulate General in Guangzhou.
He has also worked at Fortune 500 Japanese trading house, Kanematsu, in Melbourne and at a US consulting firm in Beijing which specialises in assisting Western companies to invest and establish operations in China. Edward has assisted numerous Fortune 500 companies to set up or expand their operations in China has undertaken major projects in sectors including aerospace, specialty inks, printing and packaging, ICT, construction, entertainment, etc.
Edward co-founded the Beijing Consulting Group in 2000 with two partners. Since then, BCG has grown rapidly to become a leading Australia-China consulting firm with several offices across China. BCG operates nationally across China and has assisted numerous Western firms to establish businesses in China. BCG has also undertaken a number of projects for various Australian government departments.
Edward served as Deputy-Chair of AustCham Beijing from November 2002 to March 2007 and has previously served as Chair of the AustCham Education and Training Working Group as well as being an active member of the AustCham Government Relations and External Relations Committees.
Laurie SMITH
Regional Director, Austrade, Shanghai
Mr. Smith has over 20 years experience dealing with Asia in corporate, advisory and government roles and has been based in Guangzhou, Beijing, Taipei and now Shanghai for a total of 15 years.
He currently leads Austrade’s network of offices across Korea, Japan and Greater China which includes 185 staff in 23 offices (including 13 offices in China). Austrade is the Australian Government’s export and international business promotion and facilitation agency.
Between 1994 and 2002, Mr. Smith worked with News Corporation and its affiliates in a number of capacities and from 1998-2001 was News Corp’s chief representative in China responsible for the company’s portfolio investments, joint ventures and wholly owned operations in television, internet and related technologies in China. During this period he also served on the board of Netease, a major NASDAQ-listed internet technology company and other News Corp affiliates.
Mr. Smith started his career working for the Australian Government in policy roles in the former Department of Trade and later the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade dealing principally with economic and political relations with greater China.
Before joining News Corporation, Laurie worked in a Sydney-based consultancy practice assisting numerous companies - micro, small, medium and large - with Asian market entry strategies.
Mr. Smith is one of Australia’s leading Chinese linguists and acted as official interpreter for successive Australian Prime Ministers in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Jaede TAN
Managing Director of China Study Abroad
Jaede is the Managing Director of China Study Abroad, an education consultancy specialising in raising awareness of the importance of China and the Chinese language around the world and assisting students from across the globe to study in China.
Prior to joining CSA, Jaede worked at a Beijing-based venture capital and Asian investment platform, Mediaplus Capital, dealing in asset-raising, organic sales and marketing for a range of locally based Chinese businesses ranging from retail, food and beverage, to renewable energy. Before joining Mediaplus Capital, Jaede was a relationship manager for institutional clients at Atlas Capital, based in London. Jaede also co-founded MCS, a boutique hedge fund recruitment specialist. Jaede has a BSc in Economics and Economic History from the University of Bristol.
Having grown up in the UK, Jaede first visited China in 2001 and has been returning to regularly ever since before relocating permanently in 2008. Jaede is fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese.
YUAN Jingdong
Associate Professor at the Centre for International Security Studies (CISS) at the University of Sydney
Dr. Jingdong Yuan is Associate Professor at the Centre for International Security Studies (CISS) at The University of Sydney. Prof Yuan specialises in Asia-Pacific security, Chinese defence and foreign policy, and global and regional arms control and non-proliferation issues.
A graduate of the Xi’an Foreign Language University, People’s Republic of China (1982), he received his Ph.D. in political science from Queen’s University in 1995 and has had research and teaching appointments at Queen’s University, York University, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, where he was a recipient of the prestigious Iaazk Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
He is the co-author of China and India: Cooperation or Conflict? (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003) and his publications have appeared in Asian Survey, Contemporary Security Studies, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Hindu, Japan Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Nonproliferation Review, South China Morning Post and the Washington Quarterly. He is currently working on a book manuscript on post-Cold War Chinese security policy.
Prior to joining CISS, Dr. Yuan served as Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program, and was Associate Professor of International Policy Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, a graduate school of Middlebury College. In July-August 2009, he was a visiting senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.