The Governance of China

January 15 2016

The New York Review of Books Foundation, the University of Hong Kong and the Fritt Ord Foundation invite the public to an international conference on China that will take place on Friday and Saturday, 15-16 January 2016 at the University of Hong Kong.

The conference entitled The Governance of China will explore the questions ‘The State and Civil Society: Partnership or Containment?’, ‘The Internet and Social Media: Disputed Territory?’ and ‘Capitalism with a Chinese Face?’. Other topics for discussion include ‘The State at the Centre’, ‘Legal and Constitutional Reform’, ‘China and the World’ and ‘China and the Future of Hong Kong’.

Read more about the conference on the University of Hong Kong’s website.

Program |

Welcoming Remarks and Opening

  • Professor Peter Matheison – Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Hong Kong
  • Georg Fredrik Rieber-Mohn – Chair of the Board of Trustees, Fritt Ord
  • Robert Silvers – Editor of the New York Review of Books
Panel I – The State at the Center
  • Chair: Robert Silvers
  • Professor Andrew Nathan – Columbia University
  • Professor Pan Wei – Peking University
  • Professor Wang Hui – Tsinghua University

Panel II – The State and Civil Society: Partnership or Containment?
  • Chair: Professor Kellee Tsai – University of Hong Kong
  • Professor John P Burns – University of Hong Kong
  • Dr Willy Wo-Lap Lam – The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Jamestown Foundation, Washington, DC
  • Professor Liu Yu – Tsinghua University

Panel III – Legal and Constitutional Reform
  • Professor Jerome Cohen – New York University, School of Law (via Skype)
  • Professor Fu Hualing – University of Hong Kong
  • Professor He Weifang – Peking University
  • Professor Wang Zhenmin – Tsinghua University

Panel IV – The Internet and Social Media: Disputed Territory?
  • Professor Yuen-ying Chan – University of Hong Kong
  • Professor Hu Yong – Peking University
  • Professor Perry Link – University of California, Riverside

Day 2 – Saturday January 16

Panel V – Capitalism with a Chinese face?

  • Chair: Professor Melanie Manion – University of Hong Kong and Duke University
  • Professor Pun Ngai – Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • Professor Xiao Geng – University of Hong Kong
Panel VI – China and the World
  • Professor Richard Hu – University of Hong Kong
  • Professor Li Zhaojie – Tsinghua University Mr Orville Schell – The Asia Society, New York
Panel VII – China and the Future of Hong Kong
  • Professor Joseph Chan, University of Hong Kong
  • Professor Sonny Lo – The Hong Kong Institute of Education
  • Dr Yan Xiaojun – The University of Hong Kong

Time: 15.-16. januar 2016
Place: Hall 2, Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre, Centennial Campus, HKU, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong

News

Civitates' Tech & Democracy open call

March 6 2025

Civitates – The European Democracy Fund is a pooled philanthropic fund that was set up in 2018 for the sole purpose of addressing democratic decline and closing civic space in Europe. The case for confronting these threats is growing increasingly urgent. Fritt Ord Foundation is one of the initiators and partners of Civitates.

Civitates has launched its Tech and Democracy open call to support organisations working to ensure safer, more inclusive online spaces (social media platforms, search engines etc.) by improving the enforcement of EU tech regulations at the national level.

This open call offers a unique opportunity to strengthen civil society’s role in holding the tech sector accountable, with a focus on key EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act, GDPR, AI Act or the European Media Freedom Act to name a few.

Call for nominations: Free Media Awards 2025

March 3 2025

In collaboration with the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS of Hamburg, the Fritt Ord Foundation has allocated the Free Media Awards annually since 2004 to Eastern European journalists and media that defy every obstacle to tirelessly ensure independent press coverage. Russia’s war against Ukraine and the subsequent wave of disinformation clearly demonstrates the need for independent reporting in the region. Journalists and media in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Hungary that promote freedom of the press through their investigative and independent reporting are eligible to be nominated for the Free Media Awards.

Art and Institutions: “I Demand a Museum to Feel its Own Floors Tremble When Other Museums are Destroyed in War”

February 12 2025

Saturday 22 February 2025 at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, from 14.30 to 16.30 h.

Conversation with Adam Budak (Poland/Germany), Stefanie Carp (Germany), Matej Drlička (Slovakia), Andrea Geyer (USA) og Sarah Lookofsky (USA/Norway). Ingerid Salvesen is moderator.

Across the world, cultural institutions are under increasing pressure. Censorship, self-censorship, drastic funding cuts, and political and sponsorship interference are on the rise. Former and present institutional directors – with personal experiences of political pressure, cancellation and censorship from different geographic contexts – will discuss the limitations and capacities of art institutions in the present.

Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute to Sara Gaulin

February 5 2025

Sarah Gaulin (30) is being awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute for her courageous and principled defence of freedom of expression in the face of extremism, gang crime and negative social control.
As a prominent voice, Gaulin has drawn attention to some of the most demanding and controversial social challenges of our time.