"Apart from their other characteristics, the outstanding thing about China’s 600 million people is that they are “poor and blank.” This may seem a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action and the desire for revolution. On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted."

- Mao Zedong (1958) - on introducing cooperatives

"I have an intense personal interest in making the use of American capital in the development of China an instrument for the promotion of the welfare of China, and an increase in her material prosperity without entanglements or creating embarrassment affecting the growth of her independent political power, and the preservation of her territorial integrity."

- Pres. William Taft (1909) - telegram to Prince Chun, Regent of the Chinese Empire
 

July 15, 2008: Notification date for CST Scholarship finalists
July 15, 2008: Deadline for entering Biosketch information
August 1, 2008: Deadline to get visa application to Travel Agent
August 16, 2008: First Pre-departure class (10:00am-5:00pm)
August 23, 2008: Second Pre-departure class (10:00am-5:00pm)
August 30, 2008: Third Pre-departure class (8:00am-12:00pm)
September 3, 2008: Final Pre-departure class (6:00pm-8:00pm)

Interesting Links

- Beijing's New Architecture (NYTimes; 7/12/2008; We are near T'men Square)
- Special Section on China, McKinsey Quarterly (requires free registration)