The 2015 American Mandarin Society Fellows Program

June 6-13, 2015

The American Mandarin Society is accepting applications for the 2015 AMS Fellows Program. This annual professional development program is designed to give American professionals a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the Chinese policy environment and an opportunity to learn from Chinese policy educators not typically accessible through the Fellows' normal courses of work.

The program, conducted entirely in Chinese, is built around a one-week trip to Beijing and Shanghai to learn from experts and professors from Party schools and one of China's leading universities. AMS Fellows will engage with analysts who train rising Chinese leaders in order to develop an in-depth understanding of China's policy processes, goals, challenges, and perspectives, while honing their Chinese-language skills.

Program Structure

The program (including travel time) takes place over the course of eight days, Saturday, June 6 through Saturday, June 13:

• June 8-12 at the China Executive Leadership Academy of Pudong, the Shanghai-based Party leadership training center. This is a combination of lectures and site visits, all in Chinese, focusing on legal reforms, domestic governance issues, the evolving relationship between the government and the market, and Party structure and organization.
• June 13 in Beijing at Peking University for lectures by professors from the Central Party School and Peking University. Lectures focus on ideology and China's overall development path.

This Fellows Program is funded by the Ford Foundation and is supported locally in China by the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Foundation and Peking University. All costs (including airfare) are covered except for visas.

Eligibility

• Fellows should be registered members of AMS (registration at www.mandarinsociety.us) ideally between the ages of 30 and 45.
• Fellows should have demonstrated professional proficiency in Chinese.  
• Fellows should ideally be professionally engaged with Chinese policy issues.
• Fellows should obtain employer approval before applying.
• During the program, each Fellow will write up notes from one lecture and distribute them to other participants
• After the program, each fellow will write a brief (2-3 pages) memo highlighting what he/she learned from the program about one or more aspects of Chinese policy, for distribution to AMS members. (Fellows may request that their names and affiliations be withheld when the memo is circulated to the broad AMS membership.)

Application Process

Applications are due on March 30, 2015. Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV to [email protected] . The cover letter should clearly explain your interest in this program how you see it fitting into your professional development. Please also include the name and contact information for one professional reference. Selected applicants will be contacted for a Skype interview before final selection is made. 10 participants will be chosen.

See what our 2014 AMS Fellows had to say:

Robert Daly, Director, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, The Wilson Center: "No other intensive program allows Americans to discuss governance of the PRC with Chinese leaders, in Mandarin, together with fellow Mandarin-speaking American professionals. The format deepens contacts between Chinese and American young leaders and among qualified Americans fortunate enough to participate."

Jimmy Goodrich, Director of Global Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council: "The program was a unique opportunity to better understand how China's own academic elite understand the challenges their country faces, and relevant strategies for political, social, and economic development."

Jesse Heatley, Director, Albright Stonebridge Group: "The program provided an excellent opportunity to hear from leading Chinese policy experts on recent developments.  It was an invaluable chance for American and Chinese policy watchers to exchange information and perspectives-in Chinese."  

Susan Lawrence, Specialist in Asian Affairs, Legislative Branch, U.S. Government: "The AMS program was a valuable opportunity to learn from authoritative Chinese experts about China's challenges and the Party's reform agenda. The fact that the entire program was conducted in Chinese made discussions particularly rich and nuanced. An added bonus was the relationships I built with my impressive cohort of fellow American participants."

LtCol Brendan S. Mulvaney,Associate Chair Languages and Cultures Department, Assistant Professor of Chinese: "This program provided unique exposure into how the Party trains its leaders, and consequently insights into how it 'thinks'.  It also brought together an impressive group of practitioners and gave us an opportunity to advance our language skills while applying them toward real world issue areas. A highly valuable experience."

Lauren Reed, Senior Analyst in Government Affairs at Qualcomm, Inc.: "The program opened up access to officials that most China scholars today could only dream of. The experience offered rare insight into the role of the party in China's governance and development-all in Chinese-which, taken together, created an authentic policy and language-learning environment."

Ryan Rutkowski, Research Analyst, Peterson Institute for International Economics [former]"The Chinese Communist Party leads the most populous nation in the world but to outsiders it is often shrouded by secrecy. This AMS program was an exceptional opportunity to understand the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party and interact with China's future leadership."

Samm Sacks, Analyst, Eurasia Group: "The program was a unique opportunity to dialogue (in Chinese) with thinkers shaping the policy debate in China today. I also came back with a new network of US-based China policy specialists."