Oral Histories
Interview of Thomas G. Rawski
Professor Emeritus of Economics and History, University of Pittsburgh, whose areas of research include the development and modern history of China's economy, development economics, and economics of transition.
- Series:
- Chinese Studies Scholars Oral History Project
- Topic:
- Chinese StudiesArea Studies
- Biographical Note:
- Professor Emeritus of Economics and History, University of Pittsburgh, whose areas of research include the development and modern history of China's economy, development economics, and economics of transition.
- Interviewee:
- Rawski, Thomas G.
- Persons Present:
- Thomas G. Rawski, Xiuying Zou, Zhiqiang Ji, and Haixia Wang
- Place Conducted:
- The interview was conducted using the Zoom video conferencing platform.
- Supporting Documents:
- Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.
- Interviewer Background and Preparation:
- Xiuying Zou, head, Asian Library, the Claremont Colleges Library; Zhiqiang Ji, Ph.D. in political science, Claremont Graduate University; and Haixia Wang, Ph.D. in language, literacy and culture and senior lecturer, Carnegie Mellon University. The interviewers prepared for the interview by reading Thomas G. Rawski’s CV and publications, and by looking at one earlier interview done at the XVIIth World Economic History Congress in Kyoto, Japan in August of 2015 by Prof. Ronald A. Edwards of ChineseEconomicHistory.com.
- Processing of Interview:
- The transcript is a verbatim transcription of the recording as transcribed by the Zoom platform and audit edited by the interviewers. The interviewee was given an opportunity to review the transcript and made a number of corrections and additions. The transcript may thus differ slightly from the audio recording because of the changes the interviewee made at the time of their review. Those changes are marked by brackets.
- Length:
- 10 hrs.
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- Interviewee Retained Copyright
- Series Statement:
- The past sixty years have been an important period in the development of Chinese studies in the U.S and Canada. Those years have seen increased funding from Title VI and other sources, the evolution of new fields and areas of specialization, and the systematization and professionalization of scholarly training. They have also seen momentous changes in China’s status in the world and in the relationship between China and the U.S.—changes that, in turn, have had major consequences for the scope, status, and impact of the field of Chinese studies.Although these have been highly consequential years for Chinese studies, the details of these developments are often preserved only in the participants’ memories, and there has been no systematic effort to record those memories. The Chinese Studies Scholars Oral History Project is a collaboration among Chinese/East Asian studies librarians and scholars in the U.S. and Canada, the UCLA Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library, and the UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research. Through in-depth, multi-session oral histories, it documents the development of the field of Chinese studies, the academic careers of its prominent practitioners, and the social, political, and economic context of which it was a part. Some interviews in the series are not available online at this time, among those the interviews with the following: Evelyn Rawski, Thomas Rawski.