Discussant, Spring Meeting, California Regional Seminar, University of California, Berkeley, 1974.

Participant, series of workshops on Southwest China in History, funded by Social Science Research Council and American Council of Learned Societies, held in Seattle, Washington, January and Summer 1975. Paper presented: "The Creation of a Regional Economy in Southwest China."

Participant, Advanced Training Seminar on Subnational Politics and Development in the PRC, funded by the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, held at Columbia University, 1975 1976.

"The Process of Administrative Integration in China, 1949 1954." Paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, February 1976.

Participant, Scholar Diplomat Seminar on East Asia, U.S. Department of State, December 1976.

Discussant, panel on "Models of Analysis of Leadership and Policy," Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, New York, March 1977.

Workshop for Regional Coeditors on A Provincial Handbook on Communist China, funded by the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, Columbia University, April 1977.

Participant, workshop on "The Pursuit of Political Interest in the
People's Republic," funded by the Joint Committee on Contemporary
China of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, Ann Arbor, August 1977. Paper presented: "The Twilight of Rural Merchants' Resources and Power in the Early People's Republic."

Chairperson and Organizer, panel at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, March 1978 (Panel: "Continuing Problems in Combating Capitalist Tendencies in Commerce in the PRC"). Paper presented: "Structural Factors Conducing Toward 'Capitalist' Behavior Patterns in Rural Trade, 1949 1952: An Interaction Between Socialist Goals and 'Capitalist' Tendencies."

Discussant, Workshop on Rebellion and Revolution in North China, funded by the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, Harvard University, July August 1979.

"The 'Socialist Transformation' of the Small Merchant by Economic Regulation, 1954 1980." Paper presented to the Midwest Regional China Seminar, Chicago, September 1980.

Chairperson and Organizer, panel at the Mid Atlantic Region of the Association for Asian Studies, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey,

October 1980 (Panel: "Economic Reform in the PRC"). Paper presented: "Economic Reform Via Reformulation."

Panel on "Politics and Leadership in China's Frontier Regions," at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Toronto, March 1981. Paper presented: "Politics and Leadership in Yunnan Province: Leftism, Factionalism and the Border."

Discussant, Tenth Sino American Conference on Mainland China, Berkeley, California, June 1981.

Paper delivered at the Regional Seminar, Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley, February 1982, "The Fifth National People's Congress and the Process of Policymaking: Reform Versus Readjustment."

Chairperson and Organizer, Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, April 1982. Panel on "Political and Economic Struggles in China: Two Lines or Three?"; Paper entitled "Free Markets and the Three Line Struggle."

Paper at the Eleventh Sino American Conference on Mainland China, Taipei, Taiwan, June 1982, "The Fifth National People's Congress and the Process of Policymaking: Reform, Readjustment, and the Opposition."

Discussant, Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Mid Atlantic Region of the Association for Asian Studies, held at the University of
Pittsburgh, October 1982. Panel: "Riot and Commerce in the British Empire."

Participant, workshop on "Policy Implementation in Post Mao China," funded by the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, held at the Ohio State University, June 1983. Paper presented: "The 1980 Inflation and the Politics of Price Control in the PRC."

Discussant, Twelfth Annual Sino American Conference on Mainland China, Airlie House, Warrenton, Virginia, June 1983. Panel: "Mainland China and the Bloc: Comparative Economic Systems."

Paper delivered at Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Washington, D.C., March 1984. Panel on "The Political Economy of Reform in China"; paper entitled, "Commercial Reform and State Control: Structural Changes in Trade, 1981 1983."

Participant, workshop on "To Reform the Chinese Political Order," funded by the Joint Committee on Chinese Studies of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, Harwichport, Massachusetts, June 1984. Paper presented: "Reform of the Structure of the Economic System: A Spatial Interpretation."

Participant, workshop on Chinese Economic Bureaucracy, held at and funded by The East West Center, the University of Hawaii Manoa, July 1984. Paper presented, co authored with Barry Naughton, "Hubei and Wuhan: Shifting Strategies for Economic Development."

Paper at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., August 1984. Panel: "Public Policy in China: The Effects of Decentralization and Privatization in the Post Mao Era"; paper entitled "China's New Economic Policies and the Local Political Process: The Case of Wuhan."

Talk at workshop on "Social Implications of China's Economic Reforms," held at John King Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University, May 11, 1985; presented overview on "Economic Reforms."

Discussant, Fourteenth Annual Sino American Conference on Mainland China, Columbus, Ohio, June 1985. Panel: "Economic Reform."

Paper delivered at the 32nd North American Meeting of the Regional Science Association, Philadelphia, November 1985. Paper entitled, "Uncertain Paternalism: Tensions in Recent Regional Restructuring in China."

Talk delivered at Conference on International Strategic Affairs, "China in Transition," hosted by the Journal of International Affairs and the

Barnard College Columbia University Center for World Affairs, at panel entitled, "Reconciling the Irreconcilable: Can Free Market Innovations Succeed in a State Controlled Economy?" February 14, 1986.

Paper delivered at "Conference on Market Reforms in China and Eastern Europe," sponsored by the Modernization of China Project of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Casa de Maria Conference Retreat, Santa Barbara, CA, May 1986. Paper entitled, "'Economic Readjustment' and Informal Coping Mechanisms, 1979 1982."

Center for Chinese Studies, U.C. Berkeley Fall Regional Seminar, presented paper entitled, "Economic Readjustment and Informal Coping Mechanisms, 1979 1982," October 25, 1986.

Organized meeting and presented paper, "The Politics of Redistribution and the Chinese Industrial Readjustment, 1979 1982," at day long Seminar: "The Other Three Modernizations: Industry, Defense, Science & Technology." Sponsored by the USC/UCLA Joint Center in E. Asian Studies and The Center for Chinese Studies, UCLA, May 16, 1987.

Discussant, Conference on Parallels and Dissimilarities in Asian Communist Societies China, North Korea, Vietnam. Cosponsored by
the Institute of East Asian Studies, U.C. Berkeley, and the Korean Association for Communist Studies, Bodega Bay, CA, July 6 9, 1987.

"City, Province, and Region: The Case of Wuhan." Paper presented at panel on "The Politics of Regional Reform," at Conference on "China in a New Era: Continuity and Change," The Third International Congress of Professors World Peace Academy, Manila, The Philippines, August 24 29, 1987.

Discussant, "The Political Impact of Economic Reform in the People's Republic of China," Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, September 1987.

Participant, roundtable discussion on "Recent Developments in China," at the annual Western regional meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, October 30, 1987.

Presented paper, "Disinvestment and the Politics of Pleading" at the Annual convention of the Association for Asian Studies, San Francisco, March 1988, at panel on "Key Issues in Chinese Political Administration."

Presented paper, "Training Tomorrow's Scholars of Contemporary China: What Do They Need to Know?" for Conference on "Perspectives on the American Study of Contemporary China," sponsored by the Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Aspen Institute, July 1988.

Seminar on China Economic Report, World Bank, October 21, 1988. Invited contributor.

Seminar on Regional Structural Change in International Perspective, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, October 18 20, 1988. Discussant.

Discussant, Four Anniversaries China Conference, co sponsored by Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley, the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University, and the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, held at Annapolis, MD, September 10 15, 1989.

Invited to present paper on Chinese economic reform at "First International Urban Anthropology/Ethnology Conference in China," sponsored by the Wenner Gren Foundation. Held in Beijing, China, December 28, 1989 January 2, 1990. Paper presented: "Economic Reform in China: The Place of the Central City in China's Economic Reform: From Hierarchy to Network?"

Paper presented at conference on "State and Society in China: The Consequences of Reform, 1978 1990," The Keck Center for International Strategic Studies, Claremont McKenna College, February 16 and 17, 1990. Paper presented: "Urban Entrepreneurs and the State: The Merger of State and Society."

Paper presented at conference on "U.S. China Relations," convened by the Washington Institute, Crystal City, VA, October 12 14, 1990. Paper entitled, "The Future of China's Industrialization Program: Why Should the U.S. Care?"

Speaker at conference on "Comparative Japanese and American Views on the Future of China," School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, UC San Diego, November 10, 1990.

Presented paper entitled, "The Floating Population as a Form of Civil Society?" at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, New Orleans, April 11 14, 1991 for panel on "Civil Society in People's China."

Discussant for panel on "Soviet and Chinese Local Politics in Transition and Change" at Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., August 29, 1991.

"Market Reform and the Transition to Democracy From State Socialism: A Hypothesis on Sequencing." Memorandum presented to Workshop on the Politics of Economic Reform in the Former Communist Bloc States, UCLA, 17 and 18 January 1992.

Discussant, Modern China Seminar, East Asian Institute, Columbia University, for paper by Shi Tianjian, "Modes of Political Participation in Beijing," March 12, 1992.

Presented paper entitled, "The Floating Population in the Cities: Chances for Assimilation?" at conference on "City Living, City Lives: The Potential for Community and Autonomy in Post Mao
China," convened by the Asia Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., May 1 4, 1992.

National Science Foundation Conference on the Politics of Economic Reform in the Former Communist Bloc States, UCLA, Dept. of Political Science, February 26 27, 1993. Presented paper on "China's Urban Transients and the Collapse of the Communist Regime."

Discussant for panel on "The Politics of Economic Liberalization in Large, Semi Industrial Countries: India, Brazil, Mexico, and
China," 1993 American Political Science Association annual convention, Washington, D.C., September 2 5, 1993.

Discussant for panel on "Political Economies of Leninist Transitions: Macro, Meso and Micro," 1993 American Political Science Association annual convention, Washington, D.C., September 2 5, 1993.

Co-Organizer, Graduate Student Conference on the State, sponsored by State Studies Focused Research Project, UC Irvine, January 15, 1994.

Discussant, conference on "China Deconstructs: Domestic Developments and International Relations," sponsored with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London and the Asia Research Center, Murdoch University Australia Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., October 24-26, 1993.

Presented paper entitled, "The Danwei Confronts the Floating Population," Annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Boston, March 24-27, 1994.

Discussant, panel on "Commercial Activity and Social Relations in Contemporary China," Annual meeting at the Association for Asian Studies, Boston, March 24-27, 1994.

Presented paper, "The Danwei Confronts the Floating Population," workshop on "The Chinese Work Unit in Historical and Comparative Perspective," Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley, April 30, 1994.

Discussant, panel on "Markets, Economics, and Political Change in China and the Former Soviet Union," Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, New York, September 1-4, 1994.

Discussant, Workshop on "Rethinking the Chinese Revolution, II: Cultural Perspectives," for paper by Maurice Meisner, "Bureaucratic Capitalism: Reflections on the Social Results of the Chinese Communist Revolution," UCLA Center for Chinese Studies in conjunction with the Southern California China Colloquium, November 19, 1994.

Discussant, Workshop on "China After Deng," for paper by Yasheng Huang,"Central-Local Relations in China During the Reform Era: Economic and Institutional Dimensions," UCLA Center for Chinese Studies in conjunction with the Southern California China Colloquium, March 11, 1995.

Presented talk, "Neither State Nor Market: Social Dimensions of a Hybrid Liberalization," Southern California Workshop on "Economic and Political Liberalization: The Asian Experiences," University of Southern California, March 21, 1995.

Presented paper, "The Origins of the Floating Population: The Influence of the State and Regional Variation," Conference on "Rural China: Emerging Issues in Development," East Asian Institute, Columbia University, March 31-April 2, 1995.

Discussant, paper by Amartya Sen, "The Economic Costs and Benefits of Human Rights Violations," conference on "Human Rights and the Growth of East Asia," Hakone, Japan, sponsored by the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, June 24-26, 1995.

Presented Paper: "Job Categories and Employment Channels Among the 'Floating Population'," at "Workshop on the Development of Labour Resources and Economic Development in South China," Shantou University, Shantou, China, sponsored by College of Law and Business, Shantou University and Centre for Labour Studies, University of Adelaide, Australia, December 8-11, 1995.

Discussant, paper by Joseph Chan, "A Confucian Perspective on Human Rights," at "The Cultural Sources of Human Rights in East Asia," sponsored by the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, Bangkok, Thailand, March 23-28, 1996.

Presented paper co-authored with Thomas P. Bernstein, "The Peasant Question for the Future: Citizenship, Integration, and Political Institutions?" at conference, "China and World Affairs in 2010," sponsored by the Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, April 25-26, 1996.

Presented paper, "Migrant Petty Entrepreneurs and a Dual Labor Market?" at International Conference on Migration and Floating, Cologne, Germany, May 2-4, 1996.

Presented paper, "China's Floating Population: Implications for State and Society," at conference on "The Non-Economic Impact of China's Economic Reforms," Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 20-22, 1996.

Presented paper, "Human Rights Issues in China's Internal Migration: Insights from Comparisons with Germany and Japan," at Third International Workshop on "The Growth of East Asia and its Impact on Human Rights: New Issues in East Asian Human Rights, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, 2-5 October, 1996); also discussant for paper by Jorge V. Tigno, "The Evolving Rights of Migrant Workers: The Case of the Philippines and Southeast Asia."

Discussant, paper on "Shaanxi: The Search for Comparative Advantage," by Andrew Watson, conference on "China's Provinces in Reform," Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 20-24 October 1996.

Participant, one day workshop on "East Asian Perspectives on International Human Rights," Harvard Law School, December 6-7, 1996.

Co-organizer, co-fund-raiser, discussant, and panel chair, conference, "The State and Sovereignty in the World Economy," February 21-23, 1997, Laguna Beach, California.

Discussant, panel on "Commercializing Communism: The Political Economy of Evolving Markets in Rural China," Annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, IL, March 13-16, 1997.

Convener, "Rural Labor and Migration in 1990's China," University of California, Irvine, 26 April 1997, funded by School of Social
Sciences, UC Irvine; presented paper, "The Floating Population Leaves its Rural Origins."

Discussant, panel on "Demographics, Migration, and Social Mobility," conference on "Unintended Social Consequences of Chinese Economic Reform," Harvard School of Public Health and the Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies, Harvard University, May 23-24, 1997.

Chair, panel at annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Washington, D.C., on "Imagining Chinese Places: Migration, Traveling and Cultural Meanings of Mobility," Washington, D.C., March 26-29, 1998.

Presented paper, "Virtual Globalization and Outcomes for Membership: The Chinese Case," conference on "Democracy, Community and Social Justice in an Era of Globalization," Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, April 23-25, 1998.

Discussant, Workshop on Cadre Monitoring and Reward: Personnel Management and Policy Implementation in the People's Republic of China," San Diego, June 6-7, 1998, funded by the Smith-Richardson Foundation.

Presented paper, "The Potential for Urban Unrest, or Will the Fencers stay on the Piste?" Paper prepared for the conference "Is China Unstable? Assessing the Factors," convened by The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 19 June 1998, funded by the Japan Economic Foundation.

Presented paper, "Migrants and Institutional Change," at workshop on "Migration in Contemporary China," convened by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies and the Center for Pacific Rim Studies, UCLA, December 5, 1998.

Participant, Workshop on 50 years of the People's Republic of China, held to prepare the PRC 50th anniversary special commemorative issue of the The China Quarterly, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, January 28-31, 1999.

Presented paper entitled, "Migrants, Layoffs and Labor Market Formation: Data from Three Cities" at conference on "China's Reforms: A Reappraisal of 20 Years' Accomplishments and Future Prospects," convened by the Sun Yat-sen Graduate Institute of Social Science and Humanities, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, April 8-9, 1999.

Participant in workshop on "Internal Migration and its Impact on Chinese Urbanization," convened at State University of New York, Albany, May 1, 1999.

Participant in workshop on Instability in China, for U.S. government, Arlington, Virginia, May 24, 1999.

Participant, "Was the Chinese Revolution Necessary?" Institut fur Asienkunde, Hamburg, Germany, September 22-25, 1999.

"Sudden Sackings and the Mirage of the Market: Unemployment, Reemployment, and Survival in Wuhan, Summer 1999," conference on "Wealth and Labor in China: Cross-Cutting Approaches of Present Developments," Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales," Paris, December 6-7, 1999.

Talk, Seminar on Chinese Government and the Fa Lun Gong (martial arts group), U.S. State Department, January 7, 2000.

Discussant, paper by Deborah S. Davis, "When a House Becomes A Home," Modern China Seminar, East Asian Institute, Columbia University, February 10, 2000.

"Sudden Sackings and the Mirage of the Market" (revised and updated version of the previous paper), Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, San Diego, March 9-12, 2000.

"Human Rights and Economic Reform in China," Conference on "Asian Human Rights: Critical Issues," Center for Asian Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, April 7 & 8, 2000.

"Policy Consistency in the Midst of Crisis: Managing the Furloughed and the Farmers in Three Cities," Workshop on National Integration and Regional Diversity in China, La Jolla, California June 14-15, 2000.

"Economic Informalization by Fiat: China's New Growth Strategy as Solution or Crisis?" at conference on "On the Roots of Growth and Crisis: Capitalism, State and Society in East Asia," Cortona, Italy, March 1-3, 2001.

Discussant, panel entitled, "Conflict and Cooperation Across State-Society Frontiers in Contemporary China," Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, March 23-25, 2001.

"The End of One-Party Dominance? Korea, Taiwan, and Mexico," Conference on "The Transition From One-Party Rule: Taiwan's New Government and Cross-Straits Relations," Co-Sponsored by National Taiwan University and East Asian Institute, Columbia University, April 6-7, 2001.

Keynote speaker, The Annual One-Day Conference of The British Association for Chinese Studies, "The Crowd in China", University of Warwick, September 14, 2001. Presented paper entitled, "The New Crowd of the Dispossessed: Factory Layoffs and the Informalization of the Urban Economy."

Keynote speaker, "Social Exclusion and Marginality in Chinese Societies," Hong Kong, 16-17 November 2001, jointly sponsored by the Centre for Social Policy Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Centre for Social Policy Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Presented paper entitled, "From Master to Marginal in Post-Socialist China: The Once-Proletariat as New Excluded Entrepreneur."

"WTO and China's Workers," one day symposium on China and the WTO, held at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., December 12, 2001.

"Jobs and Joining: What's the Effect of WTO for China's Urban Employment?" Presented at the Conference, "The Political and Economic Reforms of Mainland China in a Changing Global Society," sponsored by the College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, April 25-27, 2002.

Discussant, "Cities in China: The Next Generation of Urban Research," Urban China Research Network, State University of New York, Albany, June 14 and 15, 2002.

Discussant, Panel entitled, "Marketization and Institutional Change within the Chinese party-state," Annual conference of the American Political Science Association, Boston, August 30, 2002.

Paper, "State and Society in Urban China," at conference, "State and Society after the Sixteenth Party Congress," The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, co-sponsored by the Hoover Institution and the Institute for National Policy Research, Taipei, Taiwan, January 23-24, 2003.

Panel Discussant, conference on "The Labor of Reform: Employment, Workers' Rights, and Labor Law in China, "organized by University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, and the International Institute, Ann Arbor, March 21-22, 2003.

Discussant, panel on "The Logic of Labor: Ethnographic of Chinese Workers and Workplaces," annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, New York, NY, March 27-30, 2003.

Co-organizer, Workshop on "Changing Chinese Urban Social Structure," University of California, Irvine, sponsored by the Center for Asian Studies, May 10, 2003. Presented paper, "Upending the Class Order and the Structure of Stature in Urban China Today."

Participant, Research Conference Planning Workshop, "Inequality Trends and their Potential Consequences in the PRC," The Fairbank Center, Harvard University, June 13, 2003.

Paper, "Path Dependency in the Transition to Unemployment and the Formation of Safety Nets in China," panel on "Communist and Post-Communist Welfare States," annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, August 27-31, 2003.

Presented Paper, "Welfare System Reform in China," for "The Beijing Forum," held in Beijing, China, sponsored by Beijing University, August 24-25, 2004.

Chair and Discussant, panel on "Conscientious Collective Action in China," annual meeting of the American Political Science Assocation, Chicago, September 3, 2004.

Panel participant, "Challenges and Prospects: China's Domestic Economy in the 21st Century," conference on "China's Global Rise: China and US-Sino Relations in the Age of Economic Globalization," Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina, October 25-26, 2004.

Presented Paper, "The New Underclass in China and its Implications," for "POSRI International Forum on China's Development: Key Challenges for China's Sustained Growth," Seoul, Korea, 10-11 November, 2004.

"Chinese Politics and Society: Continuity and Change," "Institute for Leadership and International Perspectives," Tufts University, February 4, 2005.

Chair and Discussant, panel on the mid-level analysis of Chinese politics, annual convention of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., September 1, 2005.

"Creation of an Underclass in China," presented at international conference on "The Rise of China: Challenges and Opportunities," hosted by Institute for National Policy Research and Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan and Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Taipei, Taiwan, September 10-11, 2005.

Keynote speaker: "Globalisation and Labour's Losses: Insights from the Study of China, France, and Mexico," conference on "Globalisation, Migration and Labour Mobility in India and China," Asian Business Economic Research Unit , Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, September 28-30, 2005.

"Issues of Workers," Remarks prepared for the conference "Responsibly Made in China? Chinese Development & Corporate Social Responsibility," Asia Research Centre (ARC) CBS & NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Copenhagen, Denmark, January 26-27, 2006.

Chair and Discussant, panel on migration, historical and current, in China, annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, San Francisco, April 10, 2006.

"A New Underclass in Urban China," Annual conference of the Overseas Young China Forum, Costa Mesa, California, May 27, 2006.

Presentation on "Labor and Globalisation," as trainer, Summer School [workshop] in Chinese Studies for Postgraduate Students, funded by the Marie Curie scheme of the European Union, coordinated under the auspices of the Worldwide Universities Network, organized by Nanjing University and Leeds University, Nanjing, China, July 18-21, 2006.

"The nexus of democratization: Guanxi and governance in Taiwan and the PRC," paper presented at the conference, "Democratization in Greater China:  What Can We Learn from Taiwan's Past for China's Future," sponsored by the Taiwan Democracy Program;  Center on Democracy, Develpoment and the Rule of Law;  and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, October 20-21, 2006, Stanford University.          

Presented paper," Workers' reactions: Unions matter more than regimes," at the conference, "Globalisation and the Workplace in Asia," Asian Studies Centre, St. Antony's College, Oxford University, Oxford, Great Britain, October 27-28, 2006.

Presented paper, "China's Social Future and the Political Implications:  Complacency, Scorn, and the Forlorn," at the conference, "Changes in China's Political Landscape:  The 17th Party Congress and Beyond," The John L. Thornton China Center, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D. C., April 12-13, 2007. 

Plenary address, "Globalization and Labor's Losses:  Insights from China, France, and Mexico," at the conference on "Asia and the World-System," 31st Conference of the Political Economy of the World-System, St. Lawrence University, May 11-12, 2007.

Presented paper, "Xiagang and the Geometry of Urban Political Patronage in China:  Celebrated State (once-) Workers and State Chagrin," For delivery at the "International Conference on China"s Urban Transition and City Planning,"  sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust, jointly organised by Urban China Research Centre and School of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff Univeristy, UK and the Urban Planning Society of China, PRC, Cardiff, Wales, 29-30 June 2007.

"The Right to Livelihood: Is it Being Met?" Talk presented at "China and Human Rights: A Symposium," Claremont Mckenna College, March 6-7, 2008.

Organized one-day workshop at UC Irvine: "Contemporary China Confronts the International Arena: Influence, Image, and Instrumentalities," April 26, 2008.

Presented paper, "The Dibao: A Minimum Livelihood Guarantee to Guarantee Minimal Commotion," for Workshop on Comparative Urban Marginalization and Poverty, Cardiff, UK, June 12-13, 2008.

Paper, "A Question of Confidence: State Legitimacy and the New Urban Poor," presented at Urban China Workshop, Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland, August 12-14, 2009.

Discussant, panel on "Restructuring & Inequality," at conference on "Work and Inequality in the Global Economy: China, Mexico, and the United States," co- sponsored by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies, and CUNY's Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, October 9, 2009, UCLA, Los Angeles.

Paper, "The Market's Influence in China: Old Walls Collapsing, New Ones Going presented at Urban China Workshop, Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Up," at conference on "Walls in Our Heads: Political Divisions & Cultural Imaginaries," October 22-24, 2009, UC Irvine, sponsored by UCI Department of German, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Goethe Institute of Los Angeles, UCI Humanities Center, and the UC Humanities Research Institute.

Co-organizer and Discussant, "1989: Twenty Years After," held at Hotel Laguna, Laguna Beach, CA, sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies, the UCI Center for the Study of Democracy, the UCI Center for Asian Studies, the UC World History Program, and the Departments of Sociology and Political Science, UCI.

Discussant, UCI Political Science Graduate Student Conference, May 8, 2010.

Chair and discussant, Panel on "Change and Stability in Chinese Politics," at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 2-5, 2010, Washington, D.C.

"Migration And Citizenship: Why Does Peasant Migration Produce A Contest Over Citizenship?" Presented at Summer School in Chinese Studies for Postgraduate Students, Nanjing University, Nanjing China, 17 July 2010.

"The Special Modalities of Geographical Mobility in China, 1980-2010," paper presented at Conference on "China-India: Paths of Economic and Social Development," The British Academy, London, November 18-19, 2010.

Paper presented, "The Ruoshi Qunti [Weak Community]: The New Underclass and its Consciousness (?)" at workshop, "Class and Class Consciousness," China Studies Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 31 January to 2 February 2011.

Presentation on "Issues of Surveillance in China," workshop on "Securing Privacy: Law & the Construction of a Transnational Public Sphere," UC Irvine, 11 February, 2011.

"Three Roots of Relief: Some Thoughts on Variation Among Welfare Regimes, Their Goals and their Methods," presented at "Social Welfare Development and Governance Transformation in East Asia," Central China Normal University, May 17-18, 2012, sponsored by the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Central China Normal University.

Keynote address: "Welfare, Wealth, and Poverty in Urban China: The Dibao and its Differential Disbursement," 2nd International Conference on China's Urban Transition and City Planning, Cardiff School of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, 27-28 May 2011.

"Authoritarian Assistance: Welfare and Wealth in Urban China," Paper presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Seattle, WA, 1-4 September 2011.

"A Question of Confidence: State Legitimacy and the Urban Poor," J-China Korea Forum, Seoul, Korea, at conference on where China's politics and society are heading,sponsored by the J-China Forum and Joongnag Ilbo (Japan's largest newspaper).

"Three Models of Chinese Welfare: Confucian Values, Variable Application," Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, March 23, 2013, San Diego, CA.

"China's Unnatural(ized) Aliens: The Ongoing Saga of Non-Citizen, Internal Migrants," presented at "Citizenship in Orientalised Societies," 14-15 June 2013, Zhongshan University, China, Sponsored by the European Research Council.

"The State & the Poor in N.E. Asia, 3 Models of Welfare: Lessons for China," presented at conference on "State-Society Relations in the New Era: Lessons for & from China," Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in the social Sciences," Fudan University, Shanghai, China, June 30, 2013.

"Who Deserves to be Minimally Alice in Chinese Cities? Urban Decisions on the Dibao [the Minimum Livelihood Guarantee] (with Ting Jiang), presented at panel on "Local Public Goods Provision in Non-democracies," for the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, August 29-September 1.

Discussant, conference on "Local Elites in the Contemporary PRC," Dunhuang, China, September 2-7, 2013, sponsored by China Studies Centre, University of Sydney, Australia.

"Three Models of Chinese Welfare: Confucian Values and Their Variable Application," Paper for presentation at 55th annual conference of the Association of American Association for Chinese Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, October 11-13, 2013.

"When Central Orders and Promotion Criteria Conflict: Recent Urban Decisions on the Dibao, with Ting Jiang, presented at the 2014 Annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, March 28, 2014.

Discussant, Conference on the Great Leap Forward and the Famine, Central China University of Science and Technology, July 5-7, 2014.

"The State and Privatisation: The Chase for Cash, and its Whitewash," Presented at Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D. C., August 30, 2014.

Keynote speaker: "Urban Officials' Choice in Social Relief Distribution," Workshop on Chinese Local Governance, Chinese University of Hong Kong, November 27, 2015.

Discusssant, panel on "Industrial Citizenship in Maoist China," Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, March 29, 2015.

"Justice and the Poor: The Minimum Livelihood Guarantee in the Period of Xi Jinping," Conference on "Accountability and Control in the Xi Jinping Era," 21-22 August 2015, 2015 Melbourne Conference on China, Centre for Contemporary China Studies, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

"State Gains, Labor Losses: China, France, Mexico in Comparison," at Conference on "The Global Transformation of Work: Market Integration, China's Rise and Labor Adaptation," School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, March 16-18, 2016.

Discussant on panel on "Global Capitalism, National Experiences and Changing labor markets in Asia," annual convention of the Association for Asian Studies, Seattle, April 1, 2016.

Conference organized: Second Annual Conference of the UCI Long US-China Institute: "Poor China, Rich China: Poverty, Wealth and Inequality," UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, 13 May 2016.

"Banish the Impoverished Past: The Predicament of the Abandoned Urban Poor," Second Annual Conference of the UCI Long US-China Institute: "Poor China, Rich China: Poverty, Wealth and Inequality," UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, 13 May 2016.

Discussant, Discussant, panel, "The Behavior of the New Welfare State in China," annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA, 3 September 2016.

Lecturer and participant, Made in China Summer School: Labour and Rights in an Era of Global Precarity: Views from China, Venice, 17-21 July. Presented : "China, France and Mexico in a Comparative Perspective" and "China: Socialism to Globalisation: How, Why Did it Happen?"

"3 Models of Chinese Welfare: Confucian Values, Variable Applications," 8th International Confucius Forum, Qufu, Shandong, China, 20 September 2017.

"Fighting Urban Poverty: Extrapolating the Future from Chinese Politics and Views of the Indigent," Roundtable on Future of Chinese Social Policy, Conference on "Expanding Social Policy in China," China Center for Social Policy, Columbia University, March 21, 2018.

Chair, "Authoritarian Resilience or Decay? Perspectives from China's Urbanization," annual meeting of American Political Science Association, Boston, Aug.-Sept. 2018.

Participant, State of the Field in Chinese Politics Conference, China Program, Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University, 14-15 December 2018.

Discussant, panel: "Comparing Labor Relations in Post-Socialist China and Vietnam," annual meeting of the Assoc. for Asian Studies, Denver, March 2019.

Domestic Policy Legacies, "China's Reform and Opening Up: Four Decades of Legacies and Lessons," Robert Strauss Center and the Center for East Asian Studies, University of Texas, Austin, 8 February 2019.

Keynote Speaker, "Shifts in State Mission: Historical Production of Proletarian Oblivion," Australian Social Policy conference, University of South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 9-11 September 2019.

Convener and speaker, "Welfare for Workers and Migrants in Post-Socalism? China, Russia, Eastern/Central Europe, Former Soviet Union", March 8, 2023, Irvine, CA, sponsored by the UC Irvine Long U.S.-China Institute and the UC-Fudan Center for Contemporary China.

Chair (for 2 panels), 2023 International Symposium, "Intimacy and Family Life: Multiple Perspectives," National Sun Yat-sen University, June 19-20, 2023, sponsored by National Sun Yat-sen University and the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of London, funded by the European Research Council.