Final Programme
Rationale

Themes

Format and Schedule

Organizers

Conference Setting and Field Trips

Registration, Visa Requirement and Financial Support

Conference Hotels

Enquiries

The Conference is over! But the fun endures... click me for great video clips and photos! (updated on 20 July 2007)

For Conference Report by Henry Yeung and Weidong Liu, click me.

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Final Programme - click me for html version (printed and no more changes allowed)

Download files here (uploaded on 5 June 2007):

Full Conference Programme Book - 200 pages in PDF with maps and publishers' advertisements; about 7MB

Full Conference Programme Book - 192 pages in PDF without maps and publishers' advertisements; about 1.4MB

For Acrobat Reader, please visit the Adobe website

Click this for Presentation Guidelines, including instructions on time limit, audio-visual aids, and so on.

Maps to aid your travel: Beijing Airport taxi advice and Guide to get to your hotel

Latest news on conference hotels (as of 11 June): The Asian Games Village Hotel (no more rooms available!) and Beijing Continental Grand Hotel (14 rooms to go at conference rates). All bookingsn via Dr Mary Ma must be done by 14 June.

Fieldtrip allocation (Wed 27 June)

Please check the following Fieldtrip file in html format or in Excel format for your fieldtrip allocation (either Beijing ETDA - industrial clusters, or Zhongguancun - IT clusters). Please check the conference programme for full details on both trips. The fieldtrip is included in your registration fee and thus you do NOT have to pay extra for it. We have allocated your fieldtrip based on your preference indicated in your Pre-Registration Form submitted sometime ago. For those of you indicating both Beijing ETDA and Zhongguancun, we have allocated you to the Zhongguancun trip. This is because the Beijing ETDA is very popular and we are unable to take in more than 160 participants (to be divided into 3-4 bus loads!).

If you have not been allocated a fieldtrip yet, your only remaining choice is Zhongguancun (IT clusters). If you would like to join the Zhongguancun fieldtrip, please IMMEDIATELY email our Conference Secretary, Dr. Mary Ma <mali@igsnrr.ac.cn>, at IGSNRR, Chinese Academy of Sciences. We have an additional quota of up to 50 participants on a first-reply-first-serve basis. We will close the Zhongguancun fieldtrip once this additional quota has been taken up.

Upon registration, you will be issued a ticket for either fieldtrips based on your preference and/or allocation. Because of limited capacity reasons, we are unable to offer a change in your fieldtrip destination, but you are welcome to swap your ticket with another conference participant. Due to security concerns, you MUST wear your conference badge and present the ticket before you can board the coach on Wednesday morning.

Conference Rationale

This is the sequel to the first highly successful Global Conference on Economic Geography held in Singapore, 5-9 December 2000 (see special photo album). With almost 200 academic participants from 30 countries, the Singapore conference was significant in spurring on economic-geographical dialogue in a sustained manner worldwide. Some 150 high quality papers were presented and the conference resulted in two special issues in leading geographical journals (see JEG 2001, E&PA 2002, and Olds' editorial in E&PD 2001), as well as numerous other articles, chapters, and reports. In the context of the globalization of knowledge production and research activity, a global dialogue in economic geography continues to be highly important, for it facilitates the development of knowledge, and the establishment of international collaborative relations for both teaching and research. Such dialogue in a dedicated conference also requires economic geographers to face head on the complex issues of vantage points and ethnocentric biases, as evident in the intellectual interactions during the Singapore conference. Field trips organized in Beijing and elsewhere in China during the conference will enable participants to collect teaching materials (case studies, digital photos, etc) and to investigate possibilities for future research projects.

Six years have now lapsed since the Singapore conference. The global economy has experienced tremendous transformations since the late 1990s. For one, it witnesses much stronger integration of cross-border economic activities. The rise of emerging economies, particularly China and India, has significant economic-geographical implications. The continual economic integration within the European Union and the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) requires new research insights from economic geographers. At the more micro-scale, economic geographies are much more implicated in our everyday life, from our consumption practices and productive work to our activities in labour and financial markets. We believe the timing is now appropriate for a second global conference on economic geography. As one of the key sub-disciplines in Geography, it is time to discuss and debate current and new research agendas in economic geography. It is also a critical time to continue our rethinking of the relationship between the sub-discipline (within human geography) and the wider social science community.

In organizing this second global conference on economic geography, we have three specific objectives:

1. The conference will provide a forum for constructive cross-regional dialogue among economic geographers from all regions and countries. Such dialogue is critical for the advancement of the subject.

2. The conference will provide an opportunity for economic geographers from outside Asia to interact with geographers and other interested social scientists from within the host region. While acknowledging the Anglo-American influence in much of the recent work in economic geography, we recognize that there is a considerable stock of knowledge in the Asian region that contributes to our understanding of regional and global economic geographies. In short, the conference will enhance the global interdependence of networks of economic geographers.

3. The conference and its associated activities will enable economic geographers from outside the Asian region to experience (first-hand) the dynamics of economic transformations in China and East Asia. Through carefully designed field trips, both within and outside of Beijing, the capital city of China, the conference will offer insightful educational experiences that can be brought home for the benefits of students and institutions, similar to those available during the Singapore conference in 2000.

Conference Format and Schedule

Conference sessions will take place from 25 to 28 June 2007 in the Beijing International Convention Center, adjacent to the four-star Beijing Continental Grand Hotel, in Beijing, China. The conference will consist of plenary panels, special sessions organized by various individuals or study groups of geographical societies, general sessions comprising submitted papers, and panels and roundtable workshops on selected issues. If possible, we may organize a panel bringing together Chinese and foreign managers to reflect on their business operations and experiences in China and within the global division of labour. We also welcome proposals for other formats and styles of presentation.

Fieldtrips will take place on Wednesday 27 June 2007.

Three plenary speakers have been confirmed:

• Susan Hanson (Clark University, USA) - Lecture Title "People and Place in Economic Geography"
  
• Gordon Clark (Oxford University, UK) - Lecture Title "Governing Finance"
  
• Gernot Grabher (University of Bonn, Germany) - Lecture Title "The Neglected King"

Organizers

The conference will be jointly organized by the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, and the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, in collaboration with the Geographical Society of China (conference secretariat), the Division of Geography, China National Natural Science Foundation, and economic geography study/research groups or the equivalent of the Association of American Geographers, the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers, the Canadian Association of Geographers, the Institute of Australian Geographers, and the International Geographical Union Commission on "The Dynamics of Economic Spaces".

Conference Organizing Committee

• Weidong Liu, Co-Chair, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
• Henry Yeung, Co-Chair, National University of Singapore
• Ma Li, Conference Secretary, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
• Yuko Aoyama, Clark University (USA)
• Neil Coe, University of Manchester (UK)
• Martin Hess, University of Manchester (UK)
• Jinn-Yuh Hsu, National Taiwan University
• Philip Kelly, York University (Canada)
• Yong-Sook Lee, National University of Singapore
• George Lin, University of Hong Kong
• Kris Olds, University of Wisconsin, Madison (USA)
• Jessie Poon, SUNY-Buffalo (USA)
• Yu Zhou, Vassar College (USA)
• Jici Wang, Peking University (China)
• Xiaojian Li, Henan University of Finance and Economics (China)
• Guoyou Zhang, General Secretary of the Geographical Society of China (GSC)
• Local conference secretariat: Geographical Society of China

Conference Setting in Beijing, China

The conference will be held in Beijing, the capital city of China with over 3,000 years of history. Situated at the northern end of the North China Plain, Beijing belongs to the warm temperate zone with a semi-humid climate and distinctive seasons – short spring and autumn but long summer and winter. The average temperature in June is about 26��. The city has an area of 16,808 square kilometers, with a population of over 16 million in 2005. As the national capital, Beijing is a city of immigrants from all over the country and thus has a mixed and heterogeneous culture. Since it was the capital of five feudal dynasties in Chinese history (907-1911), the city has many magnificent and exciting historical sites, e.g. the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, and Summer Palace – all of the four sites are on the List of World Cultural Heritages of the UNESCO.

In more recent years, Beijing has been transformed rapidly into a cosmopolitan city. Today, the city hosts some 124 regional headquarters of the Fortune 500 firms and hundreds of thousands of foreigners. In 2005, over 3.6 million of foreigners visited Beijing. Furthermore, the 29th Olympic Games will be held in the city in 2008, and the main Olympic buildings, e.g. the National Stadium and National Aquatic Center, will be completed by mid-2007 (our conference will be held near the Olympic Center). English is becoming more popular in Beijing since many Beijing residents are learning the language in preparation for the 29th Olympic Games. Beijing is also well known for offering a wide variety of Chinese cuisines from different regions of the country. Of course, excellent western foods are also available. For more information about Beijing, please visit http://english.bjta.gov.cn/bjdls

Field trips will be conducted for specific sites in Beijing, as well as nearby historical sites in Beijing and, perhaps, Shanghai. Participants are encouraged to use this conference to embark upon more lengthy trips throughout China and the East Asian region.

The fieldtrip sites have been confirmed and are available for your choice:

1. Included in registration and to be held concurrently on Wednesday 27 June 2007:

• Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BDA) - this website is under construction.
• Zhongguancun High-tech Area

2. Optional fieldtrips inside Beijing to be held on Friday 29 June 2007 (not included in registration, you can sign up and pay at the Registration Desk during the conference):

• The Great Wall + Summer Palace, RMB270 per pax (around US$35)
• The Forbidden City + Hutong or traditional cluster houses, RMB340 per pax (around US$44)

The price includes tickets to enter the scenic spot, travel buses, lunch and service of tour guides.

3. Optional fieldtrips outside Beijing offered by professional travel agencies (not included in registration, please READ THIS NOTICE about signing up for one of these trips):

• Exploring the new economic space in the Yangtze River Delta (e.g. Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and so on) and Pearl River Delta (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguang) in China
• Exciting trips to Tibet and Xi'an and the Silk Road.

Registration Details and Financial Support

If you have not done so, please complete the following registration form (click here). The deadline for submitting the completed form is over but you are still welcome to send us your completed form.

In addition, ALL paper presenters are required to submit an abstract of 100 words (maximum) at any time up until 15 May 2007. We strongly encourage you to submit your abstract via email (both in-email-text and as an attachment). Upon receipt of the abstract, we will issue an acceptance letter in electronic form in the first instance. Please let us know if you require the acceptance letter in printed form.

Please note that after the original deadline of 30 April 2007, we are unable to refund any registration fee payment. This is because we would have already committed to different vendors the conference-related expenditure (e.g. venue, food, and fieldtrip) that includes your fee as part of the income. Moreover, the transaction costs and time for refund are very high and we are unable to incur them, as we operate on a very limited budget.

Registration and Field Trip Fees

The conference registration fee is US$150, inclusive of all lunches, tea/coffee sessions, one conference banquet dinner and one local fieldtrip. Please ensure that your payment will reach the "Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS (for SGCEG)" by 15 May 2007 at the very latest. Late payment of your registration fee will result in your abstract/presentation not included in the Conference Programme. Click here to find details on the method of payment. Due to the long processing time and costly charges, we are unable to accept any cheque, bank draft, and credit card payments.

Visa Requirement

We strongly advise you to check if you require a visa in order to enter into China and participate in the conference. You can either visit the official website of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or check with the Embassy of China nearest to you. In any case, upon receiving your conference registration fee, we will issue you via fax or email an official conference invitation letter stamped by the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This letter will enable you to obtain a visa from your nearest Embassy of China.

Financial Support (deadline is over!)

We will provide financial support of up to TEN graduate students or early career participants from developing countries in South or Southeast Asia in order to encourage their active participation in this global conference. This support includes the following items:

• Waived registration fees
• Five nights of shared double room accommodation, and
• A travel subsidy up to US$500 (based on reimbursement).

We invite interested applicants from South or Southeast Asia to send their applications to the Organizing Committee (c/o Deborah Lee at u0400925@nus.edu.sg) by 28 February 2007. Please use this application form (click) to organize your information. Your application should include:

• One-page cv
• An abstract of 250 words (maxmimum), and
• An explanation of how you will benefit from the conference (up to 500 words).

Selection will begin in March 2007 and successful applicants will be notified by 1 April 2007. Click this link for the list of five travel award winners.

Information on Hotel Accommodation for Conference Delegates

We have negotiated special rates for delegates at the Beijing Continental Grand Hotel (conference hotel) and two hotels nearby. These special rates will only apply if there are a minimum number of rooms booked. We therefore advise delegates to make their arrangements as soon as possible to ensure that these concessionary rates are maintained.

1. Beijing Continental Grand Hotel, Beijing (Conference Hotel and Rated 4 Stars): 40 rooms to go as of 30 May 2007

The conference hotel is adjacent to the conference venue, the Beijing International Convention Center. We have blocked 150 standard rooms and may be able to get 200 rooms. The Standard Room daily rate of RMB 640 (about US$80) includes service charge and one breakfast. For a view of the rooms, please visit this website.

Booking contact: Please use the booking form of the Beijing Continental Grand Hotel (download Word version here).  Participants can book rooms directly with the hotel (filling in the booking form and send back to the hotel).

2. Foreign Expert Building Hotel, Beijing (Rated 4 Stars)

This second conference hotel has about 50 standard rooms and 56 single-bedroom suites. In total, it has over 100 rooms for our booking. For a view of the rooms, please visit this website.

The hotel is located at the junction of the fourth ring road and Jingchang Highway. It will take 15 minutes driving to downtown and 40 minutes to either Beijing International Airport or Beijing Railway Station. We will arrange for transfers between this hotel and the conference venue (about 10 minutes drive).

Room rates are (valid until 15 March 2007):

Standard room US$60 (including 15% service charge and one breakfast)

One-Bedroom suite US$75 (including 15% service charge and one breakfast)

Booking contact: The hotel only accepts reservations made through this form specifically prescribed for our conference (download here). Please visit the hotel's website for more details or contact Dr Mary Ma <mali@igsnrr.ac.cn> at the IGSNRR.

3. The Asian Games Village Hotel (Rated 3 Stars): No more rooms available as of 30 May 2007

This hotel is very near to our conference veune (the Beijing International Convention Center), about 10-minute walk. We have blocked 50 standard rooms. The cost per room per night (including service charge and one breakfast) is RMB 370 (about US$45).

Booking contact: The hotel only accepts reservations made through this form specifically prescribed for our conference (download here). Please contact Dr Mary Ma <mali@igsnrr.ac.cn> at the IGSNRR for more details.

Enquiries and Further Information

Please direct all your enquiries and requests to either:

Professor Henry YEUNG
Co-Chair, Organizing Committee
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 1 Arts Link, Singapore 117570
Tel: +65-6516 6810; Fax: +65-6777 3091; Email: geoywc@nus.edu.sg

OR

Professor Weidong LIU
Co-Chair, Organizing Committee
Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. Email: liuwd@igsnrr.ac.cn

This page is maintained by Henry Yeung. Last updated 9 May 2007.