Stanford University

Community Mindfulness and Mentorship Preventive Intervention in Migrant Chinese Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

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Objective
To test the feasibility and effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention in rural-to-urban migrant Chinese children using trained community volunteers.

Method
Migrant students ages 9 to 16 from 5 schools in Shanghai (N = 653) were randomly assigned to a mindfulness only group (n = 167), a mindfulness plus life skills group (n = 118), or a waitlist control group (n = 368). The first 2 groups received an 8-week mindfulness intervention delivered 1 hour weekly by trained community volunteers. The mindfulness plus life skills group received 8 additional hours of skills-based mentorship. Measurements on mindfulness, resilience, and anxiety and depression symptoms were collected before and after intervention. Multivariable regression analyses compared the intervention vs control groups.

Results
Before intervention, there were no significant demographic or outcome measure differences between groups except that students in the intervention groups were slightly older. Students had relatively low levels of mindfulness and prosociality difficulties and similar degrees of depression and anxiety symptoms compared with prior studies. After intervention, no statistically significant differences were found in mean scores for mindfulness, resilience, anxiety, or depression in the intervention vs control groups.

Conclusion
A volunteer-led mindfulness intervention did not significantly benefit migrant Chinese children after 8 weeks. More implementation research is needed for low-cost, scalable, and contextually effective mental health prevention programs.

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JAACAP Open
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Huan Wang
Scott Rozelle

The Guardian Quotes Scott Rozelle Speaking on China's Economy

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In the article, "Peak China? Jobs, local services and welfare strain under economy’s structural faults" Rozelle is quoted saying, "'You don’t turn yourself into a high-income country with [close to] 70% of your economy in the informal sector.'”

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Young Researcher Workshop: Legal Education as Empowerment: Chinese Females Going to Law Schools and Their Gendered Battle

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Legal Education as Empowerment:  Chinese Females Going to Law Schools and Their Gendered Battle


Speaker: Hongyun Yu, Master of the Science of Law Student, Stanford Law School

In the gender ratio of newly enrolled undergraduate law students and barred lawyers in China, the number of women has approximately doubled that of men. How has this female-dominated trend formed, and how does it impact legal education, the legal profession, and legal knowledge? Utilizing field evidence from three law schools in China, this research attempts to interpret the gender transformations and dynamics within Chinese law schools, especially focusing on the process of female empowerment. Women enter this knowledge field and professional culture, traditionally seen as male-dominated and even discriminatory, because of gendered motivations. They construct their gender advantages while successfully challenging the labor gender division that suggests "women are unsuited for studying law" and the stereotype that they lack "legal rationality." Males exhibit two types of responses: the "cynical" and the "bystander," with the latter occasionally gaining an advantageous minority status in female-dominated law schools. The female-dominated structure also influences the "safe harbor" effect in law schools for gender minority and diverse gender students. This study transcends discrimination and male-centric power models, offering a pathway through which women shape legal education, transform the legal profession, and generate legal knowledge.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Hongyun Yu, Master of the Science of Law Student, Stanford Law School
Workshops
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Young Researcher Workshop: Unintended Consequences of Goodwill: Examining Spillover Effects in Targeted Supplementary Education Interventions

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Unintended Consequences of Goodwill: Examining Spillover Effects in Targeted Supplementary Education Interventions


Speaker: Yujuan Gao, Ph.D. Candidate in Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida

Targeted supplementary education interventions are typically provided to students in low-resourced areas with the intention to narrow educational inequality. However, when such programs are implemented within classrooms, student social interactions may cause spillover effects. This paper presents a novel multi-treatment field experiment that investigates the spillover effects of targeted supplementary computer-assisted learning (CAL) and traditional paper-pencil workbook education interventions among 130 boarding schools in rural China. We also discuss the possible channels by which programs may have spillover effects on non-targeted peers' academic outcomes. We find that the paper-pencil workbook program has a negative spillover effect on untargeted non-boarding students’ school performance, but no spillover effect is detected in the CAL group. Our network interference results suggest that the negative spillover effects of the workbook program most strongly affect non-boarding students who have close-boarding peers in the same classroom. This phenomenon can be attributed to a perceived unfair treatment between boarding and non-boarding students, resulting in a lack of motivation for academic engagement among untargeted non-boarding students.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Yujuan Gao, Ph.D. Candidate in Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida
Workshops

Young Researcher Workshop: Politics, Morals, Complaints: Moral Judgments and Discretions in the Chinese Municipal Government

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Politics, Morals, Complaints: Moral Judgments and Discretions in the Chinese Municipal Government


Speaker: Tianhao Hou, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Stanford University

What motivates bureaucratic decision-making in China? In contrast to the earlier theories of incentive mechanisms and “muddling through”, I argue that local officials in the Chinese regime also mobilize moral judgments to wield discretionary power in completing their tasks. With a five-month ethnography and additional interviews, I examine the Public Complaints and Proposals Bureau in two municipal governments as a case study. Qualitative analysis shows that, even in a field with strong bureaucratic pressure, there are numerous occasions where cadres do not merely follow regulations, policies, or laws, or are driven by the maximization of rational interests. Instead, I observe that there is a moral persistence of collectivism – local officials evaluate the “reasonableness” of cases based on 1) motivation and deservingness, 2) collective benefits, and 3) honesty and compliance in the selection for escalation, which typically results in substantial treatment. This study contributes to the literature on Chinese bureaucracy by drawing attention to the relevance of morality and appropriateness in rational organizations.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Tianhao Hou, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Stanford University
Workshops

Young Researcher Workshop: How AI Affects Bureaucratic Control in Autocracies: A New Theory and Evidence from China

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How AI Affects Bureaucratic Control in Autocracies: A New Theory and Evidence from China


Speaker: Jason Luo, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Stanford University

Does the adoption of emerging information technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) always enhance centralized control in authoritarian regimes? In this talk, I introduce a new theory of how state adoption of emerging information technologies affects principal-agent dynamics within bureaucracies, and how it consequently strengthens or weakens centralized control in autocracies. Empirically, I show that China’s unexpectedly decentralized procurement and management of AI technologies in government operations has amplified pre-existing information asymmetries between the central government and localities, and increased the likelihood of local governments strategically evading central control. Methodologically, I draw on an original dataset of over 31 million central and local government procurement documents from 2002 to 2022. Leveraging a 2015 reporting policy change and a robust design including DiD and event study, I construct the first-of-its-kind measures of local strategic actions aimed at evading central oversight. I find that local state investment in AI technologies is significantly associated with more local evasions afterwards, compared with a range of other local-level political and economic factors. This finding challenges the conventional wisdom, showing that the adoption of AI in authoritarian regimes can paradoxically weaken centralized control, particularly when interests of the principals and agents diverge, and when control over technology rests with the local state.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Jason Luo, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Stanford University
Workshops

Young Researcher Workshop: Do Skills Beget Skills During Early Childhood? Evidence from a Cluster-randomized Parenting Experiment in Rural China

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Do Skills Beget Skills During Early Childhood? Evidence from a Cluster-randomized Parenting Experiment in Rural China


Speaker: Boya Wang, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Rural Education Action Program

This study utilizes data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a two-year, center-based parenting training program to investigate the technology of skill formation among 6 to 24 months (N = 1,666) in rural China. Results show that weekly parenting training on child psychosocial stimulation can significantly improve child cognitive skills by 0.11 SD and 0.18 SD after one and two years of intervention, respectively. The positive impact persisted for 2.5 years after program completion (0.13 SD). We find evidence of solid self- and cross-productivity in the formation of cognitive and noncognitive skills. In addition, analysis of children with high versus low early capability formation suggests dynamic complementarity between early cognitive skills and later productivity of investments in cognitive skills. Strong cognitive skill formation during the first two years of life also bolsters the persistence of good noncognitive skills during the third year of life. We find no evidence of dynamic complementarity between early noncognitive skill formation and the productivity of later parental investments in children’s skills. Hence, investment in cognitive skill formation during the first two years of life (e.g., via engagement in interactive caregiver-child play or story-telling activities) is key to enhance productivity of later investments and to bolster further human capital formation.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Boya Wang, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Rural Education Action Program
Workshops

Young Researcher Workshop: Radio for Mobility: Public Information and Migration-Distance

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Radio for Mobility: Public Information and Migration-Distance


Speaker: Danli Wang, Associate Professor, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics; Visiting Scholar, Stanford University

This paper provides the first direct evidence of the impact of public information availability on rural labor markets, using the 2006 “Full-Coverage-of-Radio” (FCR) policy in China as an exogenous shock. We find that the FCR project significantly increased rural labor mobility and also the income gains from mobility. We further explored the information and migration-distance relationship and found that in terms of geographical distance, rural radio significantly increased the probability of long-distance mobility; in terms of psychological distance, rural radio significantly increased the migration of villagers from rural-culture-dominant areas.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Danli Wang, Associate Professor, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics; Visiting Scholar, Stanford University
Workshops

Young Researcher Workshop: Chinese Economic Influence in Regional International Organizations

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Chinese Economic Influence in Regional International Organizations


Speaker: Alicia Chen, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, Stanford University

How does China use development finance to gain influence in international organizations? I contend that China exerts influence in regional rather than Western institutions like the United Nations. Leveraging the exogenous rotation of ASEAN and African Union Chairmanship, I estimate the effect of regional leadership on Chinese commitments. Results suggest that Chinese projects are politically motivated only when the lending and recipient entities are linked to the Chinese and host governments. Governments that assume Chair receive 8 times more commitments from Chinese government agencies relative to non-chair years, a $135 million increase for the average project. In contrast, there is no evidence to suggest that China’s commercial banks act as agents of Beijing. Moreover, I find a robust null relationship between temporary UN Security Council status and Chinese finance, unlike established findings about Western donors. These results underscore the importance of considering the specific actors involved in China’s economic engagement.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Alicia Chen, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, Stanford University
Workshops

Young Researcher Workshop: Making Foreign Policy Local: How China Uses Local Newspapers to Promote the Belt and Road Initiative

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Making Foreign Policy Local: How China Uses Local Newspapers to Promote the Belt and Road Initiative


Speaker: Victoria Liu, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, Stanford University

An influential body of scholarship argues that authoritarian regimes use nationalist propaganda to mobilize domestic support for foreign policies during international crises. This study, in contrast, examines how autocrats cultivate support for foreign policies during normal times. Using 10 years of social media data from provincial newspapers about China’s flagship foreign policy, the Belt and Road Initiative, I argue that authoritarian governments engage in localized routine propaganda: delegating propaganda task to local agents, who produce a consistent stream of propaganda content from local rather than national perspectives. Rather than stoking nationalism, I demonstrate that much of the propaganda activity occurs in absence of crises in a decentralized and localized manner, trading central control and unity for local initiative and creativity.

About the Workshops


The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present. 

Learn More About the Workshops

Goldman Room, Encina Hall, E409

Victoria Liu, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, Stanford University
Workshops
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