Andrew Watson
Andrew Watson
Andrew Watson was appointed as The Ford Foundation Representative for China in July of 1999. From 1991 to 1999, he was Professor of Asian Studies of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Adelaide and a Co-Director of the University’s Chinese Economies Research Center. He was a member of the Board of the Australia China Council under the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, from 1994 to 1999.
He was President of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia from 1995 to 1997, and was a member of the Australian Research Council, Asian Studies and Social Sciences Panels, from 1993 to 1996.
Watson has been a frequent visitor to China since 1965, when he lived and worked in Xi’an for two years. He has worked with a wide range of colleagues in China, including two Ministries in Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a number of provinces.
Watson’s research has focused on the economic and political development of contemporary China, which is due to his particular interest in the process of China’s economic reform and growth since 1978. Watson has worked with aspects of China’s industrial organization and management, but in recent years he has concentrated more upon rural development issues. He is fluent in Chinese.
Andrew Watson has been published on a variety of topics related to political and economic development in China, both before and after the establishment of the People’s Republic. He is author of Living in China (Batsford, 1975), translator of Mao Zedong: Economic and Financial Problems (Cambridge University Press, 1980), and editor of Economic Reform and Social Change in China (Routledge, 1992). Watson has also written many articles and chapters in journals and books and jointly edited a number of other books about China. The latter include Rural Enterprises in China (with C. Findlay and H. X. Wu, Macmillan, 1994) and Food Security and Economic Reform: the Challenges Facing China’s Grain Marketing System (with C. Findlay, Macmillan, 1999). He has acted as a consultant to industry and government on issues related to China.
Watson’s teaching has encompassed China’s economic and social history, Chinese politics, the Chinese economy and the Chinese language. He has supervised the work of a number of postgraduates, graduate diploma and honors students.