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Final Note Before Conference

 Hello delegates! It is I ‒ your head chair ‒ writing to let you know that we have entered the final few days before BMUN 70 (yaaaaaaay!). As such, I thought it best to discuss the learning goals for our committee while also providing some advice. If I were to boil down the essence of this committee into three intellectual pillars, they would be: 1) Communism: Early Theory and Subsequent Development Be certain you are comfortable with the fundamentals of Marx's critiques of capitalism and how said critiques morphed into the ideology that would eventually hold sway over the most populous country on the planet. 2) Maoist China: Political, Cultural, and Economic History Make sure you are intimately familiar with the timeline and political context of the Mao era; as a guideline, check that you can provide a basic explanation for why any given historical development during this era ‒ however seemingly extreme ‒ occurred when and how it did. 3) The Reform Era: Economic Policies Following...
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About TOPIC B: LAND RIGHTS AND REFORMS IN RURAL CHINA

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Hi Delegates! We hope that you have tons of fun digging into our two topics! In this blog post, the goal is to help you and draw your attention to an issue discussed in our dear Topic B—Agricultural reform: land rights and reforms in Rural China (yayy). As you probably know at this point, an important part of the reforms initiated by our committee pertains to the structures and institutions of this ever-changing rural world. While the synopsis gives you a fair amount of landmarks to grasp the legislative complexity that characterized the CCP's land-related policies, there is a lot of opportunities for further research to anchor your understanding of the topic! The article that we included at the end of the post is an exemple of how you can prepare for the committee. Back in 2010, Thomas Vendryes published  Land Rights in Rural China since 1978: Reforms, Successes, and Shortcomings  in the trustworthy  China  Perspective journal. Beyond drawing a clear and accessible...
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Introduction: Yuki Bian

Hello delegates!      My name is Yuki Bian, and I am so excited to be one of your CCP vice chairs for BMUN 70! I am a Senior double majoring in Computer Science and Cognitive Science at Cal.      Aside from BMUN, I am also doing research at a Cognitive Developmental Lab at UC Berkeley. In my free time, you can find me baking, playing video games, painting, or reading.      I was born in Japan but grew up in China, and now I have been in the US for almost 8 years. I can't wait to meet you and learn about your insights on CCP's historical economic/agricultural reform.      My email address is yukibian@berkeley.edu . Please feel free to reach out to us for any question about BMUN or college. Looking forward to seeing you in March :) Best wishes, Yuki
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Key Terms

  Greeting delegates, Here are some key terms, ideas or themes from the synopsis: Capital : for our purposes, this will be defined as equivalent to wealth in order to simplify our discussion, but note that ‘wealth’ can include material value beyond currency; industrial machinery, land, and advanced computer software could also be considered examples of capital. Rate of return : the rate at which profit is made from investment, determined via the following formula: (sale price - purchase price)/(purchase price) Economic growth : rate at which a nation’s wealth increases over time. School of Universal Principles : a wing of economic thought which argues that free markets, and hence a reduction of government regulation, best stimulate economic growth. School of Chinese Characteristics : a wing of economic thought which stipulates that attributes unique to China are responsible for the economic growth seen there in the past few decades. Single-track liberalization : shifting very rapid...
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Introduction: Andrew Reynoso

Esteemed delegates, honorable chairs, welcome to the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at BMUN 70! My name is Andrew Reynoso; I am a junior studying physics and I will be your head chair this year! I was born in the Central Valley of California and have greatly enjoyed my time here at UC Berkeley. Outside of MUN, you can find me studying quantum mechanics, lifting weights, and binging the Sopranos. I have selected the listed topics for this committee because I believe each covers an aspect of Chinese economic reform that is critical to understanding the socio economic landscape of modern China. In particular, the second topic - agricultural reform - is frequently omitted from laymen discussions pertaining to the success of the CCP’s legislative revolution circa 1980. I hope you will consider the distinct perspectives provided in our topic synopsis when reaching your own conclusion regarding the effectiveness of the reforms implemented. Any preguntas can be sent to a...
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Introduction: Ulysse Richard

Greetings delegates! My name is Ulysse and I am delighted to be one of your vice chairs for CCP this year. As an exchange student from France, this will be my only conference in Berkeley and I’m excited to make it count with you all! Academically speaking, I study political science, asian studies and computer science and am applying for grad school in International security. Among my interests are ethnic conflits, ethics of technology, Asian geopolitics and China-related topics. You now understand why I am happy to discuss and hear what you guys have to say about Deng Xiaoping’s CCP! Otherwise, it is on hiking trails, tennis courts or in the waves of the Bay Area that you are most likely to run into me outside the classroom. I also run a filmmaking company and will be taking photos during the conference, so don’t hesitate to ask for souvenir pics or to say hi and chat about anything! My email is urichard@bmun.org, feel free to reach out if you have any question!  Looking forward to...
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