Since I am a fellow Hoosier, raised in Delphi, a small farming community with a few neighboring manufacturers, I was more than a little intrigued that Indiana University is hosting from May 19-20 a global program on "China and Capitalism." From small towns to major cities, the Chinese economic juggernaut engine has presented both opportunities and challenges.

The major conference, "Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics," is scheduled at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington, to address this timely issue. China specialists from all over the United States will be joined by the Hu Shuli, the crusading editor of Caijing, China's most dynamic independent business magazine.

"Despite the ruling party's name, China is no longer a communist country," said conference organizer Scott Kennedy, assistant professor of East Asian languages and cultures and an adjunct professor of political science. "As China moves toward the market, there is no consensus about whether capitalism is a better label, and, if so, what type of capitalist system China is evolving toward."

Professor Kennedy in an interview with CVN revealed the double edge sword slicing deeply across the nation." There are a variety of industries that are benefitting from doing business with China, and Hoosier consumers are also benefitting from being able to buy well-made inexpensive goods from China. However, our manufacturing sector has endured longer than in other parts of the US (where there has been a greater transition out of manufacturing and into services), and some of these industries (e.g., steel, furniture, etc.)are now facing stiff Chinese competition."

The author of The Business of Lobbying in China (Harvard University Press, 2005), Kennedy has documented the growing influence of domestic and international companies on China's national economic policy.

Kennedy cited in his e-mail interview that during his six years living in Bloomington, Indiana he has observed several factories close their doors with some simply relocating their operations to China, like Otis Elevator, which is a subsidiary of United Technologies.

Let's give credit to the university in the beautiful rolling hills of Brown County for assembling a global cast of academics, industry leaders and policy shapers to examine their views on a broad number of pressing issues, including property rights, development of China's legal system, the role of the local state, corruption, foreign trade and investment policy, protest, business lobbying and the media.