Les métropoles de Tokyo-Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, et Singapore, situées à la périphérie du corridor maritime d’Asie orientale, forment un système caractérisé par l’intensité de leurs échanges économiques, les différentes relations avec leur arrière-pays, et leur degré d’intégration dans l’économie mondiale. The metropolises of Tokyo-Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore located on the periphery of East Asia’s maritime corridor, form a system which is characterized by the intensity of their economic links, the different relationships they have with their hinterlands, and their level of integration within the world economy.

Wednesday 27 May - Thursday 28 May 2009

Coordinator: François GIPOULOUX

Scientific Committee:

Maurice AYMARD, Directeur d’étude, EHESS
Peter DANIELS, Professor, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham
François GIPOULOUX, Director of Research, CNRS, Visiting scholar, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing
HAMASHITA Takeshi, Professor, Ryukoku University
LI Shantong, Senior Research Fellow, Development Research Center, State Council, Beijing
SUNG Yun-wing, Professor, Dean, Faculty of Economics, Chinese University of Hong Kong
YUAN Zhigang, Professor, Dean, Faculty of Economics, Fudan University

Global cities illustrate the depth to which world trends can penetrate the core of a national territory, as well as influence devices traditionally controlled by the State. The metropolises of Tokyo-Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore located on the periphery of East Asia’s maritime corridor, form a system which is characterized by the intensity of their economic links, the different relationships they have with their hinterlands, and their level of integration within the world economy.
The concentration of control functions goes together with the dispersal of manufacturing capabilities at the regional, national and global levels. Using the concept of an Asian Mediterranean leads to a better comprehension of the dynamics of economic flows, of the emergence of gravity centers and of the evolution of hierarchies. It defines a system of cities characterized by a functional division of work and responsibilities within a polycentric region.

The purpose of this international conference is to test the degree of interdependence of the great urban centres, which are the main articulations of the East Asia’s maritime corridor, and to grasp a better understanding of the region from a trade and finance perspective. Les villes globales illustrent à quel point les phénomènes mondiaux pénètrent le coeur d’un territoire national ainsi que les instruments d’influence traditionnellement contrôlés par l’Etat. Les métropoles de Tokyo-Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, et Singapore, situées à la périphérie du corridor maritime d’Asie orientale, forment un système caractérisé par l’intensité de leurs échanges économiques, les différentes relations avec leur arrière-pays, et leur degré d’intégration dans l’économie mondiale.

La concentration des fonctions de contrôle va de pair avec la dispersion des capacités manufacturières aux niveaux régional, national et mondial. L’utilisation du concept de Méditerranée asiatique nous permet de mieux comprendre les dynamiques de flux économiques, de l’émergence de centres de gravité, et de l’évolution des hiérarchies. Ce principe définit un système de villes caractérisées par une division fonctionnelle du travail et des responsabilités dans une région polycentrique.

L’objet de ce colloque international, qui rassemblera économistes, historiens, géographes et sociologues, est d’examiner le degré d’interdépendance des grands centres urbains qui constituent les principales articulations du corridor maritime de l’Asie orientale, et d’acquérir une meilleure compréhension des fonctions commerciales et financières de la région.

Programme

Wednesday 27 May 2009, Conference Room 214, MSH

9.00: Opening and general presentation of the research project

Alain D’IRIBARNE, administrator, MSH Foundation
Alain DELISSEN, director, EHESS, China, Korea, Japan Research Center
François GIPOULOUX, CNRS, CASS: ITHESA Research Programme

Scientific Presentation

10.00-12.00 Session 1: The Legacy of History (I)

Chair: Elisabeth ALLÈS, CNRS, EHESS
HISASUE Ryoichi, University of Tokyo
Tokyo as an “International Financial Centre”, Past and Present: 1800-2007
Commentator: Sébastien LECHEVALIER, CRJ, EHESS (to be confirmed)
Break
Patrizia CARIOTI, University of Naples
Nagasaki in the Storm of the Ming Qing Transition: the Zheng, the VOC and the Tokugawa Bakufu
Commentator: Pierre-Yves MANGUIN, EFEO (to be confirmed)
Lunch

14.00-18.00 Session 2: High Value Added Services and Metropolitan Dynamism

Chair: Pierre VELTZ, ENPC (to be confirmed)
François GIPOULOUX, CNRS, CASS
Asian Trading and Financial Centres: Typology and Functionalities
LI Shantong, Tsinghua University
Patterns of China’s Urbanization
Break
Simon ZHAO, Hong Kong University
China’s Spatial Restructuring of Financial Centres
MENG Jianjun, Tsinghua University
China’s Economic Reform and Emerging International Finance Centres

Thursday 28 May 2009, Conference Room 214, MSH

9.30-11.00 Session 3: The Legacy of History (II)

Chair: Alain DELISSEN, EHESS
HAMASHITA Takeshi, Ryukoku University
Chinese Port Cities and their Hinterland: the Case of Zhenjiang and Zhujiang at the End of the 19th Century
Commentator: Michel CARTIER, EHESS
LIN Cheng, EHESS
At the Junction of Continental and Maritime Trading Networks: Taiwan and the VOC During the 17th Century
Commentator: Paola CALANCA, EFEO
Break

11.00-12.30 Session 4: Regional and Global Positioning of East-Asian Trading and Financial Centres

Chair: Thierry PAIRAULT, CECMC, EHESS
Peter DANIELS, University of Birmingham
The Global Economic Crisis: Opportunities for Major Cities in East and Southeast Asia?
SUNG Yun-Wing, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong and Shanghai: Rivalry or Complementarity Among Asia’s International Service Hubs
Lunch

14.00-16.00 Session 5: Different Cities, Homogeneous Societies?

Chair: Laurence ROULLEAU-BERGER, CNRS, IAO
DU Debin, East China Normal University, Pierre MIÈGE, Beijing Normal University
The Factors of Competitiveness of Great Chinese Cities: the Case of the Localisation of Foreign Research and Development in Beijing and Shanghai
SONODA Shigeto, University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture,
Emergence of Homogeneous Social Groups? Convergence and Divergence among Middle Classes in Globalizing East Asia

End of the conference