Author: Hou Quan
The Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy (hereafter referred to as the PKU-Lincoln Center or the Center) was established fifteen years ago. I first crossed paths with the Center three years after its founding, when I applied for its dissertation scholarship on Peking University’s Yanqiao Campus. By chance, I reunited with the Center twelve years later in the Shanwei-Shenzhen Special Cooperation Zone in South China. These two encounters reflect the Center’s dedication to nurturing young scholars, pioneering research, disseminating knowledge, and contributing wholeheartedly to China’s urbanization drive. As the Center celebrates its 15th anniversary, I record these memories in commemoration.
I. Open and Transparent Dissertation Scholarship Program Supporting Young Talent
I first learned about the PKU-Lincoln Center in spring 2010, when I had passed my doctoral candidacy examination and begun writing my dissertation. The Center opened applications for its 2010–2011 dissertation scholarship that year. My doctoral research focused on urban spatial structure and planning, one of the Center’s four core research areas. After brief consultation with my supervisor Chair Professor Li Siming, I submitted my application in accordance with the official notice and successfully passed the preliminary review to become one of the sixteen finalists.
The final review panel and candidate thesis presentations were held at Peking University that July. Nine years after graduating from undergraduate school, I returned to the beautiful Weiming Lake campus. The research topics of the shortlisted candidates centered on China’s urban development, covering urban land use policy, urban public finance and property taxation, housing market governance, urban spatial structure and planning, and spanning disciplines including resource management, human geography, urban planning, and economics. Finalists came from universities across China’s eastern, central and western regions as well as overseas institutions. Though young and newly founded, the Center embodied Peking University’s inclusive academic ethos through its support for diversified research on Chinese cities.
Over the two-day review session, I delivered a presentation titled Spatial Restructuring, Jobs-Housing Balance and Commuting in Chinese Cities: Multi-Temporal and Multi-Level Analysis based on my ongoing doctoral research. I also attended thesis defense presentations by other candidates, offering a rare opportunity to exchange ideas with domestic and international peers. While I cannot recall the full list of panel members, I still remember Professor Many Yun (then Director of the Center), Professor He Canfei of Peking University, and Associate Professor Tao Ran of Renmin University of China. I was eventually awarded the dissertation scholarship.
The financial support enabled my subsequent field surveys across case cities and attendance at academic conferences. More importantly, the defense forum allowed me to connect with numerous experts, young scholars and postgraduate students researching Chinese cities, greatly broadening my academic horizons. The forum was hosted at the Tan Siu Lin Center for International Studies, the Center’s office premises at that time. Nestled on low-lying land west of the Boya Pagoda on the southern shore of Weiming Lake, the complex consists of three traditional Chinese-style buildings linked by open verandas. Featuring grey brick facades and classic red lattice windows, the compound exudes primitive elegance and blends seamlessly into the iconic scenery of Weiming Lake and the pagoda.
Following this encounter, I continued to follow the Center’s developments closely. Though its scale did not expand drastically, its annual research grant programs grew substantially. Beyond the original research grants and dissertation scholarships, two new funding streams were launched: the Peking University Undergraduate Research Grant and international research grants. The full funding system now covers undergraduates, postgraduates, early-career academics and overseas scholars studying China’s urban issues. After completing my doctorate, I entered industry and had limited contact with academia, yet I genuinely admired and rejoiced at the Center’s remarkable progress.
II. Pioneering, Instructional Academic Workshop on Spatial Planning and Land Policy
My second engagement with the Center took place in summer 2021, when it co-hosted the Academic Workshop on Spatial Planning and Land Policy with the School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University. Hosting summer academic workshops is a regular initiative of the Center, representing another major effort to advance academic exchange on China’s urban studies. The six-day 2021 workshop comprised three modules: field visits to the Shanwei-Shenzhen Special Cooperation Zone, eight thematic lectures, and group simulation exercises. At that time, I served as Director of the Territorial Spatial Planning Research Center of the Shanwei-Shenzhen Special Cooperation Zone, marking my second connection with the Center.
We warmly welcomed the workshop participants to the Cooperation Zone for field research. Meanwhile, I proposed that the workshop’s guest lecturers deliver a special seminar for the Zone’s Party and government leaders, and officials from planning, natural resources and land consolidation departments, focusing on rural land system reform and urban development financing — key priorities for the zone. After discussions with Dr. Liu Zhi, Director of the PKU-Lincoln Center, and Associate Professor Tong De, the workshop’s core organizer, they readily agreed. We submitted the proposal to the Zone Administrative Committee, which quickly approved holding the seminar at Wangpeng Lecture Hall, the Zone’s highest-standard conference venue.
For comparison, a lecture by an academician we had applied to host had been scheduled for a delay of eighteen months after administrative review. This contrast demonstrates the local government’s strong demand for external think tank expertise, as well as the high practical relevance of the PKU-Lincoln Center’s research outputs on China’s urban development.
On the morning of July 27, dozens of workshop participants arrived at the Zone for the Wangpeng Lecture Hall session. Professor Liu Shouying, Party Secretary and Dean of the School of Economics, Renmin University of China, delivered a keynote titled New Urbanization and Land System Reform, with Dr. Liu Zhi of the PKU-Lincoln Center delivering guest remarks. Policy proposals raised by Professor Liu including land structural reform and state-owned land development corporations to capture land value increment, alongside Dr. Liu’s suggestions on property tax pilots, received positive feedback from all attendees.
Twelve years may seem fleeting against the sweeping backdrop of China’s urbanization drive. My two brief ties with the Center represent only tiny fragments of its fifteen-year history, yet they illustrate its tangible achievements in fostering academic cohorts and providing evidence-based policy advice for China’s urbanization. On the occasion of its 15th anniversary, I sincerely wish the PKU-Lincoln Center ever greater success.
Photo 2 Group photo of participants during the 2021 Academic Workshop on Spatial Planning and Land Policy’s field trip to the Shanwei-Shenzhen Special Cooperation Zone
(Dr. Liu Zhi, 7th from the right in the second row; the author, 5th from the right; Associate Professor Tong De, co-host from the School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University, 4th from the right; Ms. Jin Tao of the Center, 1st from the left)
Source: Associate Professor Tong De’s homepage
(
https://web.pkusz.edu.cn/tongde/info/1017/1037.htm)
