China Seminar | 12 November 1992

The Economies of Taiwan and Mainland China: An Informal Comparison

Fred Hung

A well-known economist and frequent consultant on Chinese economic behavior, Dr. Fred Hung has been at the University of Hawaii for over three decades. During this time, he taught a wide range of subjects in his field from development economics to micro-economics theory. He served as Chairman of East Asian Studies, helped found Chinese Studies, and chaired the Department of Economics shortly before his retirement. For the past three years, Dr. Hung joined the new Chung-cheng University in Chiayi, Taiwan, as its first dean of the social sciences with special mission to establish and administer its institute of international economics. He also became the institute’s first director.

A native of Shanghai, where he took his B. A. at St. John’s University, Dr. Hung earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle. At the University of Hawaii, his efforts resulted in the establishment of two endowed fellowships, one in Chinese economics and one in Chinese intellectual history, named as the Hung Family Fellowships. In addition, a scholarship by the same name was set up for exchange with Taiwan. On the day of the talk, Fred Hung would have just returned from a trip to China organized for the St. John’s alumni.