Finance professor Chao Chen, director of CSUN's Center for China Finance and Business which is hosting the event, said globalization is shaping China's future economic growth. He said China has been gradually opening up its financial services sector and has attracted tremendous interest from global financial services firms since the country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

"It's been five years since China signed on with the WTO and there is tremendous pressure on the country to open up all its banking sectors by this year to foreign investors,” he said. He added that more and more Chinese enterprises have been pursuing globalization through cross-border acquisitions, cross-border public listings and global strategic alliances.

"Financial services firms will play an important role as intermediaries, providing for the needs of globalization,” he said.

Chao is hoping that the tranquil gardens and traditional ambiance of the Ming Garden House in Beijing will foster intimate discussions and networking opportunities for the 40 to 50 academics and financial business professionals expected to attend the symposium on July 29 and 30.

"This is our first time doing something like this, so we're starting out small. But if the response is good, we hope to do this annually or biannually,” Chao said.

Though the symposium is small and not until July, Chao said the center already has received so many papers from people who wish to present at the event that he has had to turn some of them away in the interest of time and quality.

"We want to make this seminar something meaningful, where those who attend can learn about what is happening in China right now and what may happen in the future in regard to the financial services industry,” he said.

The College of Business and Economics established the Center for China Finance and Business Research in 2000 to facilitate the pursuit of scholarly projects and publications related to China's finance and business.

The center provides professional and advisory services to faculty, students, and community through seminars, visiting China, internships, independent studies, and training programs. It also promotes the exchange of China's finance and business information through creating databases, working papers, published papers, websites, visiting research fellows, and updating regulatory and policy changes in China and conducts research that leads to a better understanding of the dynamic business relationship between the U.S. and China.

Cal State Northridge has a long relationship with educational institutions in China. The university established its China Institute in 1982. The institute aims to promote better understanding of the Chinese culture and to strengthen friendship between the American and Chinese people. In more than 20 years it has played host to hundreds of Chinese scholars and has been influential in arranging dozens of education and cultural exchange programs between China and the United States.

California State University, Northridge has 33,000 full- and part-time students and offers 63 bachelor's and 48 master's degrees as well as 28 education credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.