Speaking to a standing-room only crowd on an early Friday evening in October, Ding Wei, executive chairman, corporate finance committee, managing director and head of investment banking for China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC), spoke about how he has been watching with amazement from China as the financial crisis has unfolded in the United States. CICC is the first joint-venture investment bank in China and has consistently ranked No.1 on both the Non-Japan Asian IPO and international Chinese IPO league tables since 1997. The event was cosponsored by Columbia University's Asia-Pacific Development Society and Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER).

Ding Wei focused on three critical areas in his lecture: the direct impact of the crisis on China, the short- and long-term economic impacts of the crisis and the policy implications in the future.