Four Eastern professors will address the social and economic changes in Asia at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Room 2030 Lumpkin Hall.

Marko Grunhagen, distinguished professor of entrepreneurship; Jinhee Lee, an associate professor of history; Mukti Upadhyay, a professor of economics; and Ahmed Abou-Zaid, an assistant professor of economics, will each be giving a 10-minute presentation about a different Asian country.

Grunhagen said this panel was organized by the Asian Studies minor to discuss some issues in Asia.

“Asia has been in the news for a long time the last few years, most recently was the Arab Spring and the war in Syria,” Grunhagen said.

He said the U.S. has had a presence in the Middle East, and people should know what is going on in that part of the country.

The sections of the discussion will be “Sources of Tension in East Asia: History, Territory, and the Legacies of the Cold War” by Lee, “Socioeconomic Challenges in Chine (Hong Kong, Macrao and Taiwan)” by Grunhagen, “Prospects and Challenges in India’s Economic Growth” by Upadhyay, and “Economic Prospects in the Middle East in Light of Recent events” by Abou-Zaid.

“All of that has prompted us to have a panel discussion with a few experts here on campus that can report on some of the challenges that different parts of Asia are facing at this point, economic challenges,” Grunhagen said.

Grunhagen said they will also be talking about the social challenges and changes.

“Many of the challenges in local economies are related, oftentimes, to social issues,” Grunhagen said.

He said one example of this is the one-child policy in China.

This policy has been in place for 30 years, and he said the aging population is posing an economic challenge on how they will prosper.

Gordon Tucker, a professor of biology, will moderate the program for the Asian Studies minor.

Grunhagen said they all have experience with the area they are presenting on.

“I’ve taken students to China, been to a number of events, so I’ll shed some light on things that are happening in China,” Grunhagen said.

He said after the four presentations, there will be a discussion, and he hopes audience members will share some of their experiences as well.

“We are going to have some of our Asian students participate, and we hope that anyone who is interested will add to that,” Grunhagen said.

He said they are trying to report on the issues from as much of an unbiased perspective as possible, which is why they want others to participate.

“The issues that I am going to raise may bea important, but there may be other things I may not be aware of or that someone who has lived in China may raise in addition to what we raise,” Grunhagen said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.