The Conressional Practicum (2004) sponsored by the Conressional Studies Program of the CAS was held June 4-5, 2004 in the CAS. This year the theme of the conference is on the "Media and the 2004 Elections: Presidential and Congressional Perspectives". Prof. Zheng Zukang, Vice President of Fudan University gave the opening remarks to the conference and highly appraised the importance of the conference. David Broder, the national political correspondent of the Washington Post as well as the Pulitzer Prize winner (1973), gave the keynote speech. Participants also include many accomplished scholars, such as Prof. Quansheng Zhao from American University, Prof. Li Benjing from Danjiang University, Taiwan, Minister counselor Shi Longzhuang from the Chinese Foreign Minister, Yuan Ming from Shanghai Dragon TV, as well as professors from the CAS. As in the past congressional practicums, Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch gave her full support to the activity.

The conference mainly covered two topics. One is on the relationship between the media and the presidential elections. The other is on the Taiwan issue. The conference finally concluded with a satellite conference in the American Consulate in Shanghai with Richard Bush, former director of AIT, and Thomas Mann, senior fellow of AEI.