China in the 1980s: lessons for today
John Gittings, Research Associate, China Institute, SOAS, University of London, Former Assistant Foreign Editor and Chief Foreign Leader-Writer, The Guardian (UK), and Associate Editor, Oxford International Encyclopaedia of Peace, will deliver a lecture on the lessons we can learn today from China in the 1980s. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session.
China in the decade after Mao died, from the Democracy Wall in 1978 until the suppression after Tiananmen 1989, was a time of uncertainty but also of hope. What would be the new direction and would the arguments for reform prevail? Could the political culture of the CCP ever accommodate the essential demands of the democratic case? For Hong Kong especially, uncertainty and hope contended with each-other. The exciting political narrative of the 1980s may seem less vivid now, and yet what could have happened, and why it did not happen, are questions that help us to understand better the problematic China of Xi Jinping today, with particular significance for Hong Kong.
John Gittings began reporting from China in 1971 and was on the editorial staff of The Guardian for many years, where he was also foreign leader-writer. His books include Real China (1996), The Changing Face of China (2005), and The Glorious Art of Peace (2012), and he continues to work on China and on peace history. He is a Research Associate at the China Institute, SOAS, London University.
This is one of the lectures in the on-going China Centre Seminar series, hosted by the China Centre, Jesus College. The lectures, given by eminent speakers, cover a broad range of topics and disciplines.
Booking
This is a virtual seminar. Attendance is free. Advance booking is required by emailing: china-centre@jesus.cam.ac.uk. Limited places are available and priority will be given to members of Jesus College and the University of Cambridge.
