Image of Photo of Prof Hans van de Ven

Wendell Willkie’s 1942 Circumnavigation of the World: Asia and the Second World War

16 February 2023 17.00 - 18.30
Add to Calendar16/02/2023 17:0016/02/2023 18:30Europe/LondonWendell Willkie’s 1942 Circumnavigation of the World: Asia and the Second World Warhttps://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk//events/wendell-willkies-1942-circumnavigation-world-asia-and-second-world-warVirtual seminarfalseDD/MM/YYYY15Jesus Collegeevent_12045confirmed
Virtual seminar

Professor Hans van de Ven (Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor of Modern Chinese History, University of Cambridge; Fellow and Director of Studies in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, St Catharine's College, Cambridge; Deputy Director, China Forum; and Visiting Chair Professor, Department of History, Peking University) will deliver a lecture on Wendell Willkie's 1942 Circumnavigation of the World. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session.

In 1942, Wendell Willkie travelled the world as US President Roosevelt’s special representative at a time when the victory of the allies was not at all inevitable. Willkie had been the Republican nominee for president in the 1940 elections. As he travelled through the Middle East, the Soviet Union, and China, he learned Asian views about the war and expectations of it. He returned a changed man and became a One World advocate.

Professor Hans van de Ven is Director of Studies in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor of Modern Chinese History at the University of Cambridge. Educated in the Netherlands at Leiden University and in the USA at Harvard, he is an expert on the history of nineteenth and twentieth century China. He has written on China’s military history as well as the history of China’s globalization. His most recent book is Breaking with the Past: The Global Origins of Modernity in China

This is one of the events in the on-going China Forum Seminar series, hosted by the China Forum, Jesus College. The seminars, 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-forum@jesus.cam.ac.uk.  Priority will be given to members of Jesus College and the University of Cambridge.