EVENTS

5 DEC 7PM | Rana Mitter | Christian Narratives in Modern Chinese Politics: from the Taiping to Chiang Kai-shek

Professor Rana Mitter
ST Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School

Date:    5 December 2024 (Thur)
Time:   7:00pm – 8:30pm
Venue: Philip K.H. Wong Theatre, 2/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, University of Hong Kong (Map)

Register (in-person only): https://hku.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6R87WbIWgX7JiiG

Abstract
Christianity was one of the most important cultural influences in China in the modern era. This lecture will examine the different ways that Christian ideas shaped political movements, including the turbulent Taiping movement that nearly brought down the Qing, the shaping of political thinking in institutions such as the YMCA, and the significant impact that Christian thinking had on Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek. Religion and ideology both played a profound role in shaping modern China; this talk will examine the connections between them.

About the Speaker
Rana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the author of several books, including Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II (2013) which won the 2014 RUSI/Duke of Westminster’s Medal for Military Literature, and was named a Book of the Year in the Financial Times and Economist. His latest book is China’s Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism (Harvard, 2020). His writing on contemporary China has appeared recently in Foreign Affairs, the Harvard Business Review, The Spectator, The Critic, and The Guardian. He has commented regularly on China in media and forums around the world, including at the World Economic Forum at Davos. His recent documentary on contemporary Chinese politics “Meanwhile in Beijing” is available on BBC Sounds. He is co-author, with Sophia Gaston, of the report “Conceptualizing a UK-China Engagement Strategy” (British Foreign Policy Group, 2020). He won the 2020 Medlicott Medal for Service to History, awarded by the UK Historical Association. He previously taught at Oxford, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.