Rana Mitter, ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
Yasheng Huang, Epoch Foundation Professor of Global Economics and Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
Moderator: Dorinda (Dinda) Elliott, Executive Director, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University

“It may have been the most important television program ever broadcast in the history of the world.”
—Rana Mitter, BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, “The May Fourth Movement,” December 9, 2021

Join us for a special screening of River Elegy (河殇), the landmark 1988 Chinese documentary series that ignited nationwide debate with its bold critique of China’s historical path and traditional culture. The event will feature a panel discussion with distinguished scholars Rana Mitter (Harvard University), Yasheng Huang (MIT), and Fairbank Center Executive Director Dorinda (Dinda) Elliott.

We will present a newly restored digital transfer of the series’ first two episodes, “In Search of a Dream” and “Destiny”, both in Chinese with newly translated English-language subtitles.

First aired on CCTV1 in June 1988, River Elegy uses the color “yellow” (symbolizing the Yellow River and the Yellow Emperor) as a metaphor for cultural and political stagnation, contrasting it with “blue” (representing the open sea and maritime exploration) as a symbol of modernity and openness. Through poetic narration and a provocative visual collage of archival footage, the series critiques China’s Confucian traditions and historical isolationism, arguing that these forces hindered the country’s progress in the 20th century. It calls instead for reform, global engagement, and celebrates the economic liberalization taking place under Deng Xiaoping.

River Elegy struck a deep chord with a generation navigating the tensions of modernization. Its writer, Su Xiaokang, quickly became one of China’s most prominent public intellectuals. The documentary received high-level endorsement from Party figures including former president Yang Shangkun, Deng Pufang (son of Deng Xiaoping), and premier Zhao Ziyang—each of whom supported and even hosted special screenings of the series. But following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests—which some scholars argue were partly catalyzed by River Elegy’s widespread influence—the series was banned amid a sweeping political crackdown.

Decades later, River Elegy remains a powerful historical document. Its themes continue to resonate, particularly as the liberal values that the series championed—democracy, human rights, the rule of law—appear increasingly embattled, not only in China, but also in the United States and around the world.

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.

Yasheng Huang is Epoch Foundation Professor of Global Economics and Management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. From 2013 to 2017, he served as an associate dean in charge of MIT Sloan’s global partnership programs and its action learning initiatives. His previous appointments include faculty positions at the University of Michigan and at Harvard Business School. He is the author of 11 books in both English and Chinese and of many academic papers and news commentaries. His book, The Rise and the Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline, was published by Yale University Press in 2023. He is collaborating with Chinese academics on a book project, The Needham Question, based on a comprehensive database on Chinese historical inventions and politics.