Speaker: Lu Mai, Vice-Chairman, China Development Research Foundation (CDRF)

Discussants:
Jason Furman, Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Winnie Yip, Professor of the Practice of Global Health Policy, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Acting Director, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

Moderator: Anthony Saich, Director, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Lu Mai’s book The Chinese Dream and Ordinary Chinese People explores the lives of 40 ordinary people in an effort to answer a key question: What is the “China Dream”? The book tracks the journeys of individuals selected from each generation since the 1930’s and identifies three driving forces motivating their lives and dreams: autonomy, self-awareness, and hard work, along with family and social support as further important factors. These stories also reveal the ways in which significant national changes created differences in the interviewees’ dreams and experiences in pursuing them. The book chronicles how the future of an individuals is closely linked to the future of the country, and how a bright future for the country can mean a good life for all. The study outlines the ways in which people’s longing for a better life is the basis and a central element of the Chinese Dream.

Lu Mai is Vice-Chairman of the State Council’s China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), and previously served as General Secretary for over two decades. Mr. Lu has extensive experience working on rural reform efforts in China, having served as Director of Experimental Area Office for Rural Reform, Research Center for Rural Development of the State Council in the late 1980’s and leading a number of related research projects for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Mr. Lu earned his B.A. in economics from Beijing College of Economics in 1982, and his M.A. in public administration from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1991.

Presented via Zoom
Registration Required
Register at: https://ash.harvard.edu/event/book-talk-chinese-dream-and-ordinary-chinese-people