Speaker: Michael Szonyi, Frank Wen-hsiung Wu Professor of Chinese History; Director, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University.
Discussant: Gail Hershatter, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California – Santa Cruz
Moderator: Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor of History, University of Califorina – Irvine

For much of the last seventy years the answer to the question “Did Chinese peasants have a revolution?” has seemed self-evident. But from our vantage point in 2020, it is equally self-evident that rural people did not have the revolution they were promised or that they expected, and that their experience of revolution was highly distinctive. In this presentation, Professor Michael Szonyi first explores some of the ways that focusing on the experience of rural people may help us rethink our understandings of both modern Chinese history and the challenges facing contemporary China.  Then he turns to discuss how one aspect of rural life – the household development cycle – has impacted the experience of revolutionary change in rural China.

Presented via Zoom
Registration required
Register at: https://uci.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fM-yryoyRxqGMIiJRRHAWg