WHAT: RASBJ Zoom talk followed by QA
WHEN: July 29, 19:00-20:00 Beijing Standard Time
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT:  Robert Hart became Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1863 and led it until shortly before his death in 1911. Under his leadership, the Service grew into an efficient and admired customs collection agency critical to Qing finances. But he did much else, including lighting the China coast, training the Qing’s diplomats, and purchasing a navy. Hart figures in China’s history textbooks today, but he is forgotten in the UK and Ireland. His greatest achievement was building a space where all could trade and interact regardless of national, ethnic, or religious background at a time that the UK and the Qing were often at war and when diplomatic relations were always difficult. In this talk, Prof. Hans van de Ven will discuss what we can learn from the life and experience of this legendary figure.

MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER:  Professor Hans van de Ven is a Professor of Modern Chinese History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the British Academy. He was educated first at Leiden University and received his PhD from Harvard University. Professor van de Ven has written extensively on the early history of the Chinese Communist Party, the history of the military and warfare in China, the Maritime Customs Service, and globalisation and modern China. His books include From Friend to Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1920–1927; War and Nationalism in China: 1925–1945; Breaking with the Past: The Maritime Customs Service and the Global Origins of Modernity in China; and the most recent China at War: Triumph and Tragedy in the Emergence of the New China 1937-1952.

HOW TO JOIN THIS EVENT: This event is free and exclusively for members of RASBJ and of other RAS branches. If you’d like to join RASBJ in order to attend this event, please add MembershipRASBJ on Wechat or email [email protected] and arrange payment no later than July 27.

JOIN RASBJ’S UPCOMING EVENTS (on Zoom except for the Wild Wall):
Aug 5: Prof. Arne Westad on “The origins of reform and opening in China in the 1970s”
Aug 19: Documentary film “Shanghai 1937” and discussion with the director
Aug 26: Bizarre Beijing’s Jim Nobles on China’s Hungry Ghost Festival
Aug 28-30 Walking the Wild Wall with William Lindesay (in-person)
Sept 2:  Author Rana Mitter on “China’s Good War: How WWII is Shaping a New Nationalism”.