WHAT: “THE MYTH OF CHINESE CAPITALISM” BY DEXTER ROBERTS, a Royal Asiatic Society Beijing Zoom discussion followed by QA

WHEN: July 8, 21:00-22:00 Beijing Standard Time NOTE: THIS ZOOM EVENT BEGINS AT 9PM BEIJING TIME

MORE ABOUT THE EVENT:  In his new book “The Myth of Chinese Capitalism”, Dexter Tiff Roberts describes how surging income inequality, an unfair social welfare system, and social tensions are integrally tied to legacy practices from the Mao era — such as the household registration and dual land policy — which block its continued economic rise. He will discuss with us  how China is struggling to leave behind its “Factory to the World” growth model, and  include its hundreds of millions of left-behind migrant workers into a more innovative, consumption-driven economy.  Against this backdrop, how has China responded to COVID-19, what are its future economic challenges, and what’s behind China’s growing political tensions with many other countries?

MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER:   Roberts is an award-winning writer and speaker who previously spent more than two decades as China bureau chief and Asia news editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, reporting from all of China’s provinces and regions, and other parts of Asia. He now serves as a Fellow at the Mansfield Center at the University of Montana and as a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Asia Security Initiative. He has recently launched a China newsletter called Trade War; his  book “The Myth of Chinese Capitalism: the Worker, the Factory and the Future of the World” was published in March 2020.

HOW MUCH: This event is free and exclusively for members of RASBJ and of other RAS branches.

HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY BEIJING:  Email [email protected] or for more details go to www.rasbj.org   if you’re on Wechat and wish to become a member (or, for PRC passport-holders, to become an Associate) on Wechat add MembershipRASBJ, giving your full name, nationality, mobile number and email address; transfer the annual subscription amount (or, for Associates, the suggested donation) of RMB 300 for those resident in China, RMB 200 for those living overseas and RMB 100 for students.

RASBJ’s UPCOMING EVENTS:

July 15: Art historian Alfreda Murck on the secrets of China’s most famous brush painting, revealed through digitization

July 22: Frances Wood on “Mahjong in Maida Vale: the Chinese intellectual community in the United Kingdom, 1930s-50s”

July 29: Prof. Hans van de Ven on “China’s Maritime Customs Service: Robert Hart and China’s Globalization”

August 5: Prof. Arne Westad on “The origins of reform and opening in China in the 1970s”

Sept 2:  Prof. Rana Mitter on “China’s Good War: How WWII is Shaping a New Nationalism”