RAS Beijing – July 9 – Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour: An online talk featuring author Jonathan Chatwin in conversation with historian Michael Wood

Posted: July 6th, 2024 | No Comments »

Join online to hear how Deng Xiaoping ensured the continuation of China’s reforms with his Southern Tour in 1992. The legacy of the period is complicated, as Jonathan Chatwin will explain as he introduces his new book on Deng’s important mission. Don’t miss this dive into a critical moment in China’s near history that sometimes feels very far away.

ONLINE Tuesday 9th , 7pm-8pm Beijing Time

MORE ABOUT THE EVENT: At the age of 87, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made his Southern Tour, which acted as an end chapter to his life story and to the first phase of China’s “reform and opening” campaign. After that, reform became a much more technocratic affair, and the narratives of the subsequent Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras were perceived as less historic in this regard. The public can still view Deng’s statue in Shenzhen, but the thirtieth anniversary of the Southern Tour in 2022 passed with hardly a mention. Jonathan will introduce his new book, The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the fight for China’s future, in which he traces the journey made by the theoretically retired leader in 1992, as Deng tried, against the odds, to kickstart reform.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jonathan Chatwin is a journalist and non-fiction writer. He holds a PhD in English Literature, and his first book was a literary biography of the travel writer and novelist Bruce Chatwin, to whom he is distantly related. More recently, Jonathan has written extensively on modern China and its history. His travel book Long Peace Street employed the device of a long walk along Beijing’s Chang’an Jie to explore the capital and its pivotal role in the national story. Jonathan’s work has appeared in CNN, the South China Morning Post and the BBC, amongst other publications. He is joined by English historian and broadcaster Michael Wood in this Zoom talk on his new book, The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the fight for China’s future.

Michael Wood is president of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, an organisation founded in 1965 to promote understanding and friendship between the British and the Chinese peoples. His documentary, Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet attracted praise in both the UK and China, and was turned into a book, The Story of China: A Portrait of a Civilisation and its People’ (Simon & Schuster), published in 2016.

HOW MUCH: This online event is free for members of RASBJ; RMB 50 for members of partner RAS branches; RMB 100 for non-members. You may find payment by Alipay easier than by WeChat. You can also pay by credit card. Interested in becoming an RASBJ member? Please sign up at https://rasbj.org/membership​​​

HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT: No later than noon on 5th July, please click “Register” or “I will Attend” and follow the instructions. After successful registration and payment, you will receive a confirmation email. If you seem not to have received it, please check your spam folder.

Members of partner RAS Branches: Please register 72 hours in advance to allow time for membership verification. You’ll receive three emails from us: the first confirming receipt of your registration request, the second requesting payment, and the third confirming receipt of your payment. Please check your spam folder to ensure you see all RASBJ emails.

---