Speaker: Michel Bonnin (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris)

Reservation & Contact: Miriam Yang cefc@cefc.com.hk / tel: 2876 6910

Speaker:

Michel BONNIN is Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. He is currently Director of the Sino-French Center for Social Sciences at Tsinghua University, Beijing. In the 1990s, he has founded in Hong Kong the CEFC (French Centre for Research on Contemporary China). His main research field is the social and political History of the PRC. He is the author of The Lost Generation—The Rustication of China’s Educated Youth (1968-1980), published in 2013.

Abstract:

Michel Bonnin will present the English version of his book The Lost Generation, which has just been published in Hong Kong. The presentation’s main focus will be the movement to transform almost twenty million urban educated youth in Mao’s China into peasants, potentially for life. He will examine the Chinese leadership’s motivations and the methods that they used to implement their objectives, as well as the day-to-day lives of those young people in the countryside, their difficulties, their doubts, their resistance and, ultimately, their revolt. This movement, which shaped an entire generation, including a large part of today’s cultural, economic and political elite, is a vital component to understanding Maoism and its lasting influence.

ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME!

This seminar will be held in English. Sebastian Veg, Director of the CEFC, will chair the session. Snacks and drinks will be served after the seminar. Seats are limited. Please confirm your attendance.