Please note this event has been postponed due to UCU strike action. New date to be announced in the coming weeks.

 

War, memory and international order in China: how movies, memes and metaphors are shaping East Asian relations

Today, international order in East Asia continues to be shaped by the turbulent relationship between China, South Korea and Japan. Memory of China's World War II experience is a powerful element shaping today's East Asian relations, but the actions of diplomats now have to take account of a vibrant social media community, popular culture, and narratives about the origins of the post-1945 order that place China at the centre.

Rana Mitter OBE FBA is the Director of the University China Centre and Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford. He is the author of several books, including China’s War with Japan: The Struggle for Survival, 1937-1945 (Penguin, 2013), which won the 2014 RUSI/Duke of Westminster’s Medal for Military Literature and was named a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title and a Book of the Year in the Financial Times and Economist. His latest book is China’s Good War: How World War II is Shaping a Nationalist Future (forthcoming, Harvard, 2020).