China Entered Post-Post-Mao Times (And, If It Has, When Did This Happen)

Abstract

Jeff Wasserstrom, Chancellor's Professor, History, University of California, Irvine - This presentation will take the impending arrival of the 40th anniversary of the start of the "Reform Era" as an opportunity to step back place China's current moment into historical perspective. One theme will be that it is important to see Xi Jinping as having done three very different kinds of things at once, depending on which issues and parts of the PRC are considered: carried forward trends that were underway before his rise; broken with all precedents; and revived practices from earlier periods that seemed in recent decades to have been relegated to the dustbin of history. The value and limits of comparing Xi to various past Chinese leaders and some current leaders of other countries will be discussed.