Department of Comparative Literature

THE FLAVOURS AND FEELINGS OF CHINA’S NEW YOUTH: CAPITALIST SOFT POWER AND THE RISE OF A GLOBAL TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Speaker: Dr Josef Gregory Mahoney, Professor of Politics at East China Normal University

This talk examines from a post-Marxist perspective the tremendous generation gap that has opened in China with the start of the 90’s generation and which now includes the 00’s as well. After detailing a number of associated phenomena, it examines the likely causes of these developments, including especially market reforms and soft power. It discusses the concerns and responses these changes have provoked among policymakers, educators and parents. It concludes by focusing on growing tensions between sometimes conflicting policies and reactions to them, and speculates on longer-term implications.

About the speaker:
Josef Gregory Mahoney, PhD, is Professor of Politics at East China Normal University (ECNU); Executive Director of the International Center for Advanced Political Studies (ECNU); Founder and Director of the International Graduate Program in Politics (ECNU); and Associate Editor of the US-based Journal of Chinese Political Science (SSCI). In addition to scholarly publications, he’s a regular contributor to ICS, ShenzhenTV, CCTV, CGTN, BBC and CRI news programs. He was a member of the Chinese team that translated Jiang Zemin’s Selected Works into English and a Senior Researcher with the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau (中共中央编译局).

Date: Thursday 2 May 2019
Time: 4-6pm
Venue: 7.58, 7/F, Sir Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

All are welcome.

For enquiries, please contact Christine Vicera at viceracn@hku.hk