It's a line I hear a lot - loving Chinese people, hating the Communist Party. But as I argue in this piece for the Oxford Political Review, on almost every level it makes no sense.
Really amazed,and humbled, that the Ukrainian ambassador at the UN Security Council was reading my `What's Wrong with Diplomacy' last week. The book was an argument for diplomatic services to be think tanks, and think more. I guess these days they have to think like never before!
Very excited by this. All being well, will come out with Yale University Press next year. The first comprehensive history of Britain's relations with China since 1909!
Why the West Needs to Stop its Moralising against China. We certainly need expertise and ideas at the moment. But we really don't need moralising and campaigning. This article explains why.
@SergiyKyslytsya
Many thanks indeed. And very best wishes for your important work and for ensuring that this brutal invasion of your country ends soon and peace is restored.
Finally published and out there in the great wide world. Xi, A Study of Power which is an accessible and current look at possibly the world's most powerful man. Get your copies here.
#XiJinping
#China
Coming out on July 23rd. The first comprehensive history of Britain's relations with China to appear since 1909 in once volume. `The Great Reversal: Britain, China and the 400 Year Contest for Power', Yale University Press
Available to order at
I co-edit `The Journal of Current Chinese Affairs'. The latest version of this is the first to go fully online, with open access. We aim to make this one of the key journals for academic work on contemporary Chinese affairs.
The brutal murder of Asian American women in the US last night is a shocking manifestation of the mindless racial hatred which has been intensifying lately. Everyone working in the area of Europe/US/Asia relations has to make a stand here. This must stop ✋.
When others bang on about how supposedly brilliant chief advisors to some leaders are, Audrey Tang, Taiwan digital minister for Tsai Ing-wen is the real deal. Phenomenally intelligent, she is one reason why Taiwan has had less than ten COVID19 fatalities
I am on sabbatical till mid-2023, and working on a comprehensive history of Britain's relations with China since the 16th century. This is a piece on one of the first people from Britain recorded as learning Chinese - the merchant James Flint,
From today's Guardian: How can the west best tackle the threat from China? First, it must stop panicking.
An MPs’ report on Chinese intentions credits President Xi with a flattering level of strategic nous. The real problems lie closer to home.
Do Europeans know China? They should do - they have been engaging with each other for 800 years. This book collects key documents from that history by figures like Voltaire, Hegel, Marx and Leibniz. Available now: `China Through European Eyes'
China presents plenty of challenges, and has plenty of problems. But poverty alleviation in the country has been a significant contribution to human well being over the last few decades, and it is something that needs to be understood and studied.
Great to have my first article in Newsweek. It's time speak back against the army of blame-merchants on both sides of this debate. We are all part of one humanity, right?
China has its Party Congresses every five years. I get an article in the New York Times every ten! This is on Xi Jinping and the relationship to the Party - the entity that really matters in today's PRC:
Just doing the index to a brief history of modern China, coming out as part of the Polity, Cambridge press country series this September. Writing was a joy compared to the agony of doing the corrections and index. But almost there. My 20th book since 2006. Truly labours of love!
First review of this book, `China Inc: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One.' The main argument is about how we embrace cultural and political complexity.
Intelligence Squared Debate. 2nd February, 4PM UK Time: Kerry Brown versus Anastasia Lin: `This House Believes the West Should Engage (repeat engage, which doesn't mean like or agree with0 China, rather than Confront.' Registration Details here:
My time spent in Australia, while directing the University of Sydney China Studies Centre from 2012 to 2015 was a happy one. Looking from the UK, where I am now based, I have to acknowledge a sense of shock and sadness at changes since then. Here is why:
Paperback edition just issued, with new introduction covering the post-pandemic, post-Trump brave new world, of `China's World: The Foreign Policy of the World's Newest Superpower', in Tauris/Bloomsbury:
Isiah Berlin talked of `objective pluralism.' China resurrects this issue today. Interview for CGTN: `We have to be pragmatic. It's not about liking or disliking another place, it's about knowing enough about it to know what you can or can't deal with.'
Europe and China have been engaging with each other for 800 years. So why are they still baffled by each other? This book puts together key documents from major figures like Hegel and Leibniz to understand their history. Out in April 2022.
But I also look at the massive tension between a party committed to a vision of self sacrifice and collectivism presiding over a society of myriad individualism, self centred networks and a carnival vitality. Is this all really sustainable? That's what this book tried to find out
My website has been completely redesigned and is now up and running. Since 2006 I have written 20 books, and edited a few more -they are all listed here. Needless to say I regard them all with deep paternal/maternal indulgence.
Had to block 3 people today on Twitter. Which is more than the whole of last 3 years. Can't believe that the simple combination of Chinese students, Australia and claims of spying in a piece sends some into tailspin. Won't retreat though. Have an even bigger statement on Friday.
One thing's for sure: the Communist Party of China has a lot of problems. But the behaviour of some of these online bullies achieves the staggering feat of putting it in a good light. Maybe they're the ones being paid to do Beijing's work?!!!
Journalists on the ground in China give crucial access to a more complex picture. The dearth of them there at the moment is not a good thing, one of the reasons we are seeing the rise of cognitive dissonance between China and the outside world.
Not often one gets into the New York Review of Books - though not as a writer, or being reviewed, but simply in an advert! At a time when, whatever we think about China, everyone needs to know more about the place, this is a concise modern history.
Very grateful for the review of `CEO China: The Rise of Xi Jinping' by a third year undergraduate at King's College, London, Harry Storey. It is great that our students are engaging with international issues.
Politics and Science: The Case of China and the Coronavirus. Kerry Brown &
@Rcjwang
. From Asian Affairs - something written very deliberately with a medically qualified co-author to make sure the details of the Virus origins are dealt with competentlty.
A landmark in life!? 10 thousand followers on Twitter. Three quarters of whom are probably real people. But all of those I know are not just real people, but wonderful too. Thanks for following. K
跟傅莹大使在一起收到她最新的书。with Ambassador Fu Ying in Beijing, Vice Chair of the foreign affairs committee of the National People's Congress, and her latest book.
Does the UK really know what it thinks about China? Or does it even care? A comparative look at the case of the UK and Australia, for the South China Morning Post:
Wang Gungwu: `Sinologists will have to learn how to wield their knowledge to defend the integrity of their profession ... That task will always be difficult. But it remains an unshirkable responsibility for pluralist Sinologists to confront the challenge.'
Very glad to have Professor Michael Dillon join the Lau China Institute as as affiliate. Michael is a scholar whose research on China started in the 1960s, and who has continued to be one of the most productive writers on contemporary China.
As part of its expansion,
@lauchinainst
at
@KingsCollegeLon
, is seeking a Chair for China International Relations. Come to work at one of the world's most dynamic centres, in one of the world's most dynamic universities,
The latest Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, which
@lauchinainst
issues in partnership with GIGA is out, with articles on Africa by
@Hangwei_Li
, Chinese investment in Eastern Europe by
@KTsimonis
and
@rogel
, and happiness in modern China.
'Helping to build bridges between East and West'
How the research of
@rpachecopardo
and
@Bkerrychina
has helped shaped politics, media, and policy
More:
The penny has finally dropped. I am no longer a citizen of a sovereign state called Britain, but of a badly scripted, cliche-ridden farce. I need a new passport.
#citizenoffarceland
The Lau China Institute is glad to launch a new policy paper series, with the first paper by Alice Politi on Italy and the Belt and Road Initiative. The series will be launched by webinair this Wednesday. Details here:
It has been called the world's most unread masterpiece. But there are plenty of reasons why those outside China should read its greatest modern era novel, `The Dream of the Read Chamber':
《红楼梦》can-help-understand-china-today/
With all this talk about research groups being set up to `research' China, it would be good to see them spreading understanding and knowledge - not political campaigning and grandstanding. Comments in Newsweek.
#UKCHINA
.
When it comes to leaders, I guess this proves that at least for longevity of book topicality, writing about China is a safer bet than writing about British politics these days. My study Xi Jinping available here:
@MrHarryCole
good luck with the updates.
@primroseriordan
@nicolle_liu
What on earth is the point of arresting Martin Lee? Utterly inexplicable. And about the worst time. Lamentable. Just lamentable.
Some of these were about Xinjiang. So might I ask that those primed in attack mode might look at these before they start bandying around accusations. The one thing in 30 years of dealing with China I have consistently acknowledged is its complexity.
I get asked a lot about what a good source of current Chinese news might be. Politico's The China Watcher series by
@dwertime
is one of the best. Comprehensive, and balanced. Latest edition and information about how to sign up here:
The newest International Journal of Taiwan Studies is, alas because of the gravity of the coronavirus crisis, highly topical. Taiwan not being part of the World Health Authority is a real issue when so much collaboration is needed at a time like this:
Out now! The latest edition of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, focussing on the Belt and Road. This is the journal that I co-edit with colleagues in Hamburg at the German Institute of Global Affairs.
Out today: China’s Dream: The Culture of Chinese Communism and the Secret Sources of its Power
Kerry Brown
China’s Dream is the first book to explore the Communist Party as a cultural, rather than a political, entity.
Yesterday morning I joined CCG (Centre for China and Globalization, a Beijing based Chinese Think Tank) for a dialogue on China with Dr Wang Haiyou
The video is now available on YouTube:
Honoured to give the annual Lord Caradon Lecture at the University of Plymouth on Wednesday 27th October at 19.30 in Plymouth. Theme: The Powers of Xi Jinping. Details here:
@Dave_Brophy
My advice David is mute - same result as block. I muted him eons ago and it works a treat. You're a fine scholar. He is an attention seeking mediocrity. Block and people feel validated. Mute, and they don't know - but you get spared their vitriol and poison. Go well.
British policy towards China after Brexit, Covid, et all. Discussion with Richard Graham MP and Matthew Rouse, head of China Britain Business Council for defence study colleagues at Kings.
Glad to be one of the series editors for the World Scientific Belt and Road books.Belt and Road is an important but complex initiative,especially since being written into the State Constitution in China last year.
@Sydney_Uni
Excellent. Very proud of my former academic home. Proves despite the dismal sinophobia in some darker corners of Australia there is much to be hopeful about.