Watch it on NIICE Nepal Youtube Channel

Event Report

The Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE) conducted a webinar on  9 September, 2021. NIICE invited Professor Hans van de Ven as a guest speaker. Professor Ven is an expert on the history of 19th and 20th-century China. He holds several positions at Cambridge University, where he is a Professor of Modern Chinese History; he attended Harvard, where he got his Ph.D. and focused on modern Chinese history. Professor Ven is also a fellow of the British Academy and an award-winning author.

Professor Ven posits that China's history, especially in recent years, is teleological and not historical. He stated that it is a narrative of inevitability where China will do everything in its power to bring greatness in terms of military, economic, scientific, and cultural influence. After years of studying China's political ambitions, Professor Ven observed how the Chinese Communist Party depicts its version of history by turning it into a coming-of-age story that centers on conflict, duty, and absolution. It emphasizes the idealistic and people-centered party rooted back to Mao, leading to the thorny new era under Xi Jinping and contemporary China in a globalized world. This narrative will highlight the achievements during the reformation period and bury the party's past sins. Professor Ven called it a “cleansing operation,” a narrative that will equal Western histories.

Prepared by Paulette Gutierrez, Intern at NIICE.