Living with Xi? Intellectuals and Public Life in China Today

In 2018, Timothy Cheek and David Ownby joined forces to write an article in Dissent, “Make China Marxist Again.” that addressed Xi Jinping’s efforts at reviving the CCP’s ideology on the anniversary of Marx’s birth and the response of some of China’s establishment intellectuals, particularly the orthodox legal scholar, Jiang Shigong. What has happened to intellectual life in China In the five years since, particularly for intellectuals interested in big issues of governance? In this discussion we review some examples of the range and diversity of intellectual engagement in China today, a body of views often obscured by the omnipresent Party propaganda and media censorship.

Speakers:

• Timothy Cheek, Professor and Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research, Institute of Asian Research, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and Department of History, University of British Columbia
• David Ownby, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Université of Montréal; Research Associate, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany
• Lynette Ong (moderator), Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and Department of Political Science, University of Toronto
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