EVENTS

A number of reports in the international media have narrated how the youth in China, currently facing the highest rates of unemployment, are going through a crisis of de-motivation, even despondency. And at the same time, they remain patriotic, and supporters of the Communist Party of China. This issue has also featured extensively, directly and indirectly, in Chinese social media. Hemant Adlakha and Kishan S Rana wrote an article on this subject, which was published in The Indian Express on 7th June, 2023. In this seminar, they examine different facets of this issue, which connect, among others, with demographic trends, the state of the economy, the rural-urban divide, and societal trends. They will also offer some comparisons with youth trends in India.

About the Speakers

Amb. Kishan S. Rana was associated with the Indian Foreign Service for over 35 years, i.e., from 1960 to 1995. During his tenure, he has worked in the Indian Embassy, Beijing. He has served as the Ambassador and High Commissioner to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany. He has also been posted as the Consul General in San Francisco. He is an Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. He has authored multiple books like Diplomacy of the 21st Century (2011), The Contemporary Embassy (2013) and Diplomacy at the Cutting Edge (2016), Churchill and India: Manipulation or Betrayal? (2022).

Dr. Hemant Adlakha is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Chinese and South East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is also Vice Chairperson and Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. His areas of research include political discourse in the PRC and modern Chinese Literature and Culture. He is a member, International Editorial Committee, International Society for Lu Xun Studies, Seoul (ROK). His articles have appeared in China Report, The Diplomat, Japan Times, Encyclopaedia of Race and Racism, 2nd Edition, Washington etc. His co-translation of Lu Xun’s prose poetry collection from Chinese into Hindi has been published by the NBT in November 2019.

About the Chair

Prof. Sabaree Mitra is Professor of Chinese and Chairperson of the Centre for Chinese and South East Asian Studies in the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University; an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi, and a member of the Editorial Board of China Report. Her teaching and research have spanned the fields of contemporary Chinese literature and criticism, Chinese cultural history, gender issues, and India–China cultural relations and regional interaction. Her latest publication, an edited volume titled, China's May Fourth Movement: New Narratives and Perspectives, was published by Routledge earlier this year as a global edition. Sabaree Mitra was the Chairperson of the Indian Expert Group that compiled the Encyclopedia of India-China Cultural Contacts (2014) under the aegis of the Governments of India and China. In 2017, she was honoured with the Special Book Award of China for her contributions in introducing, translating, and publishing books on Chinese culture as well as in promoting cultural exchanges.

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