A bridge to modern China

Join economic historian Debin Ma, feminist scholar Hu Ying and Chair Julia Lovell, who co-curated the Citi exhibition China’s hidden century, to explore how the long 19th century (1796–1912) links to the concerns of modern China.
 
Within this context, Prof Ma highlights significant economic issues, governance, conflicts and areas of development. These include the challenges of industrialisation and urbanisation, the growth of a modern banking sector and how China has become part of the global economy.
 
Prof Hu discusses the Qing period as crucial for the emergence of women as public, politically and socially active figures. Particularly evident through literature and media is the relationship with a modern feminism, a sense of women’s rights and an evolving social role. Remarkable figures include Empress Dowager Cixi, the revolutionary Qiu Jin, medical doctor and women’s leader Ida Kahn and activist and women’s rights activist Tang Qunying.