Event Details

Academic Seminar Series with Lancaster University Confucius Institute and Lancaster University China Centre

Abstract:

Few Chinese intellectuals and political reformers turned to Confucianism and Communism for political inspiration at the end of the twentieth century. But both traditions have mounted remarkable comebacks in mainland China. What explains the return of Confucianism and Communism? And what are the implications for Chinese academia and the political system? Drawing on his recent book 'The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University' (Princeton, 2023) - selected as a book of the year by the Financial Times in 2023 - Daniel A. Bell will attempt to answer these questions.

Speaker Biography:

Daniel A. Bell (貝淡寧) is Professor, Chair of Political Theory with the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. He served as Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University (Qingdao) from 2017 to 2022. His books include The Dean of Shandong (2023), Just Hierarchy (co-authored with Wang Pei, 2020), The China Model (2015), The Spirit of Cities (co-authored with Avner de-Shalit, 2012), China’s New Confucianism (2008), Beyond Liberal Democracy (2007), and East Meets West (2000), all published by Princeton University Press. He is also the author of Communitarianism and Its Critics (Oxford University Press, 1993). He is founding editor of the Princeton-China series (Princeton University Press) which translates and publishes original and influential academic works from China. His works have been translated in 23 languages. He has been interviewed in English, Chinese, and French. In 2018, he was awarded the Huilin Prize and was honored as a “Cultural Leader” by the World Economic Forum. In 2024, he was elected Vice President of the International Confucian Association.