Between Ideals and Reality: The Working Class’s Role in China’s Education Revolution (at Harvard, Dec. 11, 2023)
The Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies present the next HYI Visiting Scholar Lecture:
Zhe HOU
(Assistant Professor, Institute of China Studies, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2023-24)
Between Ideals and Reality: The Working Class’s Role in China’s Education Revolution
Monday Dec 11, 2023 | 11:30 AM
Common Room (Room #136), Harvard-Yenching Institute, 2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA,
CHAIR/DISCUSSANT
Elizabeth Perry | Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government, Harvard University; Director, Harvard-Yenching Institute
Co-sponsored with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
The assertion that “the working class must lead everything” was a fundamental tenet in the ideological framework of the education revolution during Mao’s era in China. This principle, along with the beliefs that “education serves proletarian politics” and “education should be combined with productive labor”, underscored the legitimacy and importance of the working class in this transformative period. This talk aims to delve into the multifaceted role of the working class in shaping the educational landscape during this revolution. It will explore the instrumental role of the Workers’ Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Teams within the educational systems and the impact of the School Revolutionary Committees within educational institutions. Furthermore, it will examine the implementation and outcomes of labor education across various types of schools during this era. By doing so, this discussion seeks to illuminate the complex interplay between class, politics, and education within the context of China’s historical and socio-political fabric.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Hou Zhe 侯喆 is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of China Studies, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. She earned her doctorate in political science from Fudan University, Shanghai. Her areas of interest in research include contemporary Chinese education politics and democratic ideas. She is also interested in the CCP’s party organization and building. She was a joint Ph.D. student at the Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, from 2015 to 2016 as part of the Brussels Academy for China-European Studies (BACES). Under the Harvard-Yenching Institute Visiting Scholars Program, she will work on a research project titled “Labor Education in Mao’s China: A Political Analysis” from 2023 to 2024.
