Rana Mitter

But the century of humiliation narrative, stretching from the opium wars through the Japanese invasion to the communist victory, is less historical analysis than political engineering.

Rana Mitter shows how the narrative of Chinese experiences in World War II was deliberately constructed to prime the threat architecture of the Chinese population for a specific emotional payload, the memory of foreign exploitation and civilizational degradation, with the Chinese Communist Party positioned as the only agent of restoration.

General Secretary Xi Jinping's great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is both a slogan and a commitment framed in the language of the mandate that the Chinese Communist Party will complete the civilizational task that every previous dynasty was measured by.

Taiwan's continued separation is, within this framework, proof that the task is unfinished.

I'm a fellow and tutor in medieval history at St. John's College in Oxford.

I'm Rana Mitter.

I'm ST Lee Chair in US-Asia relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.

[gentle music] Hannah and Rana, thank you so much as always for being back with us for another episode of History Behind the Headlines.

I'm the host, Miles Yu.

You probably noticed something unique about today's, uh, podcast because our co-host, Colin, has moved on to another adventure and is no longer with us at this show.

I'd like to thank Colin for his great contribution to this podcast over the past year, and I wish all the best for him as he embarks on his new adventure.

Before we find his replacement for this podcast, uh, I'm going solo for this week.

And I've been reading some wonderful books set in Other parts of the world.

So I wrote, I'll tell you, I read Rana Mitter's book on China in the Second World War, which is first class.

I read in draft a magnificent biography of Cecil Rhodes by a South African writer called Johnny Steinberg, who wrote a book on Mandela and Winnie before that.

I have read a beautiful book about a Victorian village in the 19th century and the fight between the squire and the parson.

We'll see what happens.

Rana Mitter, good to talk to you.

Thank you.

Thanks, Luke.

[upbeat music]

That was Rana Mitter, professor of US-Asia relations at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The story at thetimens.com is our email address should you have questions, worries perhaps, concerns.

That is it from us today.

But other causes of tension remain, from US restrictions on the imports of Chinese EVs and on the exports of advanced chips to China to Beijing's dominance of the rare earth sector.

So how far can this latest summit between the two leaders go to resolving such concerns? Well, we're joined today by the historian of modern China, Professor Rana Mitter, former head of the China Center at Oxford University and now S.T.

Lee Chair in U.S.-Asia relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Rana, thank you so much for talking to us on China in Context.

He's not interested, perhaps, I'm sure he's not interested in a competition kind of military confrontation if you can avoid it but europe japan south korea have been much more surprised by the developments the last two years because i think they really did not perceive that a u.s president would essentially cast them as adversaries canada too china is not remotely surprised to be cast in that particular mode and therefore that extent Any president, even Donald Trump, is sort of a variation on a theme as far as they're concerned.

If the next president were to be Vance, Rubio, Gavin Newsom, I suspect, whoever it might be, they will still regard that person as someone who has the containment, the constraining of China as a key geopolitical goal, even though their methods or their language may be different.

Well, Rana Mitter, thank you so much for joining us on China in Context.

Huge pleasure to be with you, Duncan.

Now, for our listeners, if you'd like to find out more about how the past shapes our current world, then you should have a listen to our fortnightly podcast called History Behind the Headlines.

It's where Matt Elton, along with panelists Hannah Skoder and Rana Mitter, discuss the historical context that you need to understand the news.

So I'll pop a link to that podcast in the description below, but you can also listen to it ad-free on the History Extra app or wherever you get your podcasts.

But to round up our conversation about the Middle East, your book offers readers a way of understanding our current political landscape.