The China that most Westerners think they know is an intimidating, authoritarian nation with a yearning to conquer Taiwan and dominate the global economy. But what is often lost in this story of China is the humans at the heart of this rising superpower. 

On May 28, journalists Yuan Yang and Gideon Rachman come to Intelligence Squared to paint a richer portrait of modern China and the lives of its people. Drawing from Yang’s new book Private Revolutions they will tell the stories of the villagers working tirelessly on factory floors to create the phones and electronics we use in the West; the young people quitting their jobs in the city to seek a slower pace of life in the countryside; and the dissidents risking everything to change their country’s politics. 

There is arguably no one better than Yang to tell these stories. She has recently returned to the UK from China after years working for the Financial Times as the newspaper’s deputy Beijing Bureau Chief and first Europe-China correspondent. Throughout that time she gained a reputation as one of the most sensitive and acute chroniclers of contemporary China working today.

Join the discussion at the Tabernacle as Yang and Rachman pull back the curtain on contemporary China and offers unique insight into the country that will likely dominate the twenty-first century.

Praise for Private Revolutions

“A revelatory, moving and tender tale of hopes, fears and change. A real eye-opener about life in contemporary China.” Peter Frankopan

“Yang provides a fascinating portrait of womanhood and society in a rapidly evolving – and increasingly repressive – global superpower.” Waterstones

“A landmark work.” Felix Martin