Events
Faculty of Arts: Colloquium Talk (Term 2, 2015-16) – Professor Jan Kiely on Thought Reform and the Prison in China, 1901 – 1956
13 May 2016
4 – 6 pm
G24, Arts and Humanities Hub, G/F, Fung King Hey Building
Professor Jan KielyCentre for China Studies
Tel: 3943 7107 (Ms. Sonia Yip)
Professor Kiely will introduce his recent book, The Compelling Ideal: Thought Reform and the Prison in China, 1901-1956 (Yale University Press, 2014), which explores the pre-Communist origins of the process of systematic thought reform or reformation (ganhua 感化) that evolved into the Communists “thought reform” (思想改造) regime – a key component of Mao Zedong’s revolutionary restructuring of Chinese society. Focusing on ganhua as it originated in China’s early twentieth-century prison system, this study brings the history of this critical phenomenon to life through the stories of individuals who conceptualized, implemented, and experienced it, and details how these techniques were subsequently adapted for broader social and political uses.
