China's War, China's Memories

Join us for an engaging conversation about Sir Rana Mitter's two masterful works, Forgotten Ally and China’s Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism.

A conversation between Sir Rana Mitter and Dr. Steph Hinnershitz of the Museum’s Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy

The Gen. Raymond E. Mason Distinguished Lecture on World War II

In the past 10 years, no one in the West—or even the World—has done more to portray China’s role in World War II to a wider audience than Rana Mitter.

2003’s Forgotten Ally is the epic, untold story of China’s devastating eight-year war of resistance against Japan. Mitter focuses his gripping narrative on three towering leaders: Chiang Kai-shek, the politically gifted but tragically flawed head of China’s Nationalist government; Mao Zedong, the Communists’ fiery ideological stalwart, seen here at the beginning of his epochal career; and the lesser-known Wang Jingwei, who collaborated with the Japanese to form a puppet state in occupied China.

In 2020, Mitter’s China’s Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism shows how Chinese leaders once tried to suppress memories of their nation’s brutal experience during World War II, but now they celebrate the “victory”―a key foundation of China’s rising nationalism.

Join us for an engaging conversation about these two masterful works.

Rana Mitter, PhD, is a Professor of History and Politics of Modern China and is a Department of Politics and International Relations and Faculty of History Fellow at St. Cross College, University of Oxford. His work focuses on the emergence of nationalism in China during the early twentieth century through the present. In 2019 he was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to education.

Steph Hinnershitz, PhD, is Senior Historian at The National WWII Museum’s Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. She has published three books and multiple articles on topics related to Asian American history and the Home Front during World War II.

ABOUT THE SERIES
The General Raymond E. Mason, Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series on World War II is devoted to the legacy of America’s largest war. Speakers include writers, scholars, distinguished members of the Armed Forces, and journalists.

The lecture series is open to the public at no cost through the generosity of Major General and Mrs. Raymond E. Mason, Jr. and the Raymond E. Mason Foundation. Mason served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II in the 4th Armored Division of General George S. Patton’s Third Army. Prior to retiring from the military in 1976, he held several high-ranking Pentagon positions, including Assistant Deputy Chief for Operations and Special Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Logistics.