Home Events Opium Wars: The Business of Empire
Yang-Wen Zheng, Rebecca F. Kuang, Joseph Lawson with Afshin Shahi
Opium Wars: The Business of Empire
Sunday, 30th June 2019 | 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
Bradford City Hall Banqueting Suite
History, World Affairs & Politics
This panel event will delve into the murky history of the Opium Wars—a series of battles fought between 19th century Britain and China over one of the most infamous and addictive substances of all time.
The result of the two wars would change the course of both empires' futures in ways that are still unfolding. For China, the Opium Wars accelerated the end of its imperial age, laying the groundwork for its development into a world superpower.
The panel, featuring professor of Chinese history Yang-Wen Zheng, historian Joseph Lawson, and author of The Poppy War, Rebecca F. Kuang, will discuss what led to the Opium wars and ask: is the British victory of yesteryear responsible for China's evolutionary growth into the superpower we know today?
Afshin Shahi
Dr Afshin Shahi is a senior lecturer in Middle East politics and International Relations at Bradford University. He is a multilingual scholar and his research interests encompass sectarianism and the politics and security of the Middle East, with a particular focus on political Islam. He is the author of Politics of Truth Management in Saudi Arabia (Routledge 2013), and co-author of the forthcoming book, Iran: the Shia State and the Sunni Minority.
@afshinshahi
Rebecca Kuang
Rebecca F. Kuang resides in the UK, where she is pursuing an MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge on a Marshall Scholarship. Her debut fantasy 'The Poppy War' is a Crawford Award winner and a Nebula, Goodreads Choice, and Compton Crook finalist.
@kuangrf
Joseph Lawson
Joseph Lawson is a lecturer in Chinese history at Newcastle University. He is the translator and editor of Mao Haijian's The Qing Empire and the Opium War: Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty, and the author of A Frontier Made Lawless: Violence in Upland Southwest China, 1800-1956.
@joseplawson
Yangwen Zheng
Born and raised in China, Yangwen Zheng was educated at Oberlin College (USA) and the University of Cambridge (King's College). She taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the National University of Singapore before joining Manchester where she is Professor of Chinese History. She has authored and edited several books on China and Asia.
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