March 24, 2022, 6:30-8:00 p.m. CET, Zoom

Lectrue series: "Chinas Moderne Begreifen – Europäische Reflexionen" ("Understanding China's Modernity - European Reflections")

This event will be held in German.

At the time of the Chinese Revolution more than a hundred years ago, the hopes of many Chinese lay in the modern sciences. However, during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, Chinese scientists were persecuted, and until recently, China was still considered a developing country with a considerable need to catch up in all fields of technology and research. The current leadership, on the other hand, has formulated a clear goal: China wants to become a world power in science. And indeed, the country seems to have already overtaken Europe in some areas.

So what role does science play in China's modern economic and social development? How has the institutional structure in higher education and research changed in the course of the reform and opening-up policy? How are science, politics and ideology interrelated in Xi's China? Can scholars work autonomously or must they follow political directives? Is centralized control an advantage that causes the West's science and innovation system to fall behind? What should cooperation between German and Chinese universities look like despite growing tensions, and what are the limits and potentials?

Introduction 

Iris B. Müller MBA
Referentin des Landesbüros NRW der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit

Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer
Junior-Professor für Internationale Beziehungen und globale Technologiepolitik, Universität Bonn

Discussion

Dr. Anna Lisa Ahlers
Forschungsgruppenleiterin am Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Permanent Visiting Fellow an der Universität Bonn

Dr. Rainer Frietsch
Leiter des Competence Centers Innovations- und Wissensökonomie, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI)
 

Moderator

Miklos Romandy
Programm-Manager der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung im Regionalbüro Südost- und Ostasien