Eric Fish, author of China's Millennials: The Want Generation and writer at Asia Society. In 1989, students marched on Tiananmen Square demanding democratic reform. A generation later, Chinese youth have grown a world apart from those who converged at Tiananmen. Brought up with lofty expectations, they’ve been accustomed to unprecedented opportunities on the back of China’s economic boom. Eric Fish profiles youth from around the country and how they are navigating the education system, the workplace, divisive social issues, and a resurgence in activism. Based on interviews with scholars, journalists, and hundreds of young Chinese, his engrossing book challenges the idea that today’s youth have been pacified by material comforts and nationalism. Fish deftly captures youthful struggle, disillusionment, and rebellion in a system that is scrambling to keep them in line—and, increasingly, scrambling to adapt when its youth refuse to conform.
5:30 p.m., Eaton Humanities 150, CU-Boulder.