SOLD OUT – Asia Talks: Howard French with the Seattle Art Museum

From the former New York Times Asia correspondent, Howard French’s new book, Everything Under The Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China’s Push for Global Power, is an incisive investigation of China's ideological development as it becomes an ever more aggressive player in regional and global diplomacy.

For many years after its reform and opening in 1978, China maintained an attitude of false modesty about its ambitions. That role, reports French, has been set aside. China has asserted its place, revealing its plans for pan-Asian dominance by building its navy, increasing territorial claims in the South China Sea, and diplomatically bullying smaller players. French discusses the thinking that casts China's present-day actions in historical terms, as the path to restoring the dynastic glory of the past.

About the Author

Howard W. French wrote from Africa for The Washington Post and, at The New York Times, was bureau chief in Central America and the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Japan, and China. He is the author of China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times Magazine among others. He is on the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

This program is presented by the Seattle Art Museum, the World Affairs Council, the Washington State China Relations Council, and The Elliott Bay Book Company.