Rana Mitter is Director of the University China Centre at the University of Oxford, where he is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China and a Fellow of St Cross College. He is the author of several books, including the award-winning A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World (Oxford, 2004). His new book China’s War with Japan, 1937-45: The Struggle for Survival, was published by Penguin in June 2013 (in North America, under the title Forgotten Ally in September 2013) and was a Book of the Year in the Financial Times and the Economist.Rana presents and contributes regularly to programmes on television and radio, commenting on contemporary Chinese politics and society. More broadly, he is a regular presenter on BBC Radio in the UK. His reviews and essays have appeared in newspapers including the Financial Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Caijing, and Outlook (India). He speaks regularly on China in the UK and around the world.
The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45 looms large again in China today. YCW Beijing was delighted to host eminent Oxford University professor Rana Mitter, who examined some of the myths and realities of China‘s wartime experience, and suggested ways in which it is becoming relevant to the shaping of the contemporary Asia-Pacific region.


