A China Reporter's Notebook - Watching a Great Power Open and Rise, then Turn Inwards
In September 2024, David Rennie completed a six-year posting to China as Beijing bureau chief of The Economist. He reported from every province and region except Tibet and remained in the country throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This was his second China tour, after a first posting in Beijing from 1998 to 2002, and his talk will trace social, political and economic trends that shaped this fascinating and opaque country in his years on the ground

David Rennie is the geopolitics editor of The Economist, and author of its weekly column on geopolitics ‘The Telegram’. He joined The Economist in 2007. He has served successively as European Union correspondent and Charlemagne columnist, based in Brussels; as British political editor and author of the Bagehot column, based in London; as Lexington columnist and Washington bureau chief; and as Beijing bureau chief, Chaguan columnist and co-host of the Drum Tower podcast.
Date: 30 January 2025, 17:00
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Speaker: Mr David Rennie (The Economist)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organisers: Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford), Dr Evelyn Chan (University of Oxford), Dr Xiaojing Miao (University of Oxford), Professor Margaret Hillenbrand (University of Oxford), Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford), Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford), Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford), Dr Chigusa Yamaura (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: information@chinese.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)
Part of: China Studies Seminar series
Booking required?: Not required
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard