‘The Devil is in the Details’: Mao Zedong before and after the Luochuan Conference, August 1937
Talks are delivered in Mandarin, followed by bilingual Q&As
The Luochuan Conference of August 1937 was a crucial moment in Mao Zedong’s struggle for power. Mao tried to force the party to adopt his guerrilla war strategy; he failed. Mao nonetheless exploited his position as the Politburo member in charge of military affairs and put his strategy into action in fall 1937. Mao’s actions worried Josef Stalin, who was depending on Chiang Kai-shek to keep Japan from invading Siberia. Mao therefore moderated his behaviour but clung to his strategy. This talk discusses how Mao managed to win Stalin and the CCP over to his strategy, and thus consolidated his hold on the CCP.
Date: 29 October 2021, 13:00 (Friday, 3rd week, Michaelmas 2021)
Venue: Online
Speaker: Dr Sherman Xiaogang Lai (Queen’s University at Kingston and the Royal Military College of Canada)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organiser: Dr Annie Hongping Nie
Organiser contact email address: hongping.nie@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Host: Dr Annie Hongping Nie
Part of: Mandarin Forum
Booking required?: Required
Booking email: hongping.nie@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard