PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE HAS BEEN CHANGED DUE TO HIGH DEMAND

Author Martin Jacques will be discussing his recently published book, "When

China Rules the World."

For over two hundred years we have lived in a Western-made world, one where the very notion of being modern was synonymous with being Western. His book argues that the twenty-first century will be different: with the rise of increasingly powerful non-Western countries, the West will no longer be dominant and there will be many ways of being modern. In this new era of 'contested modernity' the central player will be China.

Mr. Jacques argues that far from becoming a Western-style society, China will remain highly distinctive. Continental in size and mentality, and accounting for one-fifth of humanity, China is a 'civilization-state' whose characteristics, attitudes and values long predate its existence as a nation-state. China is already having a profound and much discussed economic impact, but its influence will be far greater than this: China's rise signals the end of the global dominance of the Western nation-state and the rise of a world which it will shape in a host of different ways. As it rapidly reassumes its traditional position at the centre of East Asia, the old tributary system will resurface in a modern form, contemporary ideas of racial hierarchy will be redrawn and China's ages-old sense of superiority will reassert itself. China's rise will change the world as we know it, from one made in the West to one increasingly shaped by China.

The book explains for the first time the deeper meaning of China's arrival as a global power.

Mr. Jacques is a journalist and academic. He previously edited Marxism Today and co-founded the think-tank Demos in 1993. He writes the World Citizen column for the New Statesman. (For a detailed biography of Martin Jacques and for more information on When China Rules the World, go to http://www.martinjacques.com

One of our FCA members from SMU has kindly offer their Library Reading Room, which will be perfect for the event.

To keep cost down, please note there is no bells and whistles - ie no breakfast.

Registration will start at 8:15am and the event at 8:30am sharp and finish at 9:30am at the latest. Kindly ensure you arrive on time.

See Map to location

Map: http://www.smu.edu.sg/campus/map/index.asp