The new middle class in China – who are they? What are their dreams? What do they worry about? Can you be happy in a dictatorship? And how about sex?

Wanneer

26 Mar 2014 | 15.00-17.00 hrs

Waar

Lipsius | Room 148 | Cleveringaplaats 1 | Leiden
 Journalist and anthropologist Sybilla Claus writes for the Dutch  daily newspaper Trouw about East Asia. She will talk about two special projects she researched in China.

  • ‍Wherever you look, China is building apartment buildings. In 2020 there will be hundreds of cities with a million inhabitants. But who is living in all those flats? Sybilla Claus lived for a week in Tower XII of a new high-rise complex.
  • Soul searching: the changing moral landscape. a. Chinese citizens are better off economically, and feel emotionally liberated. But can the modern Chinese be happy in a dictatorship? b. A sexual revolution is happening in China, of course in Red style. How do citizens find their (erotic) way between the do-nots of censorship? c. Chinese are world champions in hard working and   making money – but spending it is a different story. Philantrophy and volunteer work are upcoming phenomena.