Red Legacy in China, Harvard University

The two-day international conference \"Red Legacy in China\" was held April 2-3, 2010, at Harvard University. Sponsored jointly sponsored by the CCK-IUC, the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, the conference brought together scholars from North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia to exchange perspectives on the remainders and reminders of the Chinese Communist revolution as well as other leftist currents in the contemporary era. Consisting of utopian ideals and dystopian failures, red legacies have three types of manifestations: remnant traces of the Communist revolution and the Socialist era, contemporary representations and reinventions reminiscent of this past, as well as \"inherited\" and ongoing institutions, practices, and mindsets.
The presentations at this conference sought to revisit, analyze, and critique red legacies in these various forms. The conference\'s schedule consisted of eight panels total, with each day concluding with a roundtable discussion. Beginning with re-readings and reinterpretations of \"Red Classics,\" \"Red Performances,\" and \"Red Art,\" the conference panels also dealt with questions of \"Red Historiographies,\" \"Red Memory Landscapes,\" and \"Red Dreams\" and sought new ways of approaching the idea of a \"red legacy\" vis-à-vis its reenactment in other parts of the world, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the United States. The conference was very well-attended by members of the Harvard community, which fostered a very lively discussion that interrogated, complicated, and subverted the master narrative of \"Red Legacy.\"

Promotional poster for \"Red Legacy in China\"

Participants of the \"Red Legacy in China\" conference