April 10, 2019
Distinguished professor to deliver public lecture on the 'Chinese Pursuit of Happiness'
Richard Madsen, a distinguished professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego, will deliver a public lecture, "The Chinese Pursuit of Happiness: Anxieties, Hopes, and Moral Tensions in Everyday Life," at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, in 1088 College of Business Building. This is the third lecture in the Confucius Institute's Understanding China Lecture Series.
Madsen is the author, or co-author of 12 books on Chinese culture, American culture and international relations. His 1995 book "Habits of the Heart," University of California Press, won the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He has also written scholarly articles on how to compare cultures and how to facilitate dialogue among them.
His books on China include the landmark village studies "Chen Village under Mao and Deng," co-authored with Anita Chan and Jonathan Unger, UC Press, 1992, and its sequel "Chen Village: Revolution to Globalization," UC Press; Third edition, 2009; "Democracy's Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan," UC Press, 2007; "Morality and Power in a Chinese Village," UC Press, 1984 winner of the C. Wright Mills Award; "Unofficial China," co-edited with Perry Link and Paul Pickowicz; and "Popular China: Unofficial Culture in a Globalizing Society," co-edited with Perry Link and Paul Pickowicz, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002, to name just a few.
Madsen has been called "one of the modern-day founders of the study of Chinese religion." His talk at K-State is based on his 2019 book with the same title, co-edited with Becky Hsu and published by the UC Press. The Confucius Institute is pleased to be able to bring a China scholar of Madsen's caliber to K-State to share his views on the Chinese culture and society. The lecture is free and open to the public.