Summer Drinks & Talk: Reimagining Development and Social Change from Rural China

​On August 19, join People's Square and our community partners The Correspondents' Club of China and Young China Watchers for our summer drinks and guest talk.

​We are delighted to invite Vivianne Zhang Wei – a Swedish-born Chinese writer, photographer, ethnographer, and organiser, who has spent the past two and a half years engaging with grassroots experiences of China's rural transformation through her Chinese Farm Chronicles (@chinesefarmchronicles) and Common Ground 乡遇 (@commonground.cfc) projects.

​Through photographs and vignettes from her repeated visits to a village in rural Sichuan, Vivianne’s talk will explore how large-scale processes of development and modernisation are lived and made in the everyday lives of villagers. Beyond offering a different vantage point on China’s development, she also invites reflection on why it is that we are drawn to these stories of social change elsewhere – and the responsibilities and possibilities that come with documenting and engaging with them.

​Vivianne's presentation will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Elaine Chong, journalist at the BBC World Service. We will then enjoy summer drinks and networking.

​Capacity is limited and we have to charge a small amount to cover the venue, which is a local community initiative.

​Fresh China Voices aims to platform new and diverse voices on China and to cover a wider range of topics to improve understanding of contemporary China.