hans van de ven, born 1958
PROFESSOR OF MODERN CHINESE HISTORY
Following his undergraduate studies in Sinology at Leiden University, Hans van de Ven went to Harvard University to study modern Chinese history. Seven years later he had a Ph.D. and went to UC Berkeley as a Postdoctoral Fellow. The rest of his career has been spent at Cambridge University, where he is Professor of Modern Chinese History.. His first book From Friend to Comrade: the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991) was awarded the Philip Lilienthal Prize of the University of California Press for best first book in Asian Studies.
This life story is based, with thanks and acknowledgement, on the transcript by Sarah Harrison of a filmed interview by Prof. Alan Macfarlane, University of Cambridge. For links to this and other video interviews in the series, click here: Alan Macfarlane interviews.
Click below to view his life story:
Source: A re-formatted transcript of an interview by Prof. Alan Macfarlane, reproduced with the permission of Hans van de Ven and Prof. Macfarlane in 2020.