Text by WU Tong

From 5th to 15th May, Niall Ferguson, a renowned historian, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM), delivered a 2-credit course “China and the World-A Historic Perspective” at Tsinghua SEM.

Professor Ferguson’s course was composed of 8 themes, namely The Great Divergence, Contact: Fernão Peres de Andrade and the Zhengde Emperor, 1517; Chinese Jesus: The Taiping Rebellion; “The Chinese Must Go!”: California, 1882; The Wilsonian Moment; The Korean War: MacArthur and China; Nixon in China; and “Chimerica”: China, the United States and the Financial Crisis. 

Throughout the course, Professor Ferguson shared his ideas on the themes of clash of civilizations, drew similarities between history and recent events such as the upcoming U.S. elections, guided students follow the ups and downs of Sino-U.S. relations in the context of global politics till his inception of the concept of Chimerica and how this concept has evolved till today. Professor Ferguson emphasized the role of China throughout his depiction of historical events and how that role has changed from the great divergence to the status of Chimerica. Through many in-depth stories and light-hearted moments, Professor Ferguson taught students the importance of learning history so as to better understand the present.

Renowned Historian Niall Ferguson Delivered a Course “China and the World: A Historic Perspective” at Tsinghua SEM

On May 15th, after the final lecture of the course, Professor HE Ping from Finance Department of Tsinghua SEM had an hour-long dialogue with Professor Ferguson. Professor HE directed a wide range of pertinent questions, from the historical patterns of wealth creation and accumulation, and family wealth inheritance to recent happenings such as the TPP and the Baidu scandal. Professor Ferguson handled the questions with oratorical flair, sharing snippets from his different books such as the six killer apps from “Civilization” as well as investment advice from the Rothschild family: stay risk adverse, invest over multiple generations and look at the long term horizon. Professor Ferguson even mentioned his “good friend, Peter Thiel” who also recently came to Tsinghua SEM to deliver his very own course and shared their difference of opinion on the costs and benefits of a monopoly. With regards to questions for his opinion on international relations, such as territorial conflicts and middle east problems, Professor Ferguson quoted Kissinger on how China should “agree to differ” and acknowledge differences, while at the same time maintaining economic cooperation.

In the Q&A session, Professor Ferguson answered questions including how China can transit into a country with rule of law, past and future relations between China and Brazil, China and Africa and also the one belt one road initiative and how countries such as USSR or UK will react to change the dynamics of Chimerica, etc. Professor Ferguson expressed optimism on Chinese development and relations with many countries and concluded that he would personally encourage his son to learn Chinese to “make further contributions to Chimerica understanding”, which was received with an uproar of laughter and applause.

Renowned Historian Niall Ferguson Delivered a Course “China and the World: A Historic Perspective” at Tsinghua SEM

As the class came to an end, Professor HE presented to Professor Ferguson a special token of appreciation from the students of Tsinghua SEM.