Professor James Kai-sing Kung, Inaugural Griffin Chair in Economic History at the Faculty of Business and Economics, presented the 2023 Griffin Public Lecture at the University of Melbourne, on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.
The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party
Professor James Kung examines the historical rise of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from a small reading group that aimed to spread Marxism among students and industrial workers to the world’s second-largest political party that increasingly challenges the established hegemonic order.
Using a spatial regression discontinuity design and several measures—middle-to-high-ranking cadres, martyr soldiers, and guerrilla bases—as proxies for the rise of the CCP during the Sino-Japanese War, we find that it grew significantly more in counties occupied by the Japanese Army. We identify three channels behind the CCP’s political ascendancy. First, the Communists took advantage of the militarily weaker “puppet troops”. Second, they built more grassroots party organizations in occupied areas to mobilise support and gain loyalty. Last, support for the CCP was powered by a strong nationalist sentiment spurred by war suffering, including the struggle for survival, humiliation and hatred.
About the speaker
Professor James Kai-sing Kung is the inaugural Griffin Chair in Economic History at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne. Previously, he served as the Sein and Isaac Suede Professor of Economic History at the University of Hong Kong, and the Yan Ai Foundation Professor of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Professor Kung’s research interests are strongly based in the economic history, institutions, culture, and development of China. He has published more than 50 journal articles and book chapters in prominent publications, including The Cambridge Economic History of China, The Economic Journal, Journal of the European Economic Association, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, The Review of Economics and Statistics, and journals devoted to the specialised fields of economic history, development and comparative economics.
In 2021, Professor Kung was elected President of the Association of Comparative Economics. Currently, he serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Economic History and Regional Science and Urban Economics. During his academic career in Hong Kong, Kung supervised 15 PhD students and placed them in universities in Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, and North America.
About the lecture series
The Griffin Economic History Public Lecture is named after Peter Griffin AM, an alum of the Faculty (BCom 1963) who has had a long and successful career in business, particularly in the investment and banking sectors. In 2008, he was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the Australian community through support for medical research, arts and charitable organisations. Peter is passionate about Economic History and is keen that students graduate from the University of Melbourne with a solid understanding of business and finance, and a deep awareness of previous mistakes made by governments, industry and the banking sector. The University of Melbourne gratefully acknowledges support for the Griffin Economic History Public Lecture from the Peter Griffin and Terry Swann Foundation.