Writers in Conversation: Linda Jaivin on Bombard the Headquarters!

The Institute for Australian and Asian Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University is partnering with Rochford Gallery in holding this conversation with author Linda Jaivin, artist Guo Jian and Professor Jing Han on Jaivin’s new book Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China at Rochford Gallery in North Sydney.

Linda Jaivin is the internationally published author of thirteen books, including seven novels, a prolific essayist and literary translator from Chinese specialising in film subtitling.Her The Shortest History of China, named No. 1 China book of 2021 by fivebooks.com, has been translated and sold in 24 countries with editions in languages including Bulgarian and Japanese. She spent nine years living in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China as a student and later a journalist, and now lives in Sydney.

Her latest book Bombard the Headquarters! China’s Cultural Revolution, published in April in the UK and June in Australia,gives ariveting account of a turbulent period in Chinese history. In 1966, with the words ‘Bombard the Head quarters!’ Mao Zedong unleashed the full, violent force of a movement that he called the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. By the time he died ten years later, millions had perished, China’s cultural heritage was in ruins, its economic state was perilous, its institutions of government were damaged and its society was bitterly divided. In this book, Linda Jaivin sheds light on the ideological quarrels and personal vendettas that underpinned the Cultural Revolution, profiles the personalities involved and reveals the extent of its violent progress and the shadow it casts over China today.

Guo Jian is a renowned Chinese Australian artist. Growing up in the late years of the Cultural Revolution in China, his art has been deeply rooted in his lived experiences and family history in China. His solo exhibition NOTHING ABOUT EROTIC BUT PLAYBOY curated by John McDonald, is currently showing at Rochfort Gallery. Audiences will have an opportunity to see this inspiring exhibition.

The conversation will be chaired and moderated by Professor Jing Han, Director of the Institute for Australian and Asian Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University, and former Chief Subtitler and Head of SBS Subtitling Department at SBS. Professor Han is a leading expert in intercultural communication, audiovisual translation, media accessibility, translating Chinese culture, and a published literary translator.