The 12th Ambassador Burton Levin Memorial Lecture Series

2020 is now upon us and the world seems to be at a critical crossroads.  Twenty-first century tensions are coming to a head -- between populism and progressivism in American politics, between the older and younger generations in the "culture wars," between networks and hierarchies in technology, between the United States and China in a looming "Cold War II."  As we find ourselves buffeted by waves of political and social uncertainty, history offers perspective and insight, helping us to distinguish the signal from the noise. As Winston Churchill put it, "The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.”

Come and hear Professor Niall Ferguson, senior fellow of the Hoover Institution (Stanford University) and senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center (Harvard University), as he applies history to our contemporary challenges and dilemmas.

Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is also a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is the author of fifteen books, including The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization and Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize. He is an award-making filmmaker, too, having won an international Emmy for his PBS series The Ascent of Money. In addition to writing a weekly column for the Sunday Times (London) and the Boston Globe, he is the founder and managing director of Greenmantle LLC, an advisory firm. His most recent book, The Square and the Tower, was published in the U.S. in 2018, and was a New York Times bestseller. A three-part television adaptation, Niall Ferguson’s Networld, will air on PBS in March 2020.

Ronnie C. Chan is Chairman of Hang Lung Group Ltd. and its subsidiary Hang Lung Properties Ltd., both publicly listed in Hong Kong. The Group expanded into Mainland China in 1992, developing, owning and managing world-class commercial complexes in key tier one and tier two cities. He founded and chairs the China Heritage Fund, is Co-Founding Director of The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation, Beijing, and is former Vice President and former Advisor of the China Development Research Foundation in Beijing. Mr. Chan is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Chairman Emeritus of Asia Society and Chairman of the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, and Founding Chairman of the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society. He serves or has served on the governing or advisory bodies of several think tanks and universities, including Peterson Institute for International Economics, World Economic Forum, East-West Center, Pacific Council on International Policy, Eisenhower Fellowships, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, University of Southern California, Indian School of Business, Yale University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University. (Moderator)

The Ambassador Burton Levin Memorial Lecture Series

The Ambassador Burton Levin Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1995 to honor Asia Society Hong Kong Center’s founding executive director, and is intended to facilitate, broaden and enrich dialogue about U.S.-Asian relations and intra-Asian relations.

Ticket Price:

• Asia Society members/Harvard Club of HK/Oxford & Cambridge Society HK/NYU Alumni Club of HK : HK$ 9,000
• Non-members : HK $12,500
• Gold Patron (1 Table of 10 Seats) : HK$ 125,000
• Silver Patron (1 Table of 10 Seats) : HK$ 100,000
• Student Patron (1 Table of 10 Seats) : HK$ 100,000