Dr Jonathan Chatwin will talk about his book ‘Long Peace Street: A Walk in Modern China’. Across the centre of Beijing, Long Peace Street cuts an arrow-straight, 20 mile line. At its midpoint, the so-called ‘Number One Street of China’ divides the Forbidden City, home to generations of Chinese emperors, and Tiananmen Square, the vast granite square constructed to glorify a new China under Communist rule. It is a storied stretch of the Middle Kingdom, littered with physical and architectural reminders of the seemingly unrelenting drama of China’s recent past: national cemeteries, communist party boltholes and high-security military sites, as well as ministries, museums and leadership compounds. In 2016, Jonathan walked its length from west to east, a journey related in his travelogue, Long Peace Street. Using archival and modern photographs, Jonathan’s talk takes the audience with him on a journey through China’s capital – but also through the China’s twentieth century, from the fall of the Qing dynasty to the modern day, excavating some of the fascinating stories Long Peace Street has to tell.