Institute for Asian Studies and the Center for Asian and Far Eastern Studies, Faculty of Political Science, organised the presentation of Professor Dragan Mitrovic’s book “From Socialist Modernization to Chinese Dream“.
The promotion occurred on Tuesday, December 17, 2019, at the Faculty of Political Science.
The author of the book, prof. Dragana Mitrovic, director of the IAS, Sarmiza Pencea from the Institute of World Economy, Romanian Academy and editor and journalist Borisav Korkodelovic spoke at the promotion. The moderator was Dr. Dragan Trailovic from the Institute of Political Science and the Institute for Asian Studies.
The promotion was attended by students and professors of Bеlgrade University and other academic institutions, representatives of the Embassy of the PRC, journalists, and representatives of several research institutes from Belgrade et al.
Dr Trailovic emphasised that the promotion was an opportunity to mark thirty-one years of Professor Mitrovic’s academic work at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science, during which she founded Chinese Studies at our University, Center for Asian and Far Eastern Studies at FPS, as well as the Institute for Asian Studies. He recalled that Prof. Mitrovic is also the founder of the Master’s program in Regional Asian Studies and the academic journal Asian Issues. He emphasised that the essential thread of her career was dedicated and continuous study of the People’s Republic of China and that, in the process, she had grown into a leading regional expert on modern China, as evidenced by the fact that in the last few years, she had been invited to participate as an invited speaker at about fifty international conferences.
Dr Pencea shared her experience from scientific conferences where she participated with Prof. Mitrovic and emphasised that Prof. Mitrovic is characterised by her distinctive style: passion, persuasion, and argumentativeness in presentation, as well as the scientific authority that is evident. Talking about the book, Dr. Sarmiza Pencea stated that in such a voluminous book, which is the result of decades of professional commitment, one can comprehensively look at China’s economic development. She pointed out that Professor Mitrovic, in her book, could present chronologically, thoroughly and logically economic, geopolitical, military, security and other aspects of the Chinese rise, giving fascinatingly in-depth analysis. “I like that she portrayed China’s economy in a special way and positively saw Chinese development. The topic is significant and actual, and the book inspired me because when you start reading from the first to the last page, the quality goes up”, Sarmiza Pancea said.
“The symbolism of the book’s publication this year is that exactly forty years ago, in 1979, reform of the PRC began. It is precious that the author has followed the progress of the Chinese economy in the past twenty-five years in the book”, Borisav Korkodelovic explained. He indicated that he was particularly impressed by the book with the topic of leadership in China, which is continuously and significantly firmly implementing reforms in their society.
Professor Dragana Mitrovic emphasised that besides China, her students and associates were an inspiration. A special place is given to her professors, from whom she has learned about China, especially Professor Sava Zivanov, whom she has labelled a world-class expert, especially in Russian studies. She added that in her student days, she was inspired to devote herself to exploring China and its politics and economy and that such a commitment was sporadic in our country at the time. Professor Mitrovic then answered several questions from other participants, the moderator, and the audience.