For nearly three decades Mao’s China closed itself to the influence of non-Marxist thought as it established a rigid command economy. After Mao died in 1976, China’s leaders embarked on a large-scale process of learning from abroad. The intellectual breadth of Chinese economic reformers in those early years was remarkably wide as they sought input from Nobel Prize winning economists, World Bank officials, free market fundamentalists, and an unlikely array of other partners. In his new book, Unlikely Partners: Chinese Reformers, Western Economists, and the Making of Global China, historian Julian Gewirtz uncovers the story behind China’s reform project and sheds light on the partnerships that helped build the world’s second largest economy. On June 12, Mr. Gewirtz will join the National Committee for a discussion of his book, the heterogeneous intellectual inspirations for Deng Xiaoping’s economic policies, and the continuing relevance of this history for China’s complicated relationship with the west.

Julian Baird Gewirtz, a Rhodes Scholar, is currently completing his doctorate in modern Chinese history at Oxford University. He most recently worked as special advisor for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy and previously worked for Alibaba, Facebook, and Caijing magazine. Mr. Gewirtz has written on China for The Washington Post, the Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 2013 and received a master’s degree in history from Oxford University in 2014.