Professor Xu Guoqi delivered the prestigious 2015 Kathleen Fitzpatrick History Lecture at the University of Melbourne on Tuesday, July 28, 2015. The Lecture, entitled "The First World War and China’s Great Awakening", explained China's important role in the Great War and how the Great War affected China's national development and its position in the world. It highlighted 140,000 Chinese workers' extraordinary journey to France and the Chinese heroic fight at the Postwar peace conference.

Xu Guoqi is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong and is the author of China and The Great War. From 2014-16, Professor Xu spends part of the year teaching and researching in History program at the University of Melbourne under the Asia Scholar's Scheme.

The prestigious Kathleen Fitzpatrick History Lecture honours the memory of Kathleen Fitzpatrick (1905-1990). A former Associate Professor in History from 1948, Kathleen was an inspiring teacher and formidable scholar who pioneered the participation of women in academic life. See: http://shaps.unimelb.edu.au/history/notable-historians