Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies

many congratulations to our member @coralinglingxu.bsky.social on winning the best book award!

I am truly honoured by this award! @durhameducation.bsky.social @durhamchina.bsky.social @durham.ac.uk @dulib.bsky.social @bc-cihe.bsky.social @gesigcies.bsky.social

Mirror and Mismatch | Transnational Institute The far-right label is not easily applied in China, but nevertheless there is a rising tide of xenophobia, militaristic nationalism, racism, anti-feminism, and social conservatism in Chinese online di...

in this interview for TNI's State of Power report, I take a look at China and/in the global politics of the far right, convergence and mismatch, civilizationism and digital culture, and visions for transnational solidarity.
www.tni.org/en/article/m...
@tninstitute.bsky.social

Hi, unfortunately this is an in-person only event.

This talk draws on my book Intimacy as a Lens to explore the emotional experiences of being an ethnic performer in Southwest China, and how performers’ emotions reveal the broader politics of inequality in contemporary China. By situating these micro-level emotional experiences within the broader emotional regime at the societal level, this talk reveals how the emotions of ethnic performers offer valuable lenses for understanding the politics of inequality related to ethnicity, the rural-urban divide, and gender in contemporary China. Speaker: Jingyu Mao is Lecturer of Sociology at The University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on migration and work, ethnicity and gender, emotions and intimacy, and the politics of care. She is the author of Intimacy as a Lens on Work and Migration (Bristol University Press, 2024). She is the co-author of two forthcoming books about the welfare and labour struggles of migrant workers in China and Vietnam

We are delighted to be hosting a talk by Dr Jingyu Mao on the emotional politics of inequality in contemporary China:
📅 Thursday 19 February 2026
🕔 14:00 - 15:30
📍 CB-0020 (Confluence Building)

From Silence to Visibility: A Chinese Perspective on the Suffering and Survival of Comfort Women By Jocelyn Xu For decades, the stories of “comfort women”—women that across Asia-Pacific Theatre forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese military between 1932 and 1945—remained largely …

For our Odd China Out blog, Jocelyn Xu traces the shifting of the "comfort women" issue from silence to visibility, showing how public commemorations, documentary cinema, and renewed academic methods have reshaped understanding.
oddchinaout.wordpress.com/2025/12/18/f...

Another kind of student debt is entrenching inequality Having more time allows some students to explore their interests.

My piece in @uk.theconversation.com has just been published! Enjoy! 😊 @sunypress.bsky.social @durhameducation.bsky.social @durhamchina.bsky.social @durham.ac.uk @rilleraaper.bsky.social @solgamsu.bsky.social @chenchenzhang.net
theconversation.com/another-kind...

8 — 中國輿論場中的巴以 ft. 時差夥伴 晨晨&Yao

We were on 從河至海 to talk about Palestine/Israel in Chinese discourse and "China" in international discourse on Palestine/Israel, and a bunch of other things (such as the end of the myth of the liberal international order that everyone is on about now).
open.spotify.com/episode/0HEV...

Reframing the Politics and Ethics of Ren (Endurance) in Neoliberal China By Boyang Liang The written form of the Chinese character “ren (endurance)” is composed of the radicals for “blade” and “heart,” evoking the image of a knife pressing against the heart and symbolis…

for our student blog, Boyang Liang, a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds @sspatleeds.bsky.social, writes about the cultural imagination of ren (endurance) in neoliberal China
oddchinaout.wordpress.com/2025/11/27/r...

The Decline of “Family”: How Should We Perceive The “Parent-Child” Relations in Contemporary Chinese Society?“家”的衰落：我们应怎样看待当代中国社会中的亲子关系？ By Weiyu Yuan [The author offers this piece in both languages, with the simplified Chinese version after the English.] [本文作者提供了双语版本，简体中文版本位于英文版本之后。] Family (jia 家), the primary source of self-…

for our student blog, Weiyu Yuan, a PhD candidate in Chinese Studies at the School of modern Languages and Culture, writes about the "decline" of the family and changing perceptions of parent-child relationship oddchinaout.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/t...

The Fire of the Century | Made in China Journal Editors’ introduction: The following piece, written by Lee Wai Kwan and translated by Yiwen Liu, originally appeared in Initium Media on 28 November 2025. In republishing it here in the Made in China ...

In this piece originally published in @initiummedia.bsky.social and translated by Yiwen Liu, Lee Wai Kwan describes how, in the wake of the HK fire, strangers came together through grassroots relief efforts to contribute their time and talents, before the authorities imposed their own bureaucracy.

YouTube video by BRI Dialogues BRI D#56 w/Dr.Ferran Perez The Transatlantic Decay & The Dragon's 🇨🇳Ascent: Are They the Same Story?

Ferran Perez Mena, our assistant professor in international relations of East Asia, joins BRI dialogue to discuss transnational elite connections between Chinese and Western non-state actors and their impact on world politics.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Np...

Join us for our next research seminar!

The Time Inheritors: How Time Inequalities Shape Higher Education Mobility in China

presented by @coralinglingxu.bsky.social

🗓 03 December | 🕐 1:00–2:00 PM

event poster: This talk will explore the ideas of Chinese grassroots Marxists during the 1978-81 democracy movement and the intellectual exchanges between them and the Hong Kong Trotskyists, as well as the political repression they faced. The crackdown on these voices arguably cleared the path for the Party-led neoliberal economic experiments that followed. As a result, liberal intellectuals who embraced free market ideas and the rise of global neoliberalism rose to prominence within the intelligentsia.

Join us for a guest lecture by @kevinyangmx.bsky.social on the grassroots Marxists in the 1978-81 Chinese democracy movement!
📅 Thursday 11 December 2025
🕔 11:00 - 12:30
📍 TLC039 (Teaching and Learning Centre)

Abstract: Scholarship on “non-Western” civilizational discourse in international relations remains largely limited to the versions crafted or endorsed by the state. This paper takes the representation of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Chinese social media as an entry point to exploring vernacular and competing narratives of civilization in global cultural politics. Drawing on data from multiple platforms, I scrutinize visions of civilizational progress, decay, and betrayal, interlaced with contested imaginaries of “China”, “France”, and “the West”, in celebratory and demonizing discourses on the spectacle. First, I argue that ideas of “civilizational standards” have always been co-produced, appropriated, and negotiated by actors from the peripheries, rather than monopolized by the centre. A nuanced and situational reading of the celebratory discourse shows how users employ civilizational and universalist vocabularies to contest locally hegemonic structures, which may simultaneously reproduce and challenge homonationalist logics. Secondly, the paper contributes to the emerging literature on the co-opting of the anticolonial language in reactionary politics, showing that in this case, the accusation of coloniality is turned inwards to target the internal other, whose identification with progressive values is recast as colonial subservience and betrayal. Finally, I show that the trope of “Western civilizational decay” and certain constructions of difference/affinities are instrumental to queerphobic nationalist narratives. However, civilizational signifiers such as “West” and “East” function in digital reactionary discourse less as a tool for narrating cultural distinctiveness than as flexible transnational codes, allowing for transversal alignment to emerge across conventional geopolitical and ideological boundaries.

🚨new open-access article!🚨
what do drastically different representations of the Paris Olympic opening ceremony on Chinese social media tell us about competing narratives of civilization & transversal alignment in digital reactionary politics?
academic.oup.com/isagsq/artic...

China's model of technology leapfrog: A case study of electric vehicle policies and the development of green technology The development of green technology is vital for driving economic growth and building low-carbon economies. In this era of technological advancement, …

In this new paper, Renu Singh, an assistant professor in comparative politics at SGIA, and co-authors Pengyu Zhu, Zining Wang, and Xinying Tan investigate how China's multi-level EV policies enabled "technology leapfrogging"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Our Chinese-language sister publication Tian Jian (田間), specializing in reporting on issues related to global Chinese-language media, just went live with their website. Check it out here: tian-jian.org

From Shame to Celebration: Why Chinese Women Are Throwing Divorce Parties On Xiaohongshu (a popular Chinese social media platform), a woman in a black dress poses with her female friends, a banner in the background spelling out “This fucking marriage ends here!”. The roo…

📝New blog post! Helene Bode writes about the rise of divorce parties, drawing on her Master's research on discursive re/production of female subjectivities on Chinese social media. oddchinaout.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/f...

The Quiet Power of China’s Dancing Women One summer evening in Chengdu, a video went viral: hundreds of women in sequined tops and trainers filled a shopping-mall plaza, dancing in synchrony to a remixed pop anthem. The clip was shared mi…

📝New blog post! Soumya Ranjan Gahir writes about square dancing 广场舞 as an everyday practice that reclaims urban space, asserts gendered visibility in a society that often sidelines older women, and adapts creatively to the rhythms of digital culture.
oddchinaout.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/t...

No Country for a Woman | China Books Review Women in China have suffered abuse, silencing and erasure — despite the Communist Party’s slogans about women’s liberation. Two novels by the Wuhan writer Fang Fang show how gendered oppression persis...

"Countless Yingzhis live among us, while the Zitaos of China are fading away with time. The tears of Chinese women, if unleashed, could drown a nation."
For @chinabooksreview.com, I write about gendered violence and illusions of liberation through two novels by Fang Fang (tr @bairuiwen.bsky.social):

Did you know that a new exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Palace Museum in Beijing is now free to visit at Durham's Oriental museum?
jointly organised by the Palace Museum & the Oriental Museum @durham-university.bsky.social
www.durham.ac.uk/things-to-do...

Sister in furs: female gangsters in northeastern Chinese crime dramas 穿貂皮的姐：东北悬疑剧里的女性黑帮形象 [The author offers this piece in both languages, with the simplified Chinese version after the English.] [本文作者提供了双语版本，简体中文版本位于英文版本之后。] English version While researching TV crime dramas in China, I …

How do Dongbei crime dramas draw on Dongbei’s marginality to envisage alternative femininities? check out our new blog post by Min Xu: Sister in furs: female gangsters in northeastern Chinese crime dramas 穿貂皮的姐：东北悬疑剧里的女性黑帮形象 oddchinaout.wordpress.com/2025/08/21/h...

ODD CHINA OUT: CALL FOR POSTS Odd China Out is a research blog affiliated with the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at Durham University, created to bridge scholarly work with a wider audience. We’re looking for short essays and creative expressions with a relaxed, engaging tone that makes ideas accessible beyond academia. We are especially interested in pieces that explore cultural texts and practices in the Sinophone world, while also appreciating insights from other topics. We welcome contributors at all academic levels. Posts should be 500–1,000 words on one of the following themes: Think-pieces on topics related to the Sinophone world, especially discussions of cultural texts and practices Reflective pieces on your research journey or experiences in the field Creative expressions and artworks related to the Sinophone world (word count flexible) Submissions may be written in either English or Chinese. To enhance accessibility, we encourage (but do not require) contributors to provide bilingual versions. Please include a short bio (maximum 150 words) with your submission. Let us know if you would prefer to remain anonymous.

ODD CHINA OUT: 征稿启事 Odd China Out 是隶属于 杜伦大学当代中国研究中心 的学术博客，旨在搭建学术研究与更广泛公众之间的桥梁。我们寻找的是观点新鲜明、语言轻松、具有可读性的思考性文章，能够使学术思想在更广泛的语境中得到传播。我们特别欢迎探讨公众关注度高、具有广泛吸引力的话题，或能够展示其实践意义的研究视角。我们欢迎来自 各个学术阶段 的投稿者参与。 文章字数建议为 500–1000 字，主题包括： 与华语世界相关的话题，尤其是关于文化作品和文化实践的探讨 对个人研究历程或田野经验的反思性写作 与华语世界相关的艺术作品（字数不限） 文章可用 中文或英文 撰写。为提升可读性，我们鼓励（但不强制）作者提供中英文两个版本。请同时附上一段不超过 150 字的作者简介。如果您希望匿名发表，请告知我们。

ODD CHINA OUT: 征稿启事 Odd China Out 是隶属于 杜伦大学当代中国研究中心 的学术博客，旨在搭建学术研究与更广泛公众之间的桥梁。我们寻找的是观点新鲜明、语言轻松、具有可读性的思考性文章，能够使学术思想在更广泛的语境中得到传播。我们特别欢迎探讨公众关注度高、具有广泛吸引力的话题，或能够展示其实践意义的研究视角。我们欢迎来自 各个学术阶段 的投稿者参与。 文章字数建议为 500–1000 字，主题包括： 与华语世界相关的话题，尤其是关于文化作品和文化实践的探讨 对个人研究历程或田野经验的反思性写作 与华语世界相关的艺术作品（字数不限） 文章可用 中文或英文 撰写。为提升可读性，我们鼓励（但不强制）作者提供中英文两个版本。请同时附上一段不超过 150 字的作者简介。如果您希望匿名发表，请告知我们。

check out the call for posts below
oddchinaout.wordpress.com/about/

(no title) A Chinese Studies research blog. Let's exchange ideas, tell stories, and keep asking better questions!

we are super excited to launch our student research blog Odd China Out. submissions bridging scholarly work with a wider audience, in English or bilingual, are welcome!
oddchinaout.wordpress.com

Huge congratulations to Dr Qiandong Zhou who passed her viva with flying colours on 29 Aug 2025! Dr Zhou was supervised by Prof Julie Rattray & Dr @coralinglingxu.bsky.social ! We express our deep gratitude to examiners Drs @chengyongtan.bsky.social & Jasper Roe for an engaging viva!

Book talk - The Time Inheritors: How Time Inequalities Shape Higher Education Mobility in China | King's College London Dr Cora Lingling Xu, Durham University, discusses how time inequalities shape higher education mobility in China as part of China Week 2025.

Excited to give my book talk at King's China Week @lauchinainstitute.bsky.social, in conversation with Dr @yanranyao.bsky.social, book your place soon for this in person event! See you on 23 Oct! @sunypress.bsky.social
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/book-...

Join us either online or in person-an exciting seminar by Professor Shibao Guo! @chiedmobilities.bsky.social @uofg-glacier.bsky.social @durhamchina.bsky.social @yiminzhao.bsky.social @chenchenzh.bsky.social

Join us for our next seminar:

Reimagining Chinese Diasporas in a Transnational World: Hypermobility, Hyperdiversity and Hyperconnectivity by Dr Shibao Guo, University of Calgary, Canada

Scan the QR code below for more details!

📍Confluence Building CB-1017
📅04/06/25
🕑13:00-14:00

Had a blast at my keynote @BPCS @sunypress.bsky.social & @uoe-sps.bsky.social! Overwhelmed by kindness &friendship! Numerous touching moments when strong resonance was shared & tears were shed. Unequal time is real; friendship is real too! Together we are stronger!

I’m so honoured to be able to have this interview talking about my research. This is also a great opportunity for myself to look back and reflect on the trajectory.