In the landscape of China’s mass organisations, the Communist Youth League (CYL, Zhongguo gongchan zhuyi qingnian tuan 中國共產主義青年團) deserves special attention. Conceived as a means of connecting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to young people aged 14-28 (14-25 before 1982) and involving them in organised political activity, the CYL has traditionally provided the institutional basis for the political socialisation and mobilisation of young people in support of CCP policies, monopolising what ...

This article explores the social norms and cultural practices among same-sex attracted men in a Chinese urban park, challenging the prevailing narrative that these spaces are primarily used for sexual encounters. Through ethnographic research, the study reveals how these parks serve as vital community hubs where men form deep friendships, discuss personal issues, and share experiences. The park’s strict rules and norms facilitate diverse social activities, allowing men to navigate their identities and build a shared culture. The research highlights the use of humour and “joking relationships” as tools to ease communication and strengthen group cohesion. By examining these interactions, the study provides insights into the complex social dynamics and the importance of these spaces for same-sex attracted men in urban China.

Childcare services are becoming increasingly important in Chinese society in a context of declining birth rates and rapid population ageing. Based on a case study in three county-level regions in Shaanxi Province, this research identifies a reluctance among local health bureau officials to expand childcare services. This hesitation stems from blame-avoidance motivations shaped by existing institutional arrangements. Despite the central government’s introduction of a joint meeting mechanism, its effectiveness in enhancing interagency collaboration has been limited. The development of childcare services also provides valuable insights into policy implementation by Chinese local governments, particularly in the execution of policies that require interagency collaboration.

With a focus on Wave Makers (Netflix, 2023), this study explores how a political series moves from fictional immersion to fan re-creations and into civic engagement. Using mixed methods, including content analysis and digital ethnography, the research examines the interplay between the series’ narrative structure and fan-driven mobilisation. The findings reveal that Wave Makers transforms fictional representations of political aides and campaign ethics into catalysts for online debate, fostering creative reinterpretations and mobilising political action. This study contributes to an understanding of how digital media shape contemporary fan culture and bridge the gap between entertainment and civic participation in Taiwan.

This article studies the gendered hierarchies of medical culture and organisation, analysing how they combine with and contribute to reproducing gender hierarchies of social reproduction. Using the theoretical framework of feminist geography and science and technology studies, this article demonstrates how the Chinese medical workplace is a realm of gendered power relations. This paper utilises the emerging field of reproductive genetics consultation as a case study, and draws upon participant observation conducted in a hospital in Southwest China and in-depth interviews with female physicians. It investigates the strategies employed by female physicians to confront hierarchies and inequalities, examining how they navigate masculinised medical environments and empower themselves by establishing alternative professional social networks, following the multidisciplinary requirements of obstetrics and the practical potentials of molecular technologies. In this way, they elaborate their own agency and creatively produce particular approaches of consultancy in genetic-based medical practices. Moving beyond analyses of gendered discrimination that assume a binary framework and thereby echo patriarchal conceptions, the article studies the fluid, unfixed, and provisional nature of gender by situating it within a complex spatial context enriched with specific sociocultural and technological inscriptions.

This paper explores the rise of the Wong Fei-hung film franchise, which has produced more than 100 films since 1949, and its role in articulating and mediating modern experiences for audiences in 1950s Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia and beyond. Utilising rare sources and the theoretical framework of vernacular modernism, the paper situates the franchise within the Cold War context. It highlights how these Cantonese-language films about the heroic deeds of a late-Qing martial artist provided nuanced interpretations of modernism that contrasted with modernist narratives of ideologically driven films produced by pro-CCP and KMT studios in Hong Kong. Set in Guangdong, the hometown of many Overseas Chinese, the Wong Fei-hung films employed cinematic elements that resonated with the rise of mass consumerism and modernism in diasporic Chinese communities during the 1950s. Although early Wong Fei-hung films were viewed as outdated by the 1970s, they expressed a modern sensibility from a vernacular perspective that transcended Cold War ideological binaries.

Since the end of China’s One-child policy in 2015, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) has emerged as a state-supported response to declining birth rates, with several regions incorporating it into healthcare insurance. Drawing on two years of fieldwork in three fertility centres in Shanghai, the article reveals how clinical practices and patient interactions emphasise egg quality as the primary determinant of reproductive success, marginalising the role of sperm. This clinical emphasis on eggs translated into a gendered sense of responsibility, with women frequently encountering greater physical and emotional burdens in the fertility process. These dynamics corresponded to broader social expectations and were reinforced in many of our fieldwork observations. The article argues that these IVF practices in China reinforce existing gender norms, projecting them onto the cellular level and constructing reproductive responsibility as predominantly female. Through these processes, IVF reconfigures gendered identities in ways that reflect and intensify societal norms around reproduction.