Contemporary China Research Articles

Daqing and China’s quest for oil: between survival and ingenuity in times of resource scarcity

Daqing in China is well-known as a, if not the, “Chinese oil city”. However, the reasons behind its importance for the People’s Republic of China and the origins of its current spatial organization remain unclear. “How was such growth achieved against the backdrop of the so-called de-urbanization processes? What was occurring at the local level? What happened to the people of my parents’ generation?” Hou Li, a leading Chinese urban scholar, addresses these questions in her latest book, Building for Oil, explaining how the lowering of urban construction standards to the level of rural ones, the focus of investments on production, and the reliance on individual commitment led to China’s unprecedented growth. Despite the absence (or the concealment) of a critical opinion on the part of the author on the events and decisions described, this contribution is of particular importance to understand the path leading to contemporary China.

Welcome to this Brave Bro’s World: the (Re)production of hegemonic masculinity in a Chinese manosphere

ABSTRACT Building on a feminist critical discourse analysis, this study reveals the mechanism of the continuous reproduction of hegemonic masculinity in a Chinese manosphere, Hupu, the biggest sports fandom platform in China. As an ideological foundation on Hupu, hegemonic masculinity directs misogynistic practices (e.g. sexualization of women and misogynistic lexicon development) and shapes an imagined community of toxic brotherhood. In turn, the misogynistic practices and this community of brotherhood also reproduce hegemonic masculinity, ensuring a cycle of the maintenance of a toxic manosphere. We further consider the socio-political context in contemporary China to criticize how state power, platform affordances, and hegemonic masculinity are intertwined and jeopardize Chinese feminism both online and offline.

New Pathway for Management Studies in China: Exploring Qualitative Research Methods of Business Anthropology

Through an inventory of the existing literature body on Chinese management studies, this paper attempts to present a critical review of the phenomenon that the management studies in contemporary China over-rely on quantitative research methodology. It endeavors to demonstrate that the nature of scientific research is to innovate by seeking truth and, therefore, should not be restricted by quantitative research methods. Improve the effectiveness of academic analyses, it suggests that the scholars in China need to positively adapt the anthropological methodologies to conduct management studies and enhance the process of the localization of management science in the country. It is designed to broaden the approaches toward Chinese management studies by introducing business anthropological methods to Chinese management scholars. It adopts a comparative and case study methodology to demonstrate the limitations of quantitative methods and illustrate the effectiveness of business anthropological approaches for management studies in the Chinese context. The existing literature body demonstrates that excessive quantitative research approaches are utilized in current management studies, while scholars in China primarily ignore the effectiveness of qualitative methods. The necessity for further understanding qualitative research methods in management studies has been recognized more recently by Chinese scholars. They tend to agree that qualitative and quantitative research methodologies are merely different approaches, while the results are the same. One of the compelling new paths to improving management studies and practices is to apply anthropological research methods so that management theory in China can better explain actual human responses and factors that influence their behaviors. Anthropology has always been employed for practical applications. In addition, anthropological methods can enlarge the approaches to management studies and widen the scope for scholars to conduct their research. The combination of anthropology and management will accelerate the localization of management studies and, accordingly, speed up the systematic establishment of Chinese management theory to promote management practices in modern China. Business anthropology is emerging among some outstanding qualitative research methods in Western management studies. On the other hand, China's management science community is still a little behind in this respect. This paper is a pilot study to elaborate on business anthropology and its contribution to specific areas in management studies, such as marketing management, product design, and entrepreneurship in the Chinese context.

“I Don’t Expect the University to Support Queers”: Identity Management and Ambivalence toward Institutional Support for Queer University Students in China

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 17 participants, this study explores the experiences of Chinese queer university students in managing their queer identity on campus. A range of strategies is outlined, including passing, covering, being implicitly out, and being explicitly out. This study also presents participants’ expectations regarding institutional support, as well as their ambivalence toward it. While participants expressed various expectations of university support, they simultaneously considered institutional support difficult or impossible due to the campus climate and broader political context. Informed by queer theory and the concept of heteronormativity, this paper engages in a queer critique of Chinese higher education, examining the manifestations of heteronormativity at both institutional and interpersonal levels. Situated within the context of Xi Jinping’s presidency, which has reinforced political control over higher education in China, this study examines the impact of intensified authoritarianism on the campus experiences of queer university students. In this challenging environment, the study highlights a unique facet of contemporary China, providing empirical insights into the power dynamics among queer individuals, educational institutions, and the party-state.

A down-to-earth visual representation of contemporary China: analysing the video game Chinese Parents

The award-winning indie video game Chinese Parents, developed by a mainland China-based studio, has gained significant popularity among both Chinese and Western players owing to its unique narrative and representation of contemporary mainland China. Some of these in-game representations include the strict parenting style, academic pressure on Chinese children, unique Chinese school culture and popular Chinese internet memes. This article applies compositional interpretation, as well as the framework of iconology in visual culture to analyse the representation of contemporary mainland China from a video-game-context graphic communication perspective. Examples of character portraits, background scene illustrations, biaoqingbao meme application and supporting visual elements are selected and analysed to demonstrate how the game incorporates contemporary Chinese culture into the visuals, while also challenging and playing into existing clichés of Chinese culture.

‘Our Path from the Land’: Environmental Displacement and Anthropocenic Futures in Chinese Short Fiction

ABSTRACT As global warming imperils resource production and international security, nations around the world have been urged to develop sustainable, resilient infrastructure to curb and mitigate the worst effects of climate change. China has raced ahead in this process, commissioning hydraulic and green energy megaprojects to maintain the nation’s economic stability in the face of environmental precarity. However, these developments have come with a high cost for Chinese citizens, permanently forcing millions from their homes. Literary and cultural responses to displacement from Chinese authors abound, dividedly praising and critiquing the state’s technocratic, growth-centric response to climate change challenges. This article compares two such short stories, namely Liu Cixin’s ‘Yuanyuan’s Bubbles’ (2015) and Wang Ping’s ‘Maverick’ (2007) to consider the tensions surrounding green infrastructural transitions in contemporary China, where, on both sides of the polemic, the environmental migrant functions as a symbol of the nation’s uncertain social futurity.

The impacts of new propaganda media use on youth's political socialization

ABSTRACT Given the critical role of media in political socialization, the relationship between media use and political trust has attracted considerable attention from Western scholars. To examine the media mobilization effect in contemporary China, this paper aims to investigate how the use of New Propaganda Media (NPM) by youth relates to their patriotism and political trust based on a cross-sectional study conducted by cluster random sampling among Chinese youth in 31 provinces (N = 3011). Results indicated that (1) NPM use, in generally, positively predicts patriotism and political trust; (2) the intensity of patriotism mediates the connection between NPM use and political trust; and (3) usage of official media, social media and learning media has a positive impact on political trust, while the effect of entertainment media use is not significant. Our findings contributed to a better understanding of the effect of NPM on political trust and provide theoretical and practical significance in media mobilization and youth's political socialization of future research.

China’s Nine-Year Compulsory Education Policy and Rural Women’s Education

Globally, education is often regarded as a basic human right. In order to guarantee this right, many countries have adopted various measures to ensure universal access to an inclusive and fair quality education, without leaving anyone behind. The UNICEF (2017) Convention on the Rights of the Child provides tenets of the child’s right to education, education should focus on the all-round development of children’s personalities and promote mutual understanding, tolerance, friendship, and peace by respecting their personal cultural backgrounds. The draft UNESCO Education 2030 Framework for Action (UNESCO 2015) involves ensuring an inclusive and fair basic education and providing lifelong learning opportunities for all (Webb et al., 2017). The implementation of compulsory education and the comprehensive development of a modern education system thus are importance to countries such as China. In fact, the implementation of the compulsory education policy in contemporary China is regarded as the main task of the government, which means that the “right to education” is a top priority (Chang, 2010). However, although various levels of governments are making significant efforts to promote the development of compulsory education in rural areas, there is still a major gap in terms of the quality and attainment within China education, especially along urban-rural divides. Children from impoverished backgrounds, typically rural areas, have a much higher risk of dropping out than their urban peers after completing elementary school. Therefore, this dissertation seeks to present the difficult situation rural women find themselves in concerning education. It proposes two research questions that 1) Does China’s nine-year compulsory education policy include initiatives to address gender inequalities, such as the higher rates of illiteracy amongst rural women and girls, and what evidence is available on the extent of the policy’s effectiveness in this regard? 2) How are issues of gender inequality experienced by rural women and girls in China in the context of the enactment of the nine-year compulsory education policy? Analysing the implementation of China’s nine-year compulsory education policy in rural area, whilst investigating the inequality that rural women suffer.

Resignification of feminist drama: the translation of The Vagina Monologues in China

ABSTRACT This study examines the resignification of the world-famous feminist drama, The Vagina Monologues (TVM), in its translation and adaptation to the Chinese context. Specifically, it explores how TVM, along with its feminist agendas and values, is resignified in China through textual alterations and follow-up activism. The specific alterations in translation primarily revolve around themes including infant abandonment as gender-based violence, the emphasis on acquaintance rape as a form of sexual violence, and the unveiling of victim-blaming as a rape stereotype constructed in the Chinese context. The follow-up activism led by scholars entails different forms of actions that interact with social reality, with the most influential one being the assistance provided to individuals affected by gender injustice. Through the examination of TVM's transnational metamorphosis, this study finds that drama translation not only provides a channel for feminist awareness-raising in contemporary China but promotes the dialogue between local and global feminist activism.

‘Living-alone’ wanghong: Women’s singleness as a wanghong genre and the configuration of Chinese postfeminist wanghong culture

In this article, I explore how women’s singleness is represented by ‘living-alone’ wanghong on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小红书) and discuss the configuration of Chinese postfeminist wanghong culture. The term ‘“living-alone” wanghong’ refers to a group of Chinese vloggers – mostly women – who showcase their daily lives in domestic spaces while living by themselves. ‘Living-alone’ wanghong narrate their singleness as an autonomous choice that leads to a happy, high-quality, and bourgeois life. This narrative is distinct from the stigmatised ‘ shengnü’ (剩女, leftover women) discourse in contemporary urban China. By conducting thematic analysis of 50 sampled ‘living-alone’ vlogs featuring female wanghong, I examine three recurring themes: economic independence; self-care/self-discipline; and enjoyable loneliness. The analysis contextualises these three tropes in the postfeminist wanghong culture on Chinese social media. I argue that while ‘living-alone’ wanghong productively challenge stigmas around single women in the context of urban China, they ultimately transform women’s singleness into a neoliberal and postfeminist object in feminised consumer culture. Within their narratives, the structural struggles that single women face become issues that can and should be resolved by individual women. This transformation overshadows the underlying logic of consumption/commercialisation within Chinese postfeminist wanghong culture. This article further discusses the importance of the intersectional gender dimension in wanghong studies, as evidenced by the case study of ‘living-alone’ wanghong.

Professional Education or Certificate: The Factors Influencing Child Maltreatment Recognition in China

Purpose: This study examines the influences of social work education and social work certificates on the recognition of child maltreatment and its subtypes among social workers in contemporary China. Method: Data from 3,032 child social workers in the 2019 Chinese Social Work Longitudinal Study were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlations, and multiple regression models. Results: Social work education showed no significant association with child maltreatment recognition. Individuals with assistant-level or associate-level professional certificates demonstrated higher levels of recognition of child maltreatment and certain subtypes, including emotional abuse and neglect. Conclusions: Compared to the extensive coverage of child protection in certificate exams that reflects practical needs and policy changes, an overall lack of child social work content in degree programs could lead to long-term consequences on child protection practices and calls for a practice-oriented reorganization of social work degree curricula.

The Rural-Urban Intermarriage and Female Identity Formation in Contemporary China

This article analyzes the marital experiences of rural-urban female migrants in contemporary China through qualitative semi-structured interviews. It argues that these women have gained more autonomy and higher status within their families through intermarriage. Despite these improvements, they continue to face significant prejudices and pressures from family members and society. The empirical research reveals that female migrants often struggle with managing relationships with their elders. Additionally, differences in economic income and the division of domestic labor lead to conflicts over household finances between female migrants and their partners. The study found that female migrants are under multiple pressures from their partners and parents-in-law, often choosing to compromise in domestic conflicts. Overall, the autonomy that female migrants exhibit in intermarriages highlights a significant transformation in their self-determination and self-identification.

Spectres of Anticolonial Internationalism in Contemporary China: Observations during a Time of Global Struggle

Spectres of Anticolonial Internationalism in Contemporary China: Observations during a Time of Global Struggle

Discussion on the Purposes of Literary Education in Contemporary China

The purposes of education, both immediate and in the future, are an issue to be pondered. A number of scholars have responded that education has different aims, including the cultivation of citizenship, a flourishing life, and powerful knowledge. This paper aims to explore whether these different general goals accurately fit literary education and attest to them in the form of questions. Under each section, the paper begins by outlining the theoretical analysis and proceeds to present the author’s judgment and reflections based on experiences related to the context of contemporary China.

State feminism with Chinese characteristics: The inextricable link between women’s political representation and political episteme in contemporary China (2013–2023)

ABSTRACT This article examines the complex dynamics of state feminism in contemporary China (2013–2023) focusing on the paradoxical relationship between polemical narratives of gender equality and constraints on women's political representation. By tracing the historical evolution of Chinese state feminism, which strategically employs feminist rhetoric to emphasise male-female equality within a socialist context, the article highlights the role of the state-sponsored All China-Women’s Federation (ACWF) in its relation to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) and other more independent feminist voices. While the CCP claims commitment to women's empowerment, because of its roots in socialist values and traditional gender roles they emphasise family values and neo-familism, which can inadvertently create patriarchal pressures, limiting independent feminist advocacy and hindering broader political opportunities for women. Drawing upon diverse sources, the article reveals the relationship between polemical state feminism on perpetuating gender hierarchies and restricting women’s political advancement in contemporary China (2013–2023) while also exploring the emergence of a new generation of Chinese feminists questioning and challenging patriarchal norms through diverse routes. While acknowledging the strong efforts for improving gender equality in China today, the article ultimately underscores the need for comprehensive policies addressing structural barriers for continued developments in gender equality.

When concrete was considered sustainable: ecological crisis, technological transition and the prefabricated concrete rural houses in Jiangsu Province from 1961 to the 1980s

This paper explores the creation, development, and dissemination of prefabricated concrete rural houses in Jiangsu Province in East China from 1961 to the 1980s, an example of the technological transition provoked by the depletion of forest and timber in China. Through archival research, fieldwork and interviews, the paper examines the two waves of design and dissemination of prefabricated concrete rural houses between 1961 and 1965 and their subsequent ‘vernacularisation’ in the 1970s and the 1980s. This research provides a twofold insight into the current scholarly debates surrounding built heritage and global climate change. On one hand, it addresses a historical context of concrete overuse in contemporary China, a matter of critical importance in relation to carbon emissions and global climate change. On the other hand, it offers a counter-argument to today's call for reintroducing timber structures in many places, as evidenced by the case of East China, where the widespread use of materials like concrete was primarily a consequence of the ecological crisis following decades of deforestation and timber resource depletion. In addition, the ‘vernacularisation’ of concrete structures manifested by this case still provides lessons for today’s efforts to popularise more eco-friendly construction materials and technologies, especially in rural areas, and the prefabricated concrete houses possess potential heritage values as trackers of ecological changes.

The discourses of green modernization and eco-civilizational progress in contemporary China: convergence, tension and mutual learning

“Chinese modernization”, articulated systematically by the working report to the 20th National Congress of Communist Party of China(CPC) in 2022, has been gradually become a worldwide-known popular concept, which emphasizes harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature as one of its “five unique features”. A significant change arisen from it is that, two green theoretical discourses of “eco-civilizational progress” and “green modernization” in contemporary China have historically converged. In the Chinese context, the two discourses can be to a large extent understood as characteristic forms of a more general green discourse. Both the goals or the objectives to be transformed and the dependent environment are common or shared. As self-contained discursive theories, though, there are also noticeable differences and even a certain degree of tension between them. An ideal situation would be that, on the one hand, both of them are consciously put under a broader framework of green discourse theory, from which they can mutually learn and promote from each other, and on the other hand, it is expected that that can better serve China’s practice of building a modern socialist country in all respects.

Standards of Femininity in Traditional and Contemporary China: Stereotypes and Beliefs on Women’s Appearance, Roles and their Cultural Influences

Technological advancements have advanced patriarchal society. Modern society is bombarded with media, which introduces new styles and trends daily. These new fashion standards often have negative effects and reinforce social norms and stereotypes. Female roles and fashion trends are stereotyped worldwide, but they are rarely rigid. However, many in Eastern Asia, especially China, are concerned about this issue because cultural and media influences shape many stereotypes and perceptions about women’s physical appearances and social roles. People used to embrace their own beauty standards. However, modern society has adopted a standardised ideal, leading many to undergo extensive plastic surgery procedures like nose bridge enhancement, V-shaped face, skin lightening, and double eyelids. It seems like everyone is identical and can be easily replicated. Without inner beauty and values, outer beauty is just a decorative vase. Beauty, like anything else, is harmful in excess. Self-improvement and personal values should be prioritised before cosmetic enhancement. Through impact of social media, Chinese people set beauty standards and keep them for female generations .

Platformed identities of female migrant domestic Ayi's in the Chinese gig-economy

Focusing on the Chinese context, this investigation addresses how digital labor platforms as specific instances of social media, mediate interactions between workers and clients. This article addresses the evolving landscape of domestic labor in contemporary China, specifically focusing on female internal migrant workers - commonly referred to as “Ayi’s” — in the gig economy. More specifically, by employing a feminist intersectional lens, we analyze the platformization of migrant Ayi’s identities on digital labor platforms and Chinese super-apps like WeChat and Swan Daojia. We also address how these rural-to-urban migrants may use these platforms to create new narratives for themselves. Based on in-depth interviews with 15 female migrant workers alongside a walkthrough study of three digital labor platforms, Ayi’s are found to represent themselves by branding themselves. This form of self-marketing offers the potential to transform their visibility in public from perceived low-skilled laborers to “pre-packaged” professionals. While enhancing visibility, and thereby improving the standing of some, the representational practices of Ayi’s also offer insights into newly emergent forms of vulnerability and marginalization, shaped by gender, migrant status, and socioeconomic class.

Ideological and Political Design of College English Curriculum Based on Understanding Contemporary China

Ideological and Political Design of College English Curriculum Based on Understanding Contemporary China