Chengzhe Yao
Email: 2880278y@student.gla.ac.uk
Room 578, Level 5, St Andrews Building, G3 6NH
Contact on Linkedin
Research title: Anxious Youth in Elite Universities of China
Research Summary
Current Research
China is undergoing ambitious but anxious reforming in various areas, such as the economy and education in a global context. The future of young people is uncertain while the individual narratives and grand contexts are full of tensions and contradictions.
My PhD research explores the life experiences of a large group named "small town swot"（小镇做题家). They were the "winners" of the National College Entrance Examination but mock themselves as "losers" (废物). Through their "failed" experience in universities and the job market, I aim to discuss the structural inequalities in the meritocratic society.
Research Interests
- Higher education
- Social class inequalities
- Rural-urban inequalities
- Ethnography
- Social mobility
- Youth culture
Supervisors
Grants
This research is fully funded by CSC(China Scholarship Council).
Conference
"To be a loser": The frustrated graduates in the ambitious China (presenter), University of Warwick, 11th Education Studies Postgraduate Research Online Conference
Additional Information
- 2023-Present, PhD in Education, University of Glasgow
- 2021-2022, Social anthropology MSc, University of Edinburgh
- 2017-2021, Chinese literature (Minor), Tianjin University
- 2017-2021, Edcuation BA, Tianjin Univerisity
