Scottish Centre for China Research

University of Glasgow, room tbc

7 September 2017, 10.00-12.00

In this masterclass, Professor Stockmann will provide advice on conducting research on the Chinese media, including research design, data, methods and relevant software. The masterclass is aimed at PhD students who are doing research on the Chinese media. There will be an opportunity for participants to ask questions, including discussing issues related to their own research. There will a maximum of 10 participants.

Daniela Stockmann is Professor of Digital Politics and Media at the Hertie School.  Her current research focuses on trends towards digitalisation of societies across the globe and their challenges for policymakers and citizens. Her most recent research project, funded by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council, explores the impact of social media on citizen participation.

Her book, Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China (Cambridge University Press, 2013), received the 2015 Goldsmith Book Prize awarded by the Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. The book explores the effects of media marketisation on the production of news and media credibility among audiences. To study the consequences of media marketisation in China, she used diverse research methods to capture the degree of media marketisation, the production of news, and media credibility. These included a focused study of newspapers in Beijing and Chongqing based on open-ended interviews with media practitioners and content analysis, which uncovered patterns of political control over newspaper content.

If you are interested in taking part in the masterclass, please contact Paul Gardner at Glasgow University, with details about your PhD research. sccr.pgn@gmail.com

Room 355, Main Building, University of Glasgow,

7 September 2017, 13.30-15.00

Professor Daniela Stockmann will chair a panel discussion on developments in traditional Chinese media and social media. The panel has been organised by the Scottish Centre for China Research Postgraduate Network, as part of the British Association for Chinese Studies conference. The speakers will be:

• Vincent Weifeng Ni  who is a journalist at the BBC and previously a foreign correspondent for Caixin, where he spearheaded the publication's coverage of the Arab Spring
• Xin Xin who is Reader in International Media at the University of Westminster. She is the author of How the Market is Changing China's News: The Case Xinhua News Agency and she  worked at Xinhua earlier in her career
• Dr Jonathan Sullivan, the Director of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University and his expertise includes the Chinese Internet and media

All welcome.

Time: 2pm on Friday 17th March, 2017

Location: Room 208B in the Adam Smith Building, University of Glasgow
(Building D8 on the campus map: http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_335384_en.pdf)

Agenda

1 Preparing abstracts and presentations for academic conferences

Professor Jane Duckett, the Director of the SCCR, will talk about how to prepare abstracts and presentations for academic conferences. This will be particularly useful for PhD students interested in presenting at the British Association for Chinese Studies Conference in Glasgow on 7-9 September. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 18 April.

2 Presentation by Zhu Jingyan on fieldwork in China

Jingyan is a PhD student at Edinburgh. She has recently returned from doing fieldwork in China. She will talk about 'Fieldwork in Chinese Local Hospitals: Patient Involvement in Health Services'. The talk concerns themes including access, preparation before the fieldwork, interviewing tips, and ethics. 

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Informal talk: social science academic job application and interview techniques

by Aofei Lv

6 May, 2015 afternoon

Co-Chairs: Jia Xie （j.xie.1@research.gla.ac.uk ） and Yahong Wang（y.wang.7@research.gla.ac.uk）

Wednesday 26 November, 2014 in 904 Adam Smith Building, from 4:30pm to 6:30pm.

Feedbacks

I quite enjoyed the presentations and the free discussion yesterday. I think one significant point of the PGN monthly meeting is that everyone will join the discussion and express their idea. From that point of view, we did it very well.

One thing that Jia said really impressed me. She found that it seemed there are more Chinese female backpackers today, who are independent and well educated. It may be because of one child policy in China.

When China was a traditional agricultural society, male was seen as the main power of the family, because physical work of the agriculture was usually up to them. As a result, when a family had a few children but could only afford one for education, the boy was usually the priority as ‘the hope of the family’ (光耀门楣). This situation last thousands of years in China. However, one child policy in 1980s’ does not give a family the choice to choose which children for education. Because no matter girls or boys, there should be only one child in each family (in theory). Therefore, the family has to send the only child to go to school (without any other choice), even if she is a girl. It means female has more opportunities to have education under one child policy than before when the opportunities were mainly given to male. This point does not deny the fact that under one child policy there are lots of baby girls being aborted because of the feus identification OR girls being abandoned. But the abortion and abandone are also due to the thousand year sexism.  Under this context, the point only compares female education after they were born without abandone in China.    

I think it might be quite interesting to do a statistic analysis and see female education before and after one child policy.

--Aofei Lv

The SCCR PGN meeting of November talked about two very interesting topics. Both of them are trying to explore the lifestyle changing of youngsters in transforming society within the contemporary China context. Yahong focused on vegetarianism in the capital city of China-Beijing, combined with her own living and study experience in the city. This presentation gave us a broader picture of the development and current situation of vegetarians, as well as the literature of vegetarianism within the field. In the second part, Jia Xie presented her research and findings which concentrated on young people who choose to be backpacker as their lifestyles. The field work of her research revealed some interesting phenomenon such as more female than male are backpacking in China.

Needless to say, many young Chinese citizens are seeking their identities in a fast changing society. Some of them are lucky enough to find where they belong, however, some are still confusing and wondering. Both of these researches tend to uncover the contemporary China from a niche and specific angle which is very meaningful and insightful.

--Kaidong Yu

 (taken by Xiaonan Yang)

Rotating Chair: Xiaonan Yang x.yang.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Room 904 ASB, 29th October, between 4.30 - 6.30 pm 

Dear SCCR fellow researchers, 

Welcome come back to the new semester 2014/15. I am pleasant to introduce the theme of SCCR PGN meeting in October – Sina Weibo.

In China, the enthusiasm of netizens is not curbed regarding social media even with the government’s control and censorship. The banning of mainstream Western social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in Mainland China has provided a great opportunity to domestic players from the beginning. Renren (originally called Xiaonei) and Kaixin have acted the role of pioneers in this industry. Following the dramatic development of information technology, various social media emerged during the past decade with Chinese exclusive versions: Twitter – Weibo, Whatsapp – Wechat, Quora – Zhihu, YouTube – Youku+Tudou, LinkedIn – Lashou, Tumblr – Diandian. The argument has been made that social media have integrated into Chinese users’ life, especially for the 80’s and following generations. 

Sina Weibo, a Twitter-alike site, has attracted numbers of interests from both practitioners and scholars. As reported, it is now one of the largest user-generated-content platforms. It re-shaped the frameworks of conducting business, making regulations or policies, and even doing researches for academics. It is the platform in which provides numerous chances for cross-disciplines studies.

Two doctoral researchers, Aofei Lv (Politics study) and Xiaonan Yang (Management study) is about to provide their own insights from normal Weibo users’ perspectives of using Weibo as relaxation and research tool; simultaneously, offering a zest regarding Weibo research from their own projects. Leading presentations will be delivered with round table discussion involving. 

Furthermore, if you would like to share your own Weibo-relevant experiences or project, please inbox me before 24th October. We would like to learn from you! No matter it is a brief case of your own positive/negative incident while using Weibo, or a short presentation integrating Weibo to art, education, or other subjects based on your expertise. They are all precious to us.

The detailed outline for the meeting will be sent out in the following days.

We are looking forward to seeing you in the October SCCR meeting; meanwhile, it would be great to hear and exchange the experiences of yours in applying the platform in various purposes.

Best wishes,

Xiaonan Yang

Photos from this meeting:

(1st picture is taken by Sophia Yu) Director of the SCCR, Professor Jane Duckett gave a open talk to the seminar and encouraged PGN members to open their mind beyond the research. 

(2nd picture is taken by Yuwei Xu) PGN members concentrated on the meeting.

Feedback by Mengxi Pang:

The PGN meeting in October was focused on Weibo, a social media site that enjoys immense popularity in China. During the meeting two presentations were delivered which took on different approaches to explore the topic and its relations to wider society. One presentation was focused on the marketing function of Weibo, whereas the other examined the role of this social media in promoting the democracy process from a political perspective. Both presentations pointed out the profound role of Weibo in shaping Chinese society.

While this was my first time attending such meeting, I could clearly feel the enthusiasm shared by members. I believe this is a unique and enlightening forum that brings together a group of like-minded researchers who work on China-related topics. It presents insightful debates as well as stimulating ideas. I fully recommend this network to people who are doing research on China, and to those who are simply interested in knowing more about what research is being conducted at the moment.

Room 904 ASB  4.30 - 6.30 pm

Achievements summary of last year and the plan making for the new year.

4.30-6.30pm, Boyd Orr Building room 711

How does life happen around your PhD? by Dr. Nai Rui Chng

Dr Nai Rui Chng is an Affiliate Research Fellow in Human Rights in the School of Social and Political Sciences, and is a member of the Boyd Orr Centre for Population and Ecosystem Health at the University of Glasgow. He was also a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute. He has a PhD in Political Science from the London School of Economics.

Dr Chng's research is on the regulatory and contentious politics of public goods. He is interested in how people with power, and those without, make, preserve, and change the rules of how public goods are distributed. He has worked on the governance of water supply, environmental resources, and public health in high, middle, and low-income settings. These include the UK, Singapore, China, Philippines and Indonesia. 

For his Phd, he developed the concept of 'regulatory mobilization' to describe collective action by a group of actors to influence or obtain control over rules, modes of state intervention, and mechanisms of social control in the post-privatization context of urban water supply in Metro Manila in the Philippines. Currently, he is working on public participation in Chinese environmental governance. Together with Dr Neil Munro, they are developing a set of policy recommendations for the Chinese state and local provincial governments (Zhejiang) to establish a monitoring and evaluation system to collect data, and to assess the effectiveness of participation. Dr Chng is also working on the politics of public health. Here, he is working with Ecologists at the Boyd Orr Centre to develop a political theory of change for disease intervention in the context of rabies control in Southeast Asia.

Feeback by Hua Wang:

I attended the SCCN PGR seminar on 30^th July, when Dr Chng shared his PhD research and other research projects he has been working on.   Dr Chng has been involved in many inter-disciplinary researches with different approaches. From ethnography to politics, from public participation in environmental governance to disease intervention, he has successfully extended his research sphere with great potentials. 

4.30-6.30pm, Boyd Orr Building room 711 

Rotating chair: Miao Huang

PhD presentations: 

• The US in the eyes of China: A popular geopolitical study on Sino-US relations

Ning An, PhD student in School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow
Subject: Geography (accurately geopolitics, that is between geography and political science)

• Noise in Guangzhou: the cultural politics of underground popular music in contemporary Guangzhou

Chen Liu, PhD student in Royal Holloway, University of London
Subject: (Social and Cultural) Geography

• Business Model Innovation and Firm Performance: Chinese Online Group Buying Firms

Yang Zhao, 3rd Year PhD Student, Adam Smith Business School， University of Glasgow

Feedback by Miao Huang

The SCCR-PGN meeting in June was held on June 25th. Three speakers presented their research topics respectively on cultural geography, geopolitics and business model innovation. Except for some discussions about the basis of research, the presenters and audiences shared opinions on several interesting questions that were not limited to the presentations themselves, such as discourse backgrounds, investigation approaches and societal effects. After all, this was an informative meeting that expanded our horizons. We are expecting more interesting meetings in the future.

4.30-6.30pm, Boyd Orr Building room 711

PhD presentations: 

• Yuwei Xu: A Cross-cultural Analysis of Gender and Teaching in Early Childhood Settings: Scotland, Hong Kong and Mainland China
• Hua Wang: Origin VS. Network: Non-local Chamber of Commerce’s Influence in Chinese Local Policy making

Discussions of 'doing fieldwork in China as a non-Chinese' and cross disciplinary methodology led by Dr. David Tobin

Feedback by Yang Zhao

'State of the field’ and ‘Doing research in China’

Tuesday, 13th May, 3.30-4.30 pm, room 702, ASB

As a follow-up meeting of his lecture on Monday, Professor Blecher would like to meet postgraduate research students to talk about is decades experience in social science research of China.

As the seats are limited, please email sccr_pgn@yahoo.com if you would like to attend.

• Emiline C.H. Smith: CULTURAL PROPERTY IN TRANSIT: Trafficking Cultural Objects in Hong Kong.
• Miao Huang: The framework of my research: the online retailing practice of Chinese regional press groups

Rotating Chair: Jing Han

Feedback

"The SCCR-PGN March Meeting themed Business, Media and Policy was held successfully on 31 March. Two speakers, both 1st year PhD students, presented their research respectively on trafficking cultural objects in Hong Kong and online retailing of Chinese regional press groups within the general theme, providing intriguing insights into the operation of various parties in business and their interactions.

Today, with the boom of the international market of cultural objects, the issue of trafficking cultural objects has been attracting increasingly attention. Hong Kong, currently as one of the most popular free ports, is a very valuable case to breakthrough. Emiline Smith’s talk began with current situation of trafficking cultural objects in Hong Kong and moved on to how she will carry out her research on this subject from a socio-legal, criminological perspective. As a cultural heritage law specialist, Emiline’s comprehensive study on this case shows great potential for improving relevant legislation for preventing trafficking cultural objects, which is of importance to the preservation and sustainable development of cultural heritage.

Contrary to the glamorous cultural property, the subject of online retailing of Miao Huang’s talk is closely linked with our daily life. In the transformation of some Chinese regional press groups, online retailing, an unconventional diversified operation grows. This is a piece of virgin land full of both opportunities and challenges waiting for exploration. Miao presented her freshly drawn framework based on the interactive functions of press groups. Then she illustrated the defects of current online retailing by Chinese regional press groups and discussed potentials for improvement and implications for public policy, which will hopefully make contribution to the creation of better environment for online retailing of regional press groups.

Since there are quite a lot that overlap in terms of subject, methodology, etc, ideas were shared to a large extent and heated round table discussion was carried out. Both presenters received useful feedbacks. It was recognised by all that the monthly meeting is a precious chance to present research to peers of slightly different disciplines and is truly reciprocal in inspiring new thoughts.

Altogether, this was a small but informative meeting. We are all looking forward to more exciting meetings in the following months!"

Jing Han

Theme of presentations: What does a social science PhD do in each year? Chaired by Xiaonan Yang

• Caterina Bellinetti: Chinese war photography (1st year)
• Jing Han: Chinese dyeing technique (2nd year)
• Aofei Lv: Chinese health policy and policy entrepreneurship (4th year)

Discussion of conference skills led by Professor Jane Duckett

Feedback

"As a first year PhD, I enjoyed yesterday's meeting very much. Research from different areas really widen my view. For example, I've never thought that the research on dyeing would be so fascinating and requires knowledge from different aspects. As a sociological student, the answer of 'why red represents high status in China' would always be the symbolic meaning of the color and social structure. While chemist told me because it takes more time, money and energy to dye cloth red. Moreover, Aofei's presentation really comforted me as a first year PhD since her experience told me that it takes time to make things clear. As long as you keep going and work hard, you will get reward. Prof. Duckett's guidelines for conference participation are valuable. She pointed out that one should be proactive and well-prepared. Also, please consider about what audience want when prepare your presentation. The suggestion of bring name card is so sweet.

Thanks so much for this short but productive meeting. Hope to see everyone soon!"

Jia Xie
1st year PhD in sociology

To kick off a prosperous and promising new year, the SCCR-PGN had our first meeting on January 22nd.

At the meeting, the members introduced themselves so that people got to know each other. Besides we talked about the PGN¡¯s plan and events of the year.

Here are the main points of the meeting:

• We all agree to strength the network via more interactions between the members within the network;
• There will be more routine events in the near future;
• The SCCR and Confucius Institute (CS) are keen to support the PGN to organize our own events.