No Support, No Opposition, No Promotion
September 16, 2016
By Emmanuelle Lazzara, PhD Candidate. From the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham UK. Recent years have witnessed increasing media coverage of LGBT-related issues in China. For instance, in 2014, Qiu Bai, a student from Guangdong province, sued the Ministry of Education on the grounds that a number of university …
Embodying Soft Power
April 29, 2016
By Frazer Worboy, BA in Contemporary Chinese Studies. Soft Power and a reputation of a Nation are a hard thing to grasp. Where I’m from in Britain, the soft power is huge. With top quality universities, high wages and free healthcare, it’s a pretty attractive place to live. Add to that a thriving arts scene …
The ancient Chinese fortune cookie
March 29, 2016
By David O’Brien, Assistant Professor School of Contemporary Chinese Studies. Last week I saw young Russian guys on campus wearing fake red beards and leprechaun hats, Chinese girls with shamrock t-shirts and Irish flags flying from a kiosk on the High Street. It was of course St Patrick’s Day, national day of my homeland and …
Alibaba & Chinese Business Culture
October 21, 2015
By Donald Bain, Student of UNNC Summer School 2015. Despite China’s political and economic power, their business practices remain poor because the intrinsic complexities of Chinese culture. Therefore the ultimate question is to what extent does China’s national culture have an impact on firms. By observing a successful company like Alibaba, a multi-national e-commerce company …
The Marriage Market of Shanghai’s Peoples’ Park
September 18, 2015
By Lauren Fung Student of UNNC Summer School 2015. People’s Park is considered to be one of the prettiest parks in Shanghai city, and is often a site of attraction for tourists to the area. Formerly the site of the Shanghai Racecourse, the park is located just south of Nanjing Road and to the north …
Three Generations of Chineseness
April 21, 2015
By Flair Shi, Currently Studying Comparative Literature (MA) at University College London, Graduate of the School of English University of Nottingham Ningbo, BA in English Language and Literature. I am not sure whether it is because of the trendy post-colonial obsession with cultural authenticity or simply due to the ascendance of personal narratives in the …
China and Warhol’s 15 Minutes of Fame
September 26, 2014
By Phoebe Smith, Studying English at the University of Nottingham UK. As a staunchly cynical soul, Andy Warhol’s 1968 prediction that ‘In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.’, has always struck me as a sadly accurate interpretation of today’s media-fuelled, body-conscious lifestyle. Before my visit to China, I viewed the modern Kardashian-style …
How one Japanese subculture has evolved in China
September 21, 2014
By Flair Shi, Graduate of the School of English University of Nottingham Ningbo, BA in English Language and Literature. The Yaoi, or the Fushoji (rotten), subculture in Japan has generated a lot of popularity domestically and internationally since it emerged from the 1970s. Yaoi refers to the male homosexual themed manga or animation products originated …
China and I
August 27, 2014
By Samuel Tholley, Student at Nottingham University Ningbo Summer School. From a very young age I have always been fascinated with East Asian culture. Witnessing the Western portrayal of an Asia country locked in an epoch of ancient martial arts, mysticism, secrecy and staple food, accentuated by inaccurate/orientalist media, had stimulated my interest in this …
Changing Chinese TV channels
July 30, 2014
By Elizabeth Henriette Schenderling, Student at Nottingham University Ningbo Summer School. In comparison to the West, television has grown to be a popular form of entertainment very quickly in China. In 2005, Chinese television made 242,146 hours of television every week and 12.6 million hours per year. From the 50’s until the middle 80’s, education was …