文艺青年 – China’s Emerging Hipsters
July 23, 2014
By Aimee Strang, Student at Nottingham University Ningbo Summer School. Wenyi Qingnian – aka the Chinese expression used to describe a hipster. The term hipster has become increasingly popular over the past decade to describe those who belong to a certain subculture and are predominantly from Generation Y. The idea of hipster has primarily been …
E’gao: Online parody as political commentary
July 16, 2014
By Gareth Shaw, PhD Candidate in Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham, UK. China’s regulatory environment has spawned a culture of online jokes and entertainment known as 恶搞 (e’gao), which often spoof political activity and
Cruelty or culture?
June 28, 2014
By Dr. David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. China’s animal right’s activists were on the march this week as opposition continues to grow towards an age-old custom. A small but vocal group of protestors travelled to the city of Yulin, in southern Guangxi to protest the …
India and China : The best of both developing countries
April 23, 2014
By Shivali Mistry, Second year MSci Hons Student in Accounting and Finance for Contemporary China, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Having the opportunity to experience such different lifestyles yet in the same continent has led to some pretty exciting memories in my lifetime. My first visit to India was 18 years ago and I …
Fieldwork in Ningbo: getting beyond observation
April 2, 2014
By Felicity Woolf, Studying an MA in Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The moment has arrived when I can no longer shelter in the library, deep in theory, but must venture forth to my chosen fieldwork site and attempt to find out what is happening there and why. I have …
Chengdu’s creative spaces – cultural diamonds or lead balloons?
February 21, 2014
By Philip Crosbie, PhD candidate, School of Asian Studies, University College Cork. As one of Chinas emerging cities in the south-west, Chengdu is quickly becoming one of the most prosperous and talked about cities in the country’s landscape of urban development. Most projections forecast that Chengdu is becoming a key area of domestic and foreign …
Chinese Intellectuals’ Thinking on Reforming Ethnic Policies
February 14, 2014
By Dr .Julie Yu-Wen Chen, Department of Government, University College Cork. While the Western media offer us a channel for understanding what’s going on with ethnic relations in China, sometimes partial media coverage and an overreliance on English sources/perspectives give us an impression of a China that is indifferent to its various minorities. What is …
Not Everyone Loves Social Media
January 9, 2014
By Dr. Shixin Ivy Zhang, Assistant Professor in Journalism Studies, School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The most popular term in 2013 may be ‘phubbing’, a combination of ‘phone’ and ‘snub’. This term was coined by Macquarie Dictionary team in Australia in 2012. It refers to the annoying habit of snubbing someone …
Pollution and Civilisation
December 4, 2013
By Felicity Woolf, Studying an MA in Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Recently when I looked out of my kitchen window, the view beyond the first few tower blocks was shrouded in thick mist; pollution hung heavy in the air. Yesterday a colleague had questioned our cavalier attitude towards cycling …
Where the Governmental and the Avant-Garde meets
November 1, 2013
By Dr Tianqi (Kiki) Yu, Assistant Professor in Film and Media Studies, The School of International Communications, The University of Nottingham, Ningbo China. If the charm of Berlin lies in the confrontation of different ideologies demonstrated through architecture and the closeness between history and present, the beauty of Shanghai is highlighted through the harmonious mix …