“Labour is Most Glorious!”: China’s Changing Canteens
August 27, 2015
By Tracey Fallon, Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Chinese Studies, Faculty of Social Science, UNNC. The canteen (shitang) is a part of everyday life in China that encapsulates the diverse transformations in the relationship between employment, society, and the state. It is an enduring familiar space that has flourished outside the dismantling of the state’s regulating …
Mental Health in China – A Westerner’s perspective
August 20, 2015
By Nicola Swain, Student of UNNC Summer School 2015. Around the world we are becoming increasingly more aware of the impact of mental health problems on people and society. In the UK it is predicted that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point. In China less is known about …
Are there lessons from Business for the CCP?
January 22, 2015
By Joseph Healy, MA student in Contemporary Chinese Studies, UNNC One of the intriguing leadership and management challenges anywhere in the world in 2015 is how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) manages the socioeconomic transition within China. It’s hard to think of a precedent in politics or business to equate to the scale of the …
More ‘Tigers’ in President’s Sights.
January 9, 2015
By David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo. The Communist Party of China faces threats from dangerous internal cliques who are ‘parasites’ harming both the country and the people, official state media reported this week. Such strong condemnation is certainly striking and would seem to indicate that President Xi …
Nü Zhi Qing: the Wilted Flowers of the Country
November 14, 2014
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. For the young college students enjoying China’s unprecedented expansion of urban wealth and education in the 21th century, it is very hard to imagine with what kind …
People Mountain, People Sea
October 6, 2014
By Dr David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. In the past seven days somewhere in the region of 480 million trips were made in China as the nation basked in the ‘golden week’ National Holiday. Since 1999 the majority of Chinese workers are given three days …
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 …
Horn Honking in China
August 13, 2014
By Nathan Cheuk, Student at Nottingham University Ningbo Summer School. There has been little doubt that recent years in China have been associated with an astounding rate of economic growth. Naturally, there has been, and will continue to be, an increase in the number of motorists on the roads as China continues to grow. Perhaps …
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 …