LUCC News, February 2022
The February 2022 edition of LUCC's newsletter is out.
You can read the newsletter via our mailing list - just send an email to china.centre@lancaster.ac.uk.
LUCC News
February, 2022, Vol.3, Issue 3. Edited by Zeng Jiru
As Spring Festival approaches, we’d like to welcome all to a new year of exciting activities updates and activities about Lancaster’s researchers working on, in and with China.
Already in 2022 we’ve welcomed two new fellows - business ethnographer Zoe Zhu and linguistic expert Jocelin Lingxia Zhou (see below for their profiles). Jocelin will also present the first LUCC research seminar of the new term, on 15 February. We'll also be welcoming Manchester's Tao Wang on 22 February, and we hope to finally return to in-person events in March, with QMUL's Lee Jones. See below for all the details.
For all those interested in learning Mandarin, the LU Confucius Institute is now running a 10-week beginner-level course on Friday lunchtimes for the extremely reasonable rate of £50 (for the whole course!) - sign up link is here.
And for those keen to take part in some Spring Festival festivities around Lancaster, click here and take a look at the fantastic lineup of events being organized by former LU students Percy and Josh.
Happy Lunar New Year!
随着春节来临，研究中心向各位致以真挚的问候，并欢迎大家在新的一年中，继续参加中心同事丰富多元有关中国研究的活动。
在2022年的前两个月中，研究中心迎来了两位新同事 – 企业人类学家朱艺和语言学专家周灵霞（详细个人简介请见后文）。欢迎两位加入！
在2月15日，周灵霞将开展新学期中的第一次网上研讨会系列活动，接着有幸欢迎曼大的王涛博士2月22日在网上讲其对于关系在台湾政治中起到的作用的最新研究。三月份中心有望回复面对面的研究活动。各个活动的详情请看下文。
兰卡斯特大学孔子学院正为希望学习汉语的人提供初级课程。该课程为初学者难度，全程费用为50英镑，共计10周，将在每周五午餐时间开课。点击此处即可注册课程。
如果您希望参加一些在兰卡斯特举办的春节活动，请点击此处查看由兰卡斯特大学毕业生Percy和Josh举办的新春系列精彩活动。
恭祝您新春快乐！
UPCOMING EVENTS
活动预告
15 Feb: Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in Language Campaigns in China — A Regional Comparison
- Speaker: Jocelin Lingxia Zhou, Lancaster University
- Time: 13:00 - 14:00, 15 Feb, 2022 (London Time）
- Place: Online via Teams, email china.centre@lancaster.ac.uk for the link.
In more economically developed regions and individualized societies, local “dialect” speakers are more assertive and vocal about their linguistic rights and the preservation of the local language and culture. However, awareness of linguistic diversity and appreciation of the local community language can be raised through the power of mass media and consciousness-raising by celebrities, as shown in the case of Hunan. Those campaigns challenge the linguistic hegemony created by the PRC national language policy of Mandarin promotion, and foster regional varieties of Chinese language that are under pressure from the onslaught of Mandarin promotion policies, as well as massive internal migration and globalization. The response of the PRC central government shows the Chinese Communist Party's negotiation with an increasingly individualistic Chinese society as a strategy to enhance its "consultative Leninism", without negating the promotion of the official language aimed at reinforcing nationalism and a homogeneous Chinese national identity.
Speaker bio: Jocelin Lingxia Zhou is Confucius Institute Teaching Lead and Lecturer in Chinese at the Department of Languages and Cultures (DeLC) at Lancaster University. Jocelin’s research investigates language policy and campaigns in China from the prospective of sociolinguistics and political science.
22 Feb: The Impact of Guanxi on Political Representation in Taiwan
- Speaker: Tao Wang, University of Manchester
- Time: 1pm-2pm, 22 February, 2022
- Place: Online via Teams, email china.centre@lancaster.ac.uk for the link.
On average, a Taiwanese MP receives 31 requests a week from constituents to attend funerals. That is, nearly 4.5 invitations per day. Why are voters interested in having MPs present at private funerals? Drawing on evidence from in-depth interviews and observation, this study focuses on the role of guanxi, the Chinese term for particularistic ties. Voters in a guanxi society are inclined to show off their particularistic ties with Very Important People. Since national lawmakers are figures of power, this tendency among voters keeps Taiwanese legislators exceptionally busy attending private weddings, funerals, and banquets, often at the expense of attentiveness to national policy. The study concludes that guanxi culture brings constituency focus to the fore of Taiwan’s political representation, shedding some light on the ramification of political culture on democratic consolidation.
Speaker bio: Tao Wang (PhD, University of Manchester, 2021) is Research Associate at the Manchester China Institute. His research interests lie in the fields of political culture, democratisation, and nationalism, with a focus on East Asia.
15 March: Fractured China: How State Transformation is Shaping China's Rise
3月15日：断裂中国：国家转型如何塑造中国的崛起
- Speaker: Lee Jones, Queen Mary University of London
- Time: March 2022 – final date to be confirmed.
- Place: in-person, TBC - look out for updates!
NEW LUCC FELLOWS
研究中心新同事
Zoe Zhu 朱艺
Zoe Zhu is a business ethnographer interested in the institutionalization and internalization of culture in the organization, particularly how employees interpret organizational culture and related interactions between management and employees. Read her full profile and publications here.
Jocelin Lingxia Zhou
周灵霞
Jocelin Lingxia Zhou is Confucius Institute Teaching Lead and Lecturer in Chinese at the Department of Languages and Cultures (DeLC) at Lancaster University. Jocelin’s research investigates language policy and campaigns in China from the prospective of sociolinguistics and political science. Read more about Jocelin’s research here.
EXCHANGE OPPORTUNITIES
交换学习机会
Based at Renmin University of China, the “China Study Program” (CSP) supports PhD students in areas of humanities and social sciences to conduct studies and research in China.
CSP provides individualized training programs for each candidate and offers generous fellowships to cover the cost of research, fieldwork, and living expenses in China.
Ph.D. candidates registered in an overseas university are eligible to apply for a “Joint Research Ph.D. Fellowship”, and those who have obtained a master's degree and are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. degree in China may apply for the “Ph.D. Program in China”.
The application for the 2021 CSP Fellowship will remain open until 28 Feb, 2022. Please click here for detailed information.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
最新发表
BIAS Word inventory for work and employment diversity, (in)equality and inclusivity
Dr. Yang Hu has co-published a new word inventory the first comprehensive word inventory for work and employment diversity, (in)equality, and inclusivity that builds on a number of conceptual and methodological innovations. The BIAS Word Inventory was developed as part of an international, interdisciplinary project – BIAS: Responsible AI for Labour Market Equality – in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK). The inventory is particularly suited for studying labour market inequalities, as it reflects the language used to describe job postings, and the inventory takes account of cues at various dimensions, including explicit and implicit cues associated with gender, ethnicity, citizenship and immigration statuses, role specifications, equality, equity and inclusivity policies and pledges, work-family policies, and workplace context.
The inventory can be accessed at: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/t9v3a/
The securitization of 'Chinese influence' in Australia
“中国影响”问题在澳大利亚的安全化
Dr. Andrew Chubb has an article in the Journal of Contemporary China. The research traced the emergence of ‘Chinese influence’ as a conceptual touchstone of Australia’s public policy discourse in 2017-2018. As the securitizing coalition expanded from security agencies to politicians, and then the media, the scope of threat expanded from an initial concern with PRC state intelligence activity to securitization of a much wider array of state and non-state activities under the ambiguous label ‘Chinese influence.’
READ MORE HERE:
https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/161840/
ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT
学术参与
- On 3 December 2021, LUCC fellow Eva Li has given a talk at Rutger's Global China Office, titled 'Not just a metaphor: Military imagery for COVID-19 in Taiwan, Hong Kong and beyond'. More information could be found here.
MEDIA ENGAGEMENT
媒体参与
- On 14 January 2022, LUCC’s acting director Andrew Chubb was quoted in Vincent Ni’s story in The Guardian, “MI5 warning on lawyer ‘sends a clear message to China’s allies in UK’”.
ALUMI RELATIONS HUB
校友中心
INTRODUCTION
Alumni Relations Hub at the Lancaster University China Centre (LUCC) provides support for research, teaching and public engagement for members of staff across the University. The Hub now offers an In-depth and Breadth Database for Research through cooperation with Lancaster Alumni Centre, where data of 148,000 graduates in more than 180 countries is stored. The Hub nurtures a personal touch for engagement, which is particularly important in China, and supports efforts at pedagogic development by learning from our Chinese alumni’s experience.
For any inquiry, please contact rebecca.liu@lancaster.ac.uk.
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