Date: 18 Jan 2023 (Wed)

Time:12:30 – 14:00

Venue: Zoom 

Speaker: Dr. XIE Kailing (Lecturer, International Development, University of Birmingham)

Dr. ZHOU Yunyun (Associate Professor, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental    Languages, University of Oslo)

Moderator: Prof. LAI Ruby Yuen Shan (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Social Policy, Lingnan University)

Abstract: 

One of the unexpected consequences of China’s One Child Policy is a sharp increase of the number of well-educated women in (Xie, 2021). While globally woman’s educational attainment is negatively correlated to fertility rate, the social norm of heteronormative marriage and child-rearing remains a predominant way of life in China. Concerned about the ‘population crisis’ with its dropping birth rate and fast aging population, the Chinese state has turned to pro-natalist policy that encourage married couple to have more children since 2021, despite the lack of supportive maternity and child-care policies. China’s essentialist gender discourse naturalised motherhood that has leads to the so-called ‘widow-style childrearing’, with little input from the paternal side. How do young women react to such reproductive dilemma, with both fear for missing out and the anxiety of being overwhelmed? How do women gain knowledge, exchange ideas about their reproductive choices and experiences? In what way cyberspace communities provide alternative spaces for female-centred discussions that are often marginalised if not silenced? To investigate in these issues, we have compiled a dataset that consists of 3153 posts under the topic ‘What does reproduction mean to women?’ from Douban, a popular forum among China’s young female urbanites from March 2020 to June 2022.  As an ongoing project, we are currently coding and analysing the dataset with the aim to understand the general themes, topics, values emerged from these discussions. In this talk, we will share our preliminary findings from the ongoing data analysis, but importantly the significance of such alternative public space online for China’s gender dynamics and feminist movements.  

Speaker’s Biography: 

Dr Kailing XIE is a lecturer in the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham.  Kailing takes a critical approach to International Development. Her work investigates the underlying social, cultural and political tensions underpinning China’s economic success through the lens of gender. She aims to uncover real people’s lived experience of different development projects against the backdrop of China’s rise on the global stage. Her recent monography, Embodying middle class gender aspirations: perspectives from China’s privileged young women, illuminates the centrality of heterosexual marriage as a primary institution in the organisation and reproduction of labour for the market economy, imbued with gendered inequality. Her article on ‘Premarital Abortion’ was awarded the 2017 Early Career Researcher Prize by the British Association of Chinese Studies.

Dr Yunyun ZHOU is a feminist researcher, a political sociologist, a Chinese Studies scholar, an ethnographic filmmaker, and associate professor based at the University of Oslo, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages. She positions herself as a fieldwork-based researcher working at the intersection of political sociology, gender studies and cultural studies. Her current research projects cover a range of topics concerning the latest development of Chinese politics and society, such as Chinese women’s reproductive choices and discourses, social movements, and media representations. One of her recent publications focuses on the actors and mechanisms behind China’s gender lobbying and legislation, which was published in Politics & Gender.

Language: English

Registration: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13659304