A queer feminist anthropologist exploring the realities of culture, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Asia
When I first arrived in Beijing in September 2014, I knew almost nothing about the country I’d just moved to. I was embarking on a new life that didn’t seem to have a sell-by date – I had no idea how long I’d stay or even when I would next go home. While many of [...]
If I got pregnant or had children before I got married? I would get shame, and my parents wouldn’t call me their daughter.
“Don’t tell me that all Chinese guys like skinny girls, that’s just not true!” Yuan Xiaodan’s experience tells otherwise.
There is a phenomenon quietly sweeping through China, aptly named ‘xiàoyuán dài' or 'campus loans’, through which university students are falling rapidly into debt with little way out. Young people on university campuses are being targeted by online finance companies who give out loans or brand new iPhones, with no down payment required. Most of [...]
Image: A small boy feeds the fish at Yu Gardens, Shanghai, China
How are we to believe Mao Zedong's statement that "women hold up half the sky", if China’s women are being downtrodden by the very language they speak?
In April this year, my wonderful mother came to visit me in Beijing. She hadn’t taken an international trip alone for a few years. Well, she hadn’t left Europe alone for something like 30 years. (Having kids changes things like that, I would think.) So she boarded a plane from Norwich to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to [...]
Zhēn de Gender 