School of Social and Political Science

Background

Thesis Title  Bodyscapes of Modernity: A Post-Critical Sociology of Art and the Body in Republican China (1912–1937)

My thesis aims to show how the body was represented in Chinese visual art during the Republican era (1912–1937). The historical period under examination was a revolutionary age characterised by rapid social, political, economic and cultural change and reform. Just as modernisation had a significant impact on art and aesthetics, so depictions of the body – how it was visualised, understood and regulated – underwent significant changes. By examining the interplay between visual expressions, cultural production and social change – and particularly changing ideals of beauty – the thesis aims to demonstrate the co-constitutive relationship between art and society. It seeks to make a contribution to what has become known as the ‘new sociology of art’.

Supervisors

Prof Nick Prior
Dr Stephen Kemp

Qualifications

PhD in Sociology, The University of Edinburgh 
MSc (by Research) in Socio-Cultural Studies, The University of Edinburgh
MTCSOL, Renmin University of China 
BA in Journalism, Minzu University of China

Conference participation

“The Aestheticisation of Cheerful Faces of the Marginalised Groups in Chinese Visual Culture”, CCVA Annual Conference, “(Extra)Ordinary Living: Aesthetics in Contemporary China”, Birmingham City University in collaboration with Nanjing University of the Arts, November 2024 (forthcoming).

“Flows of Visualities: Conflicting Ways of Seeing the Body in Republican China (1912–1937)”, Hong Kong Convergence Conference, “(Re)connection, Communication and Contact”, The University of Hong Kong, June 2024 (forthcoming).

“A Genealogy of Paradoxical Modernity in China”, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, “Crisis, Continuity and Change”, Online, April 2024 (forthcoming).

“Selling Beauty and Cheerfulness: The Smile Labour Embodied in Visual Arts of Republican China (1912–1937)”, British Sociological Association Emotions Study Group Annual Symposium, “Emotions and Society: Inequalities and Solidarities”, Online, June 2023. 

“Posing Gender Ideologies: Shifting Femininities in Modern Chinese Fashion Images”, International Visual Sociology Association Annual Conference, “Visualizing Social Changes”, Online, July 2021. 

“Changing Cultural Logic: Fashion Iconography in Chinese Media Discourse”, New Directions Conference, “Storying Sociology”, The University of Edinburgh, April 2019.

Awards

PhD Research Support Fund, The University of Edinburgh, 2020–2023
Academic Scholarship, Renmin University of China 
Academic Scholarship, Minzu University of China 

Teaching experience

Tutor, Modern East Asian History (B), LLC, The University of Edinburgh, 2023
Tutor, Academic Skills for Asian Studies, LLC, The University of Edinburgh, 2022
Tutor, Chinese for Year Abroad, LLC, The University of Edinburgh, 2019–2023