Staff interests

China's economic transformation in the past 30 years has improved standards of living in the world's most populous country while making a huge impact on global markets. Professor Yao's research uses the tools of econometrics to study the flip side of China's rapid development, in particular, the widening rich-poor income gap. It also examines the reform of the Chinese financial system in terms of efficiency and impact of foreign competition. Based on these studies, his research proposes strategies and policies to help China overcome existing growth barriers and ensure its continued growth.

China is rising. The rest of the world is watching - some anxiously while others excitedly as they look for a Chinese model. How should we understand China’s rise? Is it the second superpower? What will it do when its economy surpasses that of the USA? Is it a threat to others? Does China provide a development model for super-fast growth? Is the consultative Leninist political system the only suitable system for the Chinese people? What lessons should one draw by comparing and contrasting the political, economic and social developments in Taiwan and Hong Kong with those on the Chinese Mainland? Why is Taiwan democratic whereas China is not? These are some of the questions Professor Tsang asks himself every day.  

How has the Internet changed the ways Chinese people experience and reflect on their world? How do Chinese men and women perceive the extraordinary social and cultural transformations of 21th-century China? What are their dreams, desires, fears, hopes and nightmares behind the façades of skyscrapers and neon lights? Through studies ranging from Ming/Qing vernacular fictional narratives, women's writings, and courtesan poetry in late imperial China, to body writing, best sellers, banned books and blogs in post-Deng China, Associate Professor Daria Berg's research seeks to inform the present by showing how cultural practices and social norms have evolved in China. Her research develops approaches from modern literary theory and cultural studies to examine Chinese literature, print culture, and gender, providing new insights into how China's citizens experience the current revolution in the cultural arena.

Dr. Cao’s interests revolve around science, technology, and innovation in China. His ongoing research tries to open the “black box” in the formation of science and technology policy, in biotechnology and nanotechnology particularly, by examining the roles played by various stakeholders from government, scientists, corporations, media to the public. He also studies technical talent, higher education, and the “brain drain/gain/circulation” phenomenon of overseas Chinese students from the perspective of human resources in science and technology. Lastly, he is concerned about comparison of innovation systems in China and other countries, China’s international cooperation in science and technology, and the implication of China’s rise as a scientific (super)power to the world.

What do the changes in the Chinese person's height over the last two centuries tell us about the development of the country? This is one of the many questions that Associate Professor Stephen Morgan's research attempts to answer as it sifts through historical documents such as personnel records, pension files, immigration records and prison registers, in order to understand the life, work and welfare of the biggest population in the world. It uses specifically designed techniques and social network analysis to understand the Chinese economy and businesses in the past, which can inform the present and future.

The reform of the state-owned enterprise in China has been intimately tied to the Communist-run state's shift from Marxism to capitalism. Dr Sheehan's research focuses on the aspects of labour and organisational structure in the process of reform since former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping brought the country onto its new path of liberalisation. The studies have implications for social-welfare responsibilities in China, where the rights of the worker have been increasingly dominated by capitalist interests.

Dr Fulda's research focuses on the various forms of interaction between political institutions and civil society in China, where an increasingly vocal population is exercising its demands and putting pressure on the ruling communist leaders. Drawing on his own experiences as a former development advisor in Beijing, his studies have implications for China-EU relations as well as for policymakers dealing with China.

China's need to secure oil supplies to fuel its burgeoning economy - the world's second-biggest oil consumer is driving it to form alliances with Sudan, Iran and other increasingly suspect oil exporters, raising alarm bells among the US and other western developed countries. Against this backdrop, Dr Hongyi Lai's research attempts to assess the implication of China's energy diplomacy for global security. Turning to domestic issues, his research examines the social and religious challenges to stability and economic growth while analysing the political ramifications of economic liberalisation on the communist-ruled state.

The world financial crisis has led to a serious debate over the reform of the banking sector. Unlike those fragile Wall Street giants making huge losses due to the US credit crunch, Chinese banks have not only survived the crisis but also performed consistently well. How efficient are the Chinese banks? What are the key determinants of their efficiency levels and what are the implications of the current world financial crisis on the Chinese State Owned Banks? Dr Luo is keen to find out answers to these questions. Her research focuses on the reform process of the Chinese financial market, in particular the banking sector and stock market. In addition, she studies monetary policy, asset pricing and stock market volatility etc.

The widening income gap in rapidly-developing China may be a key to understanding the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in China. Basing his studies upon field work in China, Dr Sutherland's research goes beyond individual risk behaviours to investigate the social and economic factors that may play a role in causing as many as 15 million people to be infected by the virus by 2010, a prediction made by the US National Intelligence Council. His research suggests that policymakers should take structural factors, which also include gender inequality and migration patterns, into consideration when they set out to achieve economic growth.

Three decades of rapid economic development have brought about tremendous social changes in China. What does this mean for China’s one-party (Communist) rule? Dr. Zhengxu Wang’s research helps bring us closer to an answer by analysing the changes in people’s values and attitudes as a result of economic growth, in particular, the effect of increasing pro-democratic attitudes among Chinese citizens on the political status quo. It also examines changes in governing institutions such as the presidency and the premiership, seeking to predict the path of political change in China.

The ubiquitous Chinese migrant worker, within China and abroad, is the focus of interest in Dr. Bin Wu’s research. Through surveys of employment conditions as well as by examining the worker’s interactions with host and home communities in the UK and Italy, it draws implications for policymakers in the EU and in China, who are tackling issues involving social justice, international contract labour supply, sustainable development and the transfer of knowledge and innovation.

Dr Wu's research focuses on Chinese competition law and the transition from a command economy to a market economy in China, a step on the road to establishing the rule of law. But, she argues, China's administrative bureaucratic system and its model of market economy development have evolved into a social institution. Transformation towards the rule of law requires social institutional change, and is a slow and incremental process because of the formal and informal constraints in Chinese society. Her research also examines the impact of competition law on state-owned enterprises.

Yu’s research focuses on the dynamics and trajectory of contentious politics; how the Party-state responds to social-political activism and how effective and coherent these responsive strategies are; how civil society is growing and fragmented by contentious politics and the role of the people in advancing China’s political transition towards democracy. 

Dr Zhang's research interests include news media and international relations, communication and governance, and the relationship between society and politics. She is currently working on the EU FP7 project “Chinese Views of the EU”. She has worked on projects looking at EU external perceptions in Asia, the reform of China’s ruling-Party newspapers, and Internet communication in China. She is currently working on a book entitled News media and EU-China relations.

Dr Zhang, an environmental economist, has used provincial socioeconomic and environmental data to investigate whether there exists an intra-country pollution haven effect for China whereby companies choose areas with weak environmental controls for investment in factories that pollute the environment.

As China develops rapidly towards a market economy, its citizens are also calling for greater access to information, a demand that is spurred by an increasingly competitive Chinese media and the Internet. Dr Xiaoling Zhang's research investigates the social changes and state responses resulting from the current revolution in information and communications technology, based upon her studies ranging from news coverage, media as a public space, propaganda to a filmmaker's critique of China's reform, all of which help to draw implications for the Chinese Party-State.