This project sought to advance scholarly attention to Hong Kong studies in Australia through a series of talks in 2024. The program encompassed three key components: a lecture, a research workshop focused on conducting Hong Kong studies research, and a series of four online panels. This project aimed to deepen the understanding and significance of Hong Kong studies within the Australian academic community. Furthermore, it expanded CIW's network of Hong Kong studies network given that academic freedom has been diminishing in Hong Kong.
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Through the Chinese Studies Grants, CIW supports Chinese studies’ academic staff in their innovative, collaborative, and multi-disciplinary activities, connecting China, Taiwan, and Chinese diaspora scholars both nationally and internationally.
Past awards are listed below.
Tracking Conflicts in the Belt and Road Initiative: Local Pushback and Project Stability
This research built a dataset of conflicts surrounding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Asia from 2013-2023. Patterns of BRI’s conflicts can improve our understanding of social contention’s impacts on project stability.
The dataset sought to benefit scholars in political economy, political geography, business and human rights, and other disciplines in their research on the China’s grand strategy. It also aspired to encourage policy actors, including host governments and Chinese investors, to avoid social contention before launching a BRI project.
Debating China in Australia: Expert Communities, Opinion Shaping, and Foreign Policymaking
How does academic and expert discourse regarding China affect public opinion and foreign policy decisions? This is a crucial question, as China's rise presents numerous challenges for other countries, including Australia. It is therefore important to understand factors that shape other countries responses to these challenges. To that end, this project examined how China is discussed and debated in expert communities and the general public within Australia, in order to ascertain how experts shape Australia’s public perceptions of and policies toward China. Focusing on episodes of contentious diplomacy in Australia-China relations, we examined two channels through which expert opinion is transmitted and translated to the public: government statements and media coverage.
Bringing the Party Back: Village Governance in Xi Jinping's China
This project assessed recent efforts by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to reassert Communist Party authority in village China on a scale unprecedented since collective agriculture was abandoned in the 1980s. It examined CPC efforts to take control of village leadership through a series of regulatory, administrative and political reforms and assesses the consequences of these actions for village governance and state-society relations in rural China. The research generated new knowledge and understanding about political developments in Xi Jinping's China, and the capacity of the CPC to penetrate local power relations in the Chinese countryside after decades of experimentation with community-based village governance.
Exploring the role of cities in China's green hydrogen energy transition: their facilitating factors, visions, barriers, and actions
This project aimed to understand the role of cities in China's green hydrogen transition. This research is the third paper on the topic of hydrogen frontrunner cities in China which selected four frontrunner cities for in-depth case study. The findings filled a gap in the emerging field of hydrogen economy research, and be of interest to the audience studying hydrogen export industries. They also provided insights regarding how to engage cities in future hydrogen economy in China and beyond.
Hong Kong: Interrupted Resistance Movements
The Anti-Extradition Bill Movement was a continuation of the Umbrella Movement. Both movements were interrupted. The program consisted of three parts: an open group of presentations, a keynote speech, and closed panels in which participating scholars discussed papers surrounding the movements.
Long-Term Impacts of Political Violence on the Health and Wellbeing of China's Elderly
Today’s population of older adults in China have lived through periods of dramatic social and economic transformation, and experienced substantial political upheavals during their childhood and early adulthood. We sought to use data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to empirically explore the connections between exposure to early-life political violence and the later-life mental health and well-being of older adults.
Supply chain strategic responses to the US-China Trade War
This project examined the consequences of the US–China trade war on relationship dissolution between US buyers and Chinese suppliers, and the supply chain strategies employed by both parties to mitigate the negative consequences. Using archival data of US listed companies and their Chinese suppliers, this project adopted a natural experimental design based on the onset of US-China trade war, and offered micro-level insights on how China's role in the global supply chain may evolve under intensifying geo-political tensions.
Benson Kua
A Team Translation of Ta-wei Chi’s A Queer Invention in Taiwan： A History of Tongzhi Literature (同志文學史：台灣的發明)
In this project, scholar led the team translation of Professor Chi Tawei’s seminal scholarly text, A Queer Invention in Taiwan: A History of ‘Tongzhi’ Literature (同志文學史：台灣的發明). An academic work which one reviewer praised as “magisterial” in scope, A Queer Invention in Taiwan promises to offer English-language readers—both academic and generalist—an important window on the development of queer cultures in Taiwan in the second half of the twentieth century.
Borrowing without Commitments? Consequences of Increasing and Less Constrained Government Debts in China
This project attempted to answer the following question: when the government can borrow with fewer restrictions and constraints from the private sector and on the capital market, and government debts (rather than taxation) become the main source of government finance, what are the main consequences for the government’s behavior and policies? This project involved interviewing government officials in China.
Chinese communities in Australian museums: Heritage making and historical interpretation
This seed funding aimed to develop a partnership with Golden Dragon Museum (Bendigo), Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre (Ararat, Sovereign Hill), and the Museum of Chinese Australian History (Melbourne) for an ARC linkage grant application in 2022-3. The project aims to generate new insights into how Chinese cultural heritage is interpreted in local museums in Australia, and how wider Australian communities receive such narratives—particularly those pertaining to the contribution of Chinese communities to multicultural Australia.
Han Cultural Influence on the Culture of an Ethnic Minority in Western China through a Language Perspective
This project proposed to study one of the less explored ethnic minorities, the Yugur, hoping to open up discoveries rich in research, in particular regarding cross-cultural influences with Han people and other ethnic groups. Here we proposed that we understand the cross-cultural mixing between Han people and ethnic minorities in China, in particular, the Yugur group in western China. The Yugur, also known as the Yellow Uyghur, live along the ancient Silk Road, at the crossroads of Tibetan, Mongolic and Han communities.
Interactive Reading of The Story of the Stone: Cross-Cultural Understanding of China
This project aimed to extend the impact of efforts to offer an interactive way to read and learn The Story of the Stone, the most famous Chinese novel. It targeted at a specific pedagogical and learning experience in the teaching of advanced-level Chinese literature or Chinese-English translation. We aimed to offer students a chance to experience the world created by novel and its translation from a bilingual and bicultural perspective, exploring it thematically for a deeper dialogue between languages and cultures.
The Fragments of the Gaodao zhuan 高道傳
The Gaodao zhuan 高道傳 is a major collection of Daoist biographies from the Northern Song, compiled by Jia Shanxiang 賈善翔 (fl.11th century). It is lost in complete form and only exists in fragments quoted in a wide range of other texts. This project aimed to develop a rigorous methodology for determining which of these fragments is authentic, to locate and collect all remaining reliable fragments, and to produce a scholarly edition to be published open access.
Understanding the intercultural experiences of Chinese migrants to Australia (1980-1995)
This project aimed to form a better understanding of the contemporary Chinese diaspora by focussing on the intercultural experiences of mainland Chinese migrants who settled in Australia between 1980-1995. Through the collection and analysis of interviews and autobiographic writings, the project generated new knowledge about the pressing needs of the Australian Chinese community, and developed strategies and resources targeted at improving mutual understanding between it and wider Australian society.
Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road: Escaping the Trap of Global Private Regulation
To ensure environmental friendliness, climate resilience, and social inclusiveness, the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road (GIP) were proposed in 2018. This project aimed to understand the potential regulatory impact of the GIP on the world’s largest infrastructure initiatives with long term climate change effects. Will GIP overcome the well-known weakness of global private regulation? What are the potential implications of a China-led set of green investment principles?
People's Map of Global China
The proposed ‘People’s Map of Global China’ aimed to track the complex and rapidly changing development of China’s consequential and controversial global initiative by engaging global civil society. Using an interactive, open access, and online ‘map’ format, we invited and coordinated non-governmental organisations, journalists, trade unions, academics, and the public at large to provide updated and updatable information on various dimensions of BRI projects taking place in their localities.
Grassroots Governance in the PRC: Understanding the Impacts of the Campaign to ‘Sweep Away Black and Eliminate Evil’
The campaign to Sweep Away Black and Eliminate Evil (2018-2020) is one of Xi Jinping’s most important domestic policy initiatives. The campaign was designed to target organized criminals and their “protective umbrellas” within the (local) state to improve local governance and strengthen Party legitimacy at the grassroots. This project investigated the impacts of the campaign for grassroots governance in China.
Unravelling the Mechanisms underlying Electric Vehicle Uptake in Shanghai
Chinese cities are moving to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption to mitigate environmental problems. Shanghai has been a frontrunner in accelerating EV adoption, with nearly 30 times as many EVs in ownership in 2020 compared to 2014. This research aimed to understand the mechanisms underlying Shanghai’s early-adoption success from multiple persepctives, including urban policy incentives, the deployment of infrastructure, and the role of peer effect in accelerating the adoptioin. In this way, we investigated the adoption process in a comprehensive way.
Reassessing Chinese Diaspora: Voices from the South (A Symposium)
The symposium “Reassessing Chinese Diaspora: Voices from the South” aimed to offer a platform for a critical assessment of the study of diasporic Chineseness since the end of the war, especially in light of the unsettling diplomatic developments we are currently witnessing. The symposium adopted the perspective of the South, seeking to unsettle a China-centric definitive marker of Chinese diaspora and the binary question of “identification with the local or China” and explore the concrete networks, institutions and production of the Chinese diaspora in the South.
The Reading Group on Chinese Culture and Society
This project aimed to establish an active and engaging network for research students and established researchers of China studies at the ANU. It aims to address the lack of a regular scholarly discussion among China studies researchers, especially PhD students new to many key issues and debates in China studies. The reading group included ten seminars. During each seminar, students were encouraged to discuss pre-selected works on China. We also invited scholars of relevant fields to join the discussions to promote communication between young and established scholars.
China’s rise in global knowledge production: an expanded role in global innovation for novel renewable energy technologies?
This project built on patent data analysis over a range of renewable energy technologies to determine whether China is indeed rapidly becoming a globally leading innovator, and whether this trend is dependent on technological or country characteristics. Two mini-workshops will be used to develop a common research agenda, co-authored papers, and a funding application that expanded on the patent analysis and connected it with observations on industry location, output of manufacturing industries, and the deployment of renewable energy technologies.
Nationalisms, Incivility and Australia-China Relations
The COVID-19 crisis and the Australian government’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus presents an opportunity to study the link between tensions in the Australia-China relationship, and the response of proxies for the Chinese state in using these tensions to foster patriotism. The study will examine official (or public) WeChat accounts that target the Chinese community in Australia (our team has identified more than 100), and those that provide information about Australia for China-based netizens.
Making Sinology Visible—Towards an Online Platform for Studies of Traditional China at the ANU
This project laid the foundations to re-assert the ANU's world-class strengths in the study of traditional China. It aimed to make the variegated work undertaken at the University in this area more accessible. It did that in two ways: first, by developing a state-of-the-art website, based on a coherent public identity for the study of traditional China at the ANU; and, second, by supporting the creation of two online courses in Literary Chinese language. The project’s ultimate objective was to establish a centre for the study of traditional China, as a ‘spoke’ under the auspices of CIW.
Digital Text Analysis in Traditional Chinese Studies: Exploring Possibilities of the Computational Analysis of Multilayered Texts
This workshop was conceived as part of the research project "Exegetical Dynamics: The Impact of Chinese Commentarial Traditions". Prior to the workshop, commentarial materials were digitized by means of an APIP grant that also initiated the creation of an international network of researchers. In the workshop, four leading experts in Chinese studies and digital humanities presented their own work in the area and suggested how their particular tools could be used to analyse multilayered texts.
Exploring Mainland Southeast Asian Integration Workshop
The seminar discussed the implications of special economic zones, multilateral forums, friendship bridges, multi-lane highways and high-speed railways in changing strategic geography, linking Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam together for the first time in history, as well as directly tying all five countries to China. The results from this project informed a larger study on mainland Southeast Asian integration.
Funny Money and Political Authority in China
The project aimed to advance the field of Chinese studies by, in the first instance, producing novel and potentially-disruptive co-authored articles that shake up the field. This project was important because the empirical data was drawn from and analysis took place at the intersection of economy and culture—closely-intertwined aspects of human life that scholars rarely engage both seriously and simultaneously. The project aimed to reassess—and perhaps go beyond—some of the disciplinary and field-based assumptions in the study of Chinese politics.
Policy Field School (Rural Development)
In this CIW-sponsored course 10 Masters level students travelled to Southwest China to conduct policy research in collaboration with post graduate students from Yunnan University. The course consisted of a 2-day preparatory workshop at Yunnan University followed by filed research in Weixi County. Each of the research teams produced a research report in Chinese and English. The course was an opportunity for participants to develop policy research skills and to gain a deeper
The Adaptation of Shakespeare in Chinese Traditional Opera
The main aim of this project was to support the visit of a Yue opera troupe of eight amateur performers whose travel will be funded by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, China. The troupe was invited to perform a selection of scenes from Yue opera of both Chinese traditional plays and adaptations of Shakespeare, to introduce an Australian audience to Chinese traditional opera and the differences between the adaptation and the original text.
The Little Red Podcast
The Little Red Podcast, a cooperative project between the ANU's Graeme Smith and the University of Melbourne's Louise Lim, is Australia's leading China-focussed podcast. It provided a platform for emerging and established China scholars to share their research with the world. With a strong listener base in the USA, Australia and China, the podcast has been described by Journal of Asian Studies Editor Jeffery Wasserstrom as 'a leading vehicle for thoughtful commentary on China'.
The Rise of Chinese Corporations and Global Competition Policies
In recent years, the size and capability of Chinese corporations have grown significantly. They have become important market players globally, putting further pressure on competition policies. In this project, we examined the performance of Chinese corporations in various industries and analysed both the strategic interaction between nations in designing various competition policies and the optimal policies for delivering the best welfare outcome for consumers.
The Xinjiang Emergency: Exploring the Context, Evidence and Implications of China's Mass Detention of Turkic-Muslims
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is now the site of the largest mass repression of an ethnic/religious minority in the world today. Researchers estimated that since 2016 one million people have been detained without trail in the XUAR. This workshop sought to make both an important scholarly contribution and a policy impact on one of the most pressing contemporary human right issues in the world today.
Mainland Southeast Asia integrations with southern China
Mainland Southeast Asia is rapidly creating unprecedented connections at the local, regional, and global scales. Today, friendship bridges, multi-lane highways and high speed railways link Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam together for the first time in history, directly tying all five countries to southern China. This research considered how the increase will consider how the increasing integration should be conceptualised, and if concepts such as "spheres of influence" or "hegemony" are useful. It assisted in enhancing future policy-making as well as providing significant contributions to the literature on this emerging topic. Also, updated understanding of how the Belt and Road and ASEAN Connectivity initiatives impact and are constituted by borderland dynamics, especially in Yunnan province.
Motivations, expectations and realities: the ‘going-out’ experience of Chinese companies
What motivates Chinese companies to invest in subsidiaries in other countries? What difficulties do they face in host countries? How do these difficulties vary across host countries? Are investments profitable for parent companies? This project answered these and related questions on the basis of a close analysis of a unique and rare survey among Chinese firms that was commissioned by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and administered by the Institute for Social Science Survey at Peking University (ISSS). This project used the data for closer analysis and combine them with data that characterise host countries in order to work towards an academic publication.
Spatiotemporal patterns of drug susceptible and drug resistant TB in Hunan Province, China
This proposal described a collaborative project between researchers and physicians from ANU, China (Hunan Province), Telethon Kids Institute and Curtin University on the prevention and control of tuberculosis (TB) in China, one of the highest TB burden countries globally. It brought together experts with different disciplinary backgrounds to describe the spatial epidemiology of TB in Hunan Province, China so that future interventions can be planned to reduce the burden of this disease. The proposed research builds upon and extends existing work carried out between ANU and Chinese researchers in Hunan Province. It provided a foundation for future collaborative funding proposals and projects with a focus on reducing morbidity and mortality from TB.
Heritage-making of war memories: remembering the Nanjing Massacre in nation-building
Remembering the Nanjing Massacre is one of the most important representative examples of the complicated dynamics of war memory politics in Asia. By examining the social discourse of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, this project aimed to explore how the Chinese state (re)interprets and represents war memories through heritage making, and investigate their cultural and political roles in nation building. The outcomes of this research gave academics, policy-makers, and heritage professionals a critical lens and theoretical insights for assessing China’s impact in international politics, especially in the Asia Pacific region.