A Career in China-Africa Research

A China in Africa Podcast

By Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more on November 28, 2014

Dr. Yoon Jung Park is among the most well-known Sino-Africa scholars in the field. Park has taught and done research on China-African affairs for over 20 years at universities in both the U.S. and Africa. Now based in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded the Chinese in Africa/Africans in China research network, Park reflects on the challenges and opportunities of pursuing an academic career in Sino-African studies.

Yoon Jung Park

on November 28, 2014

Yoon Jung Park is an expert on Chinese migration in Africa and a sociologist by training with nearly 20 years of experience on the African continent. She has spent the last dozen years developing expertise on Chinese in Africa, both Chinese South African ethnic and national identity construction and new Chinese migrants on the continent. She is the Convener/Coordinator of the Chinese in Africa/Africans in China Research Network at the China-Africa Knowledge Project.

Park earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from University of the Witwatersrand and, prior to that, received an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University in comparative politics and a B.A. from Pitzer College in Sociology and Women’s Studies. She has published extensively in academic journals; is regularly consulted by the media, other scholars, and graduate students on Chinese in Africa; and has become a much sought-after speaker on these topics.

The People’s Republic of Chemicals

Book Review: U.S. Journalists Investigate Smog in China

on November 26, 2014

The name of China is almost obscured by a grey smudge on the title page of The People’s Republic of Chemicals, and this image proves to be apt.  This book examines the crisis caused by toxic smogs that periodically choke vast regions of China and the massive particulate clouds that drift far beyond the country’s borders.

Despite Persecution, Guardian of Lake Tai Spotlights China’s Polluters

By Andrew Jacobs on November 26, 2014

ZHOUTIE, China — By autumn, the stench of Lake Tai and the freakish green glow of its waters usually fade with the ebbing of the summer heat, but this year is different. Standing on a concrete embankment overlooking a fetid, floating array of plastic bottles, foam takeout containers, flip-flops and the occasional dead fish, Wu Lihong, the lake’s unofficial guardian, shook his head in disgust.

Environment, Health, Politics, Society
Environmental Activism, Water Pollution, Politics, Censorship

China Fires Journalist Who Tweeted In Support of Occupy Central

By Ho Shan and Xin Lin on November 26, 2014

Wang Yafeng, who wrote editorials for Communist Party mouthpiece the Jiaxing Daily in the eastern province of Zhejiang, lost his job after sending out tweets highly critical of state media's line on the Hong Kong protests on his personal microblog account.

Law, Media, Politics
Protests, Hong Kong, Politics, Democracy

As Chinese Duo Perform at American Music Awards, Those at Home Are Skeptical

By Te-Ping Chen and Yang Jie on November 26, 2014

In an indication of how fragile domestic confidence is in the country’s cultural exports, many Chinese commentators were immediately skeptical of the award’s authenticity. By the next morning on Weibo, the phrase “Chopstick Brothers bought an award” was among the top-searched terms on the popular microblogging site.

Arts, Media, Politics, Society
Pop Music, Soft Power, Social Media

Three Views of Local Consciousness in Hong Kong

By Ho-fung Hung on November 26, 2014

Hong Kong has been in turmoil. The 2003 demonstration in which more than half a million demonstrators successfully forestalled the Article 23 anti-subversion legislation, as well as the 2012 rally of 130,000 and the threat of general student strikes that forced the government to shelve implementation of a Beijing-ordered National Education curriculum in Hong Kong schools, showed that Beijing could not crack down on Hong Kong’s dissenting voices as readily as it repeatedly has in mainland China.