Governing Strangers: African Communities in Guangzhou
With a population of 1.4 billion, the continent of Africa has a similar number of people to China, although it is approximately three times greater in size. Moreover, the continent has fifty-four countries and boasts the most heterogeneous collection of languages in the world. Such diversity is reflected among the Africans travelling to and residing in Guangzhou, a trading port in southern China. In 2018, we surveyed some 120 Africans in Guangzhou, from thirty countries.[1] Most were traders buy...
Recent
Hopefully Going Bananas: Taiwan’s Sinophone (Queer) Science Fiction
In April 2024, the Taiwanese drag queen Nymphia Wind became the first East Asian winner of the RuPaul Drag Race.[1] Videos of her in a galactic golden suit went... more
How Taiwan Debates the Death Penalty and its Abolition
In April 2024, the Taiwan Constitutional Court held a hearing on whether the death penalty violates constitutional guarantees of human rights. On 20 September i... more
Linguistic Hierarchies in Yunnan Province: A Case Study of Yi Groups in Heqing
With 281 languages from nine language families,[1] China has a high degree of linguistic diversity. The distribution of speakers of these languages is greatly u... more
Is China’s Social Credit System As We Know It Dead?
Government digitisation initiatives worldwide are infamous for budget overruns, delays and failures to deliver on promises. China is no exception. Hundreds of h... more