East Asian Studies
Chinese Studies
Academic Staff: 10
Research Staff: 2
Research Postgraduates: 4
The research undertaken by the Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) focuses on modern and contemporary China, particularly the second half of the 20th century, following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
China is studied as transnational China, encompassing the whole of the Chinese speaking-world, which is centred in the mainland, but also includes Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, as well as the diasporic Chinese communities in Europe, Southeast Asia, North America and elsewhere.
China is researched, from a historical and comparative perspective, in the global context to understand how China and the Chinese-speaking world influence and impact upon the global community, and vice versa.
Current research undertaken by CCS members includes:
- Sino-Western interactions
- Contemporary Chinese culture and society
- Identity, formation and transformation
- Chinese foreign policy and security
- Nationalism and transnationalism
- Chinese social and business networks
The efforts to study China in a firm social science/humanities grounding will be enhanced by the organizational setup of the CCS, which is supported by £900,000 of University Strategic Investment Fund money.
This is the first phase of a planned total investment of £2.5 million over the next few years.
Japanese Studies
Academic Staff: 4
Research Postgraduates: 2
Japanese Studies was established at Manchester in 2007 with the appointment of Professor Ian Reader, a specialist in Japanese religion and culture.
Japanese Studies at Manchester will focus primarily on contemporary Japan, and will offer postgraduate supervision in such areas as:
- Japanese religion
- Society
- Popular culture
- History