PhD | ‘Female Rural-based Online Celebrities in China’ – Shao Shao

PhD-candidate | Shao Shao
Institution: University of Amsterdam, ASCA
Supervisors: Esther Peeren, Tommy Tse

This study aims to unpack the controversial surge of attention to the rural world on Chinese social media. In particular, I seek to examine the power relations and cultural dynamics that construct the disseminated images of (pseudo-)empowered rural women through a postfeminist lens. The study would interrogate the rural- life videos produced by popular rural online celebrities, and  examine how postfeminist sensibilities are localized in Chinese contexts, contributing to the construction of a regime of truth about rural Chinese women.