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Email Order Brides under China’s Global Rise

日期 : 2020-10-14

You are cordially invited to join the Fall 2020 series of Wednesday Gender Seminars, co-presented by Gender Studies Programme & Gender Research Centre, CUHK.

Date: 14 Oct 2020 (Wed)
Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
Venue: Online Zoom Seminar (Link to Zoom webinar will be sent to you after registration)
Speaker: Prof. LIU Monica (Assistant Professor, Department of Justice and Society Studies, University of St. Thomas)
Moderator: Prof. HAN Ling (Assistant Professor, Gender Studies Programme, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Registration: https://bit.ly/3cC0XcU
Language: English


Abstract: My work explores the life histories and decision-making processes of Chinese women who seek marriages with Western men. The majority of the women in my study is middle-aged (above 40), divorced, and come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. I explore how emerging inequalities brought on by China’s transition from state socialism toward a global market economy shaped their shared desires to seek out-migration via marriage. My work is set against the backdrop of China’s economic ascendance on the world stage alongside a relative decline of the West. I compare how Chinese women from diverse class backgrounds envision a relatively homogenous group of men: Western men in agriculture, manufacturing, and small business sectors who feel they have been left behind by globalization. Through analyzing modest-earning Western men’s declining ability to marry middle and upper-middle class Chinese women, my work sheds light on China’s changing relationship with the global north. I show that a new global hierarchy of masculinity based on economic distinction has emerged, and this new hierarchy challenges Western men’s privilege in China previously associated with their racial, ethnic, and geopolitical status.


Speaker's Biography: Monica Liu received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California - San Diego and she is currently Assistant Professor of Justice and Society Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Her work examines global internet dating and cross-border marriages between women from China and men from Western countries. Currently, she is finishing her book titled “Email-Order Brides under China's Global Rise.” Her work has been published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Men and Masculinities, and Qualitative Sociology.