Chair of Contemporary Chinese Studies

Against the backdrop of China’s economic rise, a comprehensive social transformation is also currently taking place. In politics, the Chinese Communist Party is trying to defend and consolidate its monopoly on power through institutional reforms. The consequences of these processes, some of which run counter to each other and are characterized by a series of contradictions, call for systematic academic investigation. 'Contemporary Chinese Studies', chaired since October 2008 by Prof. Dr. Björn Alpermann, is dedicated to social science-based research on current processes of social change and political institutional reforms in the People’s Republic of China.

One research focus is the ongoing project 'Social Worlds: China's Cities as Spaces of Worldmaking', which examines the social effects of globalization in Chinese urban areas. A special issue in the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, edited by Prof. Alpermann and with contributions from members of the department in Würzburg, presented findings on the topic in 2021 (https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccaa/49/3). A second area of research is population policy issues, such as ageing, elderly care and birth policies, but also ethnic minorities (especially the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang).

From 2010 to 2016, questions on social stratification and its political consequences were investigated in the research project ‘Social Change and Political Culture in Contemporary China’s Cities’. Findings from this project serve as a base for further research at the Chair. Other topics that have been the subject of regular research are the political economy of rural China and inquiries on rural local government, especially village self-governance (see list of publications). A common theme in the Chair’s research is a fundamental understanding of empirically-oriented research guided by social science theories on contemporary China.

Current Dissertation Projects at the Chair of Contemporary Chinese Studies

• Isabel Dettmer: HRM, Qualifications and Recruitment in China – Mismatch Problems in the Case of the Hotel Industry. (2016)
• Franziska Fröhlich: Discourses of Food and the Environment: Chinese Consumers Between Eating for Safety and Eating for Change. (2022)
• Birgit Herrmann: Late Marriage and Voluntary Childlessness in Contemporary Urban China.
• Michael Malzer: Urbanization in Yinchuan (Ningxia).
• Baris Selcuk: Individualization and the Chinese Middle Class Family. A Qualitative Study of 24 Beijing Families. (2015)
• Florian Thünken: Urbanization Strategies in Chongqing: A View from Below on New Style Urbanization. (2019)
• YAN Zhe: Surrogate Elder Care: Paid Care Work within the Nexus of State, Family, and Market under China's Care Transition. (2023)
• Katja Yang: Social Change and Prospects of Socio-Political Activism in Contemporary Urban China. (2017)
• YANG Weiyue: Population Policy and Governance at the Local Level – A Qualitative Research of the Implementation of the Universal Two-Child Policy in China. (2022)

Below you will find the "research output" (articles, contributions to edited volumes, monographies) from doctoral candidates, research assistants, staff and associates of the Chair of Contemporary Chinese Studies. For a complete list of all of Prof. Dr. Björn Alpermann's publications please follow this link.