Jing Xiong; Dušica Ristivojević (2021) #MeToo in China: How do the Voiceless Rise Up in an Authoritarian State. Politics & Gender.
Our Chinese studies member Dušica Ristivojević just published a new article on the #MeToo movement in China. Amid the global #MeToo movement, the #MeToo movement in China started in early 2018. For over a year, several influential cases, broad civic participation and engagement, as well as extensive discussions shocked and shook the whole country, creating a sociopolitical dynamic that was unusual in the context of persistent suppression of civil society and strict restrictions on freedom of speech. As feminist activists and researchers—Jing living and working in China, Dušica doing her fieldwork in Taiwan at the time—we were astounded by the powerful challenge that #MeToo has posed to misogynistic societies around the globe. What we have been trying to understand is how the #MeToo movement emerged and grew even as so many other social movements were suppressed in China, and what strategies the survivors, volunteers, and activists in the #MeToo movement used to break through the overwhelming censorship and restrictions.
Our recent guest lecture on the Chinese State, Oil and Energy Security given by Dr. Monique Taylor, University of Helsinki.
In July this year, Taiwan novelist Li Qin-feng (李琴峰) was named winner of the Akutagawa Prize in Japan. Li Qin-feng’s 2021’s novel is written in Japanese-language and it is called “Island where Flowers Bloom on the Shore” in English, 彼岸花盛開之島 in Chinese and 彼岸花が咲く島 in Japanese. Li is 31 years old. She moved from Taiwan to Japan in 2013. After studying at Waseda University graduate school, she released her debut novel “Hitorimai” (Dance alone) written in Japanese in 2017.
The novel is set on a fictional island between Taiwan and Japan whose culture and language are a blending of those of Japan and Taiwan. Joining us today is Sara Park, lecturer in Japanese studies at University of Helsinki. Sara discusses the importance of this award, the plot, and her personal view of the novel.