Conferences, Workshops and Presentations

May 24, 2013, gave a seminar on "Popular Media and the Cultural Public Sphere in Contemporary China", Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (invited)

Feb 18-19, 2013, presented a paper "The Discreet Screening of the Foreign in 1980s China", at workshop "I want to Fly High: Chinese Aspirations in the 1980s", Australia Centre on China in the World, Australian National University, Australia

Aug. 21, 2012, gave a seminar on "Popular Media and the Cultural Public Sphere in Contemporary China", School of Culture History & Language, College of Asia & the Pacific, Australian National University, Australia (invited)

March 15-18, 2012, presented a paper "Ethnic Chinese Television and China's Television Globalization" at the Annual Meeting of Association for Asian Studies, Toronto

March 2-3, 2012, chaired a panel and presented a paper "The New Family Mediator: A Reality TV Show for a 'Harmonious Society'" at the conference "Television, Power, and Ideology in Post-Socialist China." Australian National University, Australia

Nov. 27-30, 2011, presented a paper "The Competing Public Voices of China's post-1980s Generation" at conference "Restless China", Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

March 31-April 3, 2011, at Association for Asian Studies and International Convention for Asian Scholars (AAS-ICAS) Meeting, Honolulu, chaired a panel on Chinese Television drama and presented a paper "Melodrama for Change: Women, Crying and Emotions in Chinese TV drama"

March 23-26, 2011, 13th National Conference of Metropolis, Vancouver, presented a paper "Both Here and There: The Multi-Dimensionality of Chinese Language Television in Canada," in the panel "Media in Canada"

Jan. 21-22, 2011, Chinese Language TV Drama Workshop, Chinese University of Hong Kong, presented a paper "Drama of Bitter Emotions and the Polysemic narrative of Chinese TV drama" also acted as discussant for a panel

March 31-April 3, 2011, Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Chairing panel and presenting a paper "Melodrama for Change: Women, Crying and Emotions in Chinese TV drama."

Jan. 21-22, 2011, Chinese Language TV Drama Workshop, Chinese University of Hong Kong, presented a paper “Drama of Bitter Emotions and the Polysemic narrative of Chinese TV drama” (下岗女工，苦情戏，和中国电视剧的多层语义空间), also acted as discussant for a panel, Jan. 21-22, 2011.

Nov. 2010, Autumn Gem: a Screening/Forum. Gave a commentary speech at the screening of Autumn Gem, an independent documentary film on the life of Qiu Jin (1857–1907), writer, feminist and anti-Qing revolutionary. This David Lam Centre event was attended by an audience of almost 300 people (see http://www.sfu.ca/davidlamcentre/past_events.html), November 2010.

Symposium “Women in View: Sex Money Media,” Vancouver, BC. Panellist on panel “Reel Lives: Reel Women of Chinese Cinema,” presenting a paper “Xu Jinglei: Woman Filmmaker as Cultural Entrepreneur”, Oct. 14-16, 2010.

workshop "Between Revolution and Reform: China at the Grassroots, 1960-1980," Simon Fraser University. Presented a paper "Between Undercurrent and Mainstream: Social Energy and the Production of Hand-copied Literature during and after the Cultural Revolution"; also acted as chair and discussant for two other panels. This workshop was organized by Jeremy Brown (SFU) and Matthew Johnson (Oxford) and brought together around a dozen international scholars from Europe, US and China, May 28-30, 2010.

BC China Scholars' Forum: "Moving Words, Moving Images," at UBC. Presented a paper "Making Blockbusters with Chinese Characteristics: China Film Group and the Transformation of Main Melody Film", April 2010.

Canadian Asian Studies Association Biennial Conference "Diaspora, Indigeneity and the Trans-Pacific," Vancouver, Canada. One of three panellists for Roundtable Discussion "Bridging Asian Studies and Asian Canadian Studies"; also presented a paper "Performing Multicultural Citizenship: Current Affairs Talk Shows and Locally Produced Chinese TV programs in Vancouver", Oct. 8-11, 2009.

Chinese Comparative Literature Association Biannual Meeting, Tsinghua University, Beijing. Presented a paper “The Knot: Main Melody, Melodrama and Edutainment in Post-Socialist China", June 20-21, 2009.

Workshop “Affects and Markets in Contemporary East Asia,” Simon Fraser University. Presented a paper “Televisual Construction of Female Laid-off Workers and Melodramatic Salvation in the Age of Market Economy”, May 16, 2009.

Conference “Chinatown and Beyond,” co-organized by Simon Fraser University and Hong Kong Baptist University. Presented a paper “Practicing Multicultural Citizenship: Current Affairs Talk Shows and Locally Produced Chinese TV programs in Metro Vancouver”; also organized and co-chaired a Media Roundtable for Chinese media practitioners, May 13-15, 2009.

Symposium “Politics, Memory and Dissent: May Fourth, June Fourth & Beyond,” Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia. Presented a paper “Politics of Remembering: History, Memory and Social Changes in Ma Jian’s Beijing Coma”, May 4, 2009.

BC China Scholars Symposium. Presented a paper "The Knot and the Transformation of China's Propaganda Film", March 14, 2009.

Conference “Enhancing Multiculturalism: Chinese Cultural Immersion for Global Leaders and Partners in Higher Education,” co-organized by University of Rhode Island and Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Gave a talk “Promoting Chinese Culture in a Multicultural Context: Experiences from the Margins”, May 25-28, 2008.

“Commercialization and Resistance: Independent Filmmaking and the Changing Dynamics of the Chinese Film Industry,” paper presented at China/East Asia/Media/New Media Conference, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, July 3-6, 2007.

“Literary Celebrity from Wang Meng to Wei Hui: An Index of Cultural Changes,” paper presented at 10th Biennial conference, Chinese Studies Association of Australia, Brisbane, June 26-29, 2007.

“Genre Film, Media Corporations and Contemporary Chinese Commercial Film,” paper presented at international symposium on “The Future of Chinese Cinema,” University of New South Wales, Sydney, April, 2006.

“Chronicling the Personal: Narrative Forms and Social Agencies in Chinese Prime-Time TV Drama,” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Meeting, San Francisco (paper presented in absence), April, 2006.

“The Political Economy of Commercial Film in Contemporary China: The Case of New Year Comedies,” paper presented at Ninth Biennial Conference, Chinese Studies Association of Australia, La Trobe University, Melbourne, July, 2005.

“Literature on the Screen: The Influence of Media and Technology on Literature in Contemporary China,” presented at British Columbia Tri-University Symposium, UBC, April, 2004.

“For Reference Only: Restricted Publication and Distribution of Foreign Literature During the Cultural Revolution,” presented at international conference on “Cultural Production and Cultural Revolution,” co-organized by Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia and University of Victoria, held in Vancouver, March, 2002.

“Big Shot from Beijing: Feng Xiaogang’s ‘He sui pian’ and Contemporary Chinese Commercial Film,” presented at Asian Cinema Studies Society biennial conference, Seoul, Korea, April, 2002.

“The Making of Chinese Harlequins: The Cloth Tiger Series and Literary Publishing in the 1990s,” presented at AAS Annual Meeting, Chicago, March, 2001.

“The Economy of Privacy: Women’s Writing and the Cultural Market in China,” Chinese Concepts of Privacy workshop, Netherlands Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden (paper presented in absence), June, 2001.

“Shanghai Babe: Gender Performance in the Cultural Market,” paper presented 36th international Congress of Asian and North African Studies, Montreal, Aug. 2000.

“Publicizing the Private: The Social Formation of Women’s Autobiographical Novels in 1990s China,” presented at conference “Memory, Modernity and the Millennium in Contemporary Chinese Culture,” Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia, April, 1999.

“Publicizing Private Life: Representation of Female Sexuality in Women’s Autobiographical Novels,” presented at AAS Annual Meeting, Boston, March, 1999.

“The Paradox of Yu Hua’s Stories of Violence,” presented at conference “Violating the Harmony: Disorder in Chinese Culture,” Institute of Asian Research, UBC, June, 1998.

“The Problematics of Memoir: Personal Accounts of the Cultural Revolution in English,” presented at AAS Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., March, 1998.

“Journey Within: The Inward Turn of the Contemporary Chinese Novel,” paper presented at AAS Annual Meeting, Hawaii, April 1996.

“Within Shanghai’s Horizon: Urban Experience in Wang Anyi’s Fact and Fiction,” paper presented at British Columbia China Scholars Colloquium, Vancouver, March, 1996.