According to many scholars, the Chinese media increasingly subjugates women and depicts them in relation to marriage, and by extension home and motherhood. Women who do not adhere to these ideals,...Show moreAccording to many scholars, the Chinese media increasingly subjugates women and depicts them in relation to marriage, and by extension home and motherhood. Women who do not adhere to these ideals, are stigmatized by the media. At the same time, the media bestows men with important social roles and expectations. In my research, I investigated whether single men and single women are indeed depicted according to different standards.Show less
Asian Representation in American film productions has long been a topic of discussion. For many years, Asian people were portrayed as the Yellow Peril, the model minority, the perpetual foreigner...Show moreAsian Representation in American film productions has long been a topic of discussion. For many years, Asian people were portrayed as the Yellow Peril, the model minority, the perpetual foreigner and several other stereotypes related to gender. In the recent years, Asian Americans have become more vocal on this topic and they have been asking for more representation in Hollywood, with The Joy Luck Club having been the only film with a fully Asian cast for 25 years. In the last two years, two new American films came out with fully Asian casts, namely Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell. Not much academic research on Chinese people’s opinions on these films has been done, therefore, in this thesis I went into depth and analyzed the reviews on the Chinese website Douban, to see what the Douban audiences thought of these three films. In this thesis I answered the question: How do Douban users perceive the portrayal of (overseas) Chinese people in American films? Through a discourse analysis on the reviews taken from Douban, I found that the majority of Douban users is content with the representation of Chinese people in these films, however, there are critical notes about stereotyping and the Western perspective on China that they feel is present in these films.Show less
Sexual harassment is a worldwide problem. Its importance has been emphasized beyond scholarly discussion by global public initiatives, such as the #MeToo movement. This campaign came to China in...Show moreSexual harassment is a worldwide problem. Its importance has been emphasized beyond scholarly discussion by global public initiatives, such as the #MeToo movement. This campaign came to China in January 2018 and encouraged thousands of women and men to use social networks as a channel to speak out about their experiences. Now, their WeChat posts bear testimony to the scope of the issue in China. This study aims to analyze these posts and answer the following research question: How do Chinese WeChat users discuss sexual misconduct, such as harassment or abuse, in #MeToo movement related posts, and what are the main topics they raise? Thematic analysis revealed that the most often mentioned themes included: the definition of sexual harassment, the causes of sexual harassment in Chinese society, as well as different types of offenders. In particular, this study identified that WeChat users acknowledge that sexual harassment may go far beyond physical harassment and also includes verbal harassment or gender harassment. Second, the analysis reveals that users tend to view a broad range of specifically Chinese societal and cultural reasons including gender inequality, patriarchy, traditional cultural norms, and wrong parenting educating patterns as contributing factors to the existence of sexual harassment in Chinese society. Finally, from the WeChat users' perspective, gender inequality and patriarchy are supported by traditional cultural norms which might be transmitted in the society via wrong educating patterns at home or school.Show less
In China, more and more security cameras on the streets are equipped with facial recognition technology. This artificial intelligent technology can identify a person immediately. Some fear for a...Show moreIn China, more and more security cameras on the streets are equipped with facial recognition technology. This artificial intelligent technology can identify a person immediately. Some fear for a great scale breach of privacy. This thesis discusses how the Chinese government conveys the message to the people that it is using this facial recognition technology. By conducting a discourse analysis, Chinese state-media Xinhua.net articles are analyzed. Mainly, this thesis shows that there is hardly any mention of privacy breach by using this technology in the articles. Second, it shows that local instead of national initiatives of facial recognition technology use are discussed to a larger extent.Show less
In this thesis I studied the effect of the two-child policy on the career expectations of Chinese female students. I did this through conducting in-depth interviews with female students studying at...Show moreIn this thesis I studied the effect of the two-child policy on the career expectations of Chinese female students. I did this through conducting in-depth interviews with female students studying at the university of Leiden. Some main topics that come up in this thesis concern gender equality on the labour market, stereotype gender roles in Chinese society and the family-work conflict that women expect to face as working mothers.Show less
This case studied was conducted in a firm in the city of Bari in southern Italy in order to define the level of integration of Chinese migrant workers with their Italian coworkers.
Although Japan started participating in the commercial international art world during its so-called ‘bubble period’ between 1986 and 1991, very few Japanese artists currently enjoy international...Show moreAlthough Japan started participating in the commercial international art world during its so-called ‘bubble period’ between 1986 and 1991, very few Japanese artists currently enjoy international art market visibility. Furthermore, Japan’s own art market and market actors remain understudied. This study aims to provide insight in Japan’s position in the international art world, focusing on contemporary art galleries, important gatekeepers of the art market. Through quantitative data analysis of Tokyo’s contemporary art galleries, this thesis identifies two factors to measure art galleries’ globalization: their ‘home bias’, which is the degree in which galleries represent artists from the country it is based in; and its participation in international art fairs. Although data for both factors show a relatively high national focus, Japan’s galleries’ home bias is especially large. Furthermore, Japan’s own art market stays underdeveloped and does not sufficiently succeed in attracting international art crowds. These factors pose difficulties for international participation and obtaining international relevance. On a larger scale, this study of Japan functions as a case study for drawing conclusions on globalization of art markets in general, and the validity of the concept of a ‘global art world’.Show less
