The remarkable economic growth at the beginning of the new millennium enables China to be an attractive destination for international immigrants. In order to administrate the increasing number of...Show moreThe remarkable economic growth at the beginning of the new millennium enables China to be an attractive destination for international immigrants. In order to administrate the increasing number of foreigners, the Chinese government promulgated a new immigration law in 2012, which was expected to be a more comprehensive, consistent, and effective entity compared to the former legislation. However, by studying the previous researches on migration control in other countries as well as Chinese immigration legislative transition, we found that this transition was trapped in a dilemma. Similar to the UK, the transition has strengthened the restrictiveness over foreigners’ entry, residence, and employment, while this method failed to effectively tackle the illegalities on this field but even deteriorate the situation. Through the case study of African immigrants in Guangzhou city, this thesis argues that the legislative transition has reinforced illegal stay and deteriorate the precarious immigration employment relationship. Besides, aiming to maintain a positive image of Sion-Africana friendship, the central government uses a non-recording strategy, leaving the problems to the local level, which created an oblivion for this group, further enforced their vulnerability.Show less
Literary analysis of Liu Cixin's Remembrance of the Earth's Past series. The thesis comprises summaries of all three books in the series, and a literary analysis of what the author believes to be...Show moreLiterary analysis of Liu Cixin's Remembrance of the Earth's Past series. The thesis comprises summaries of all three books in the series, and a literary analysis of what the author believes to be the political message in those books. This is further supported by a literature review on the field of science fiction studies and textual proof of said claims.Show less
This thesis looks at the freedom of press in China. A critical discourse analysis is conducted of newspaper articles of the Global Times and the Southern Weekend about the Tianjin harbor explosions.
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
open access
The Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province is often seen as the success story of China’s reform policies that were initiated by Hua Guofeng in the late 1970s, and popularised by Deng...Show moreThe Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province is often seen as the success story of China’s reform policies that were initiated by Hua Guofeng in the late 1970s, and popularised by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. Shenzhen – China’s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) – is also representative of the ideal of a new, modernized, and economically strong China. The communist ideals of the Maoist era have long been pushed aside to make way for newer ideologies such as ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’, or more recently, Xi Jinping’s ‘Chinese Dream’. These shifts in ideology have had a significant influence on the identity that the Chinese state wishes to convey to its citizens and beyond. This paper examines how national and regional identities and their subsequent narratives interact or conflict in the permanent exhibition of Shenzhen museum. Furthermore, I will look at how similar exhibition practices (Shenzhen Museum and the National Museum of China) are used to convey a different message. Shenzhen Museum plays an important part in communicating the city’s identity and its position in China as a model city both to the local population and beyond. Shenzhen illustrates that the way we perceive nationalism has to change in an ever-globalising world, where large cities within a nation can play as large a role in defining the nation as the country at large.Show less
