Xiaochun Chen
Print versionContact Details
Department of Geography
King’s College London
4th Floor
King's Building
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
Tel: +44 (0) 79 1490 7721
Email: xiaochun.chen@kcl.ac.uk
King’s College London
4th Floor
King's Building
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
Tel: +44 (0) 79 1490 7721
Email: xiaochun.chen@kcl.ac.uk
Research
The PhD study builds on research undertaken for my MA thesis at King’s College London that addressed the related topic of the political ecology of middle-class environmentalism in Beijing. The MA research paved the way for the PhD work in two main ways:
1. The MA thesis raised important questions about civil society actions over the environment in contemporary China even as it suggested just how limited existing work in this area has been – with much of it still focused on simply describing China’s environmental problems and environmental policies. I found that little work had thus been done on either the development of China’s environmental movements or the middle-class basis of such environmentalism – and this despite the recent dramatic increase in the middle classes there as well as environmental activism. The MA also enabled me to see how crucial it was to appreciate how NGOs operated and how they developed finely-tuned strategies to promote their goals in light of the different political, economic and contexts that they faced around the country.
2. The MA thesis enabled me to conduct fieldwork based on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies that were learned about in research training courses at King’s College London. Thus, I conducted research in Beijing (also where the first PhD case study is based) over seven weeks. During this time, I completed a series of in-depth interviews with diverse state and non-state actors (including with the Beijing NGO that has agreed to be my first case study for the PhD), conducted a questionnaire survey (with two hundred responses), and completed documentary analysis of relevant official and academic sources.
The PhD research currently under way aims to assess the strategic behaviour of environmental NGOs in China. It does so by comparing and contrasting the political, economic and cultural strategies of two environmental NGOs – with one NGO located in Beijing (the capital of China) and the other based in Hong Kong (a former British colony that enjoys partial autonomy under the terms of reunion). These two cities have developed under different cultural, economic and political conditions – and the selected NGOs that have developed in these two cities would appear to reflect these different histories. As such, it is important to go beyond generalized accounts of NGO activity in China to appreciate how the strategic behaviour of NGOs may vary depending on location and context.
The choice of case study NGOs will permit a full and fruitful comparison of the possible differences and similarities between NGOs as they operate in different parts of China. Thus, the choice of a Beijing NGO will permit the opportunity to assess NGO behaviour in a context of long-standing Communist rule, northern Chinese social and economic conditions, and capital city politics. In contrast, the choice of a Hong Kong NGO will enable me to consider how NGO behaviour may vary given different ‘pro-capitalist’ (and more affluent) social and economic conditions as well as a recent colonial/Western-oriented past.
1. The MA thesis raised important questions about civil society actions over the environment in contemporary China even as it suggested just how limited existing work in this area has been – with much of it still focused on simply describing China’s environmental problems and environmental policies. I found that little work had thus been done on either the development of China’s environmental movements or the middle-class basis of such environmentalism – and this despite the recent dramatic increase in the middle classes there as well as environmental activism. The MA also enabled me to see how crucial it was to appreciate how NGOs operated and how they developed finely-tuned strategies to promote their goals in light of the different political, economic and contexts that they faced around the country.
2. The MA thesis enabled me to conduct fieldwork based on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies that were learned about in research training courses at King’s College London. Thus, I conducted research in Beijing (also where the first PhD case study is based) over seven weeks. During this time, I completed a series of in-depth interviews with diverse state and non-state actors (including with the Beijing NGO that has agreed to be my first case study for the PhD), conducted a questionnaire survey (with two hundred responses), and completed documentary analysis of relevant official and academic sources.
The PhD research currently under way aims to assess the strategic behaviour of environmental NGOs in China. It does so by comparing and contrasting the political, economic and cultural strategies of two environmental NGOs – with one NGO located in Beijing (the capital of China) and the other based in Hong Kong (a former British colony that enjoys partial autonomy under the terms of reunion). These two cities have developed under different cultural, economic and political conditions – and the selected NGOs that have developed in these two cities would appear to reflect these different histories. As such, it is important to go beyond generalized accounts of NGO activity in China to appreciate how the strategic behaviour of NGOs may vary depending on location and context.
The choice of case study NGOs will permit a full and fruitful comparison of the possible differences and similarities between NGOs as they operate in different parts of China. Thus, the choice of a Beijing NGO will permit the opportunity to assess NGO behaviour in a context of long-standing Communist rule, northern Chinese social and economic conditions, and capital city politics. In contrast, the choice of a Hong Kong NGO will enable me to consider how NGO behaviour may vary given different ‘pro-capitalist’ (and more affluent) social and economic conditions as well as a recent colonial/Western-oriented past.
Biography
Xiaochun Chen was born in Beihai, a southern seashore city of China in 1980. She obtained her Bachelor degree in Economics in Beijing and gained her MA degree in Environment, Politics and Globalization from King’s College London in the U.K. in 2005. She started her PhD studies in the Geography Department of King’s College London in September 2005.
Other interests
My interests outside of the college include movie, traveling, music and photography and keeping fit. I have also been a volunteer in a hometown charity organization that helps homeless children.
Other interests
My interests outside of the college include movie, traveling, music and photography and keeping fit. I have also been a volunteer in a hometown charity organization that helps homeless children.
