Second conference of the China Academic Network on Gender

Organized by the China Academic Network on Gender (CHANGE) together with the Center for East Asian Studies (EASt) and the Structure de recherche interdisciplinaire sur le genre, l’égalité et la sexualité (STRIGES) of the Université libre de Bruxelles, based at the Maison des Sciences humaines de l’ULB (MSH-ULB) In partnership with the Université de Liège, the Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS University of London, the SOAS China Institute, the Department of History, King’s College London, and the Centre for Gender and Cultural Studies, East China Normal University (ECNU).

DAY 1 - THURSDAY 14th FEBRUARY

Salle Somville – Bâtiment S

13:00 Registration  14:00 - 14:15 Conference opening & Welcome Address, Vanessa Frangville (Université libre de Bruxelles), Jennifer Bond, Coraline Jortay, Liu Chang (CHANGE founders)

Keynote Address 14:15 - 15:45 "Blindspotting, Gender, and China's Revolutions", Gail Hershatter (UC Santa Cruz) 15:45 Coffee break 16:00 - 17:45 Panel 1 "Re-envisioning audiences: gender, bodies & readability" Discussant: Jennifer Altehenger (King’s College London) Chair: Coraline Jortay (ULB)

• "Tang Women and the Art of Writing", Xie Chen (University of Birmingham)
• "A Gendered Reading Public: Obscene Publications and Spectatorship in Republican China", Geng Yushu (University of Cambridge)
• "The Internalizing Gaze: Urban Subjectivity and Ink Representations of Peasant Women in the Early PRC", Wang Yang (University of Colorado)
• "Narrating Funü Ganbu: New Discourses and Visualisations of Women Cadres in China’s Post-Socialist Media",Zhou Yunyun (University of Oxford)

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DAY 2 – FRIDAY 15th FEBRUARY

Grande bibliothèque du CIERL 08:30 Morning coffee 09:00 - 10:30 Panel 2 "Beyond Chineseness: intersectional approaches" Discussant: Vanessa Frangville (ULB) Chair: Liu Chang (Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen)

• "Visualising human differences in late imperial China: body, nakedness and sexuality", Zhu Jing (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
• "The Pedagogy of Pan-Asian Sisterhood: Xin Zhongguo Funü and Defending the Peace of Asia", Yasser Nasser (University of Chicago)
• "Visual Encounters in Global Shanghai: Racial and Gendered Arrangements of Bodies in a Coworking Space", Aurélia Ishitsuka (Université de Genève)

10:30 Coffee break 10:45 - 12:30 Panel 3 "Gender, networks, and solidarities" Discussant: Gail Hershatter (UC Santa Cruz) Chair: Jennifer Bond (University of Durham)

• "Tracing feminist origins of Marxism in China", Rebecca Karl (New York University)
• "Becoming Guimi (??): Singleness, Friendship, and the Cosmopolitan City in Chinese Popular Culture", Pi Chenying (Heidelberg University) 
• "The invisibility of nannü pingdeng in an 'old Beijing' neighborhood: grassroots perspectives on changing gender relations since the eve of the PRC", Harriet Evans (London School of Economics and Political Science)
• "Towards a Transnational 'Mutuality of Being', Gendered Solidarity, Networks and Affections between China and Taiwan", Béatrice Zani (Lyon 2 University) 

12:30 Lunch break Conference 13:30 - 14:30 "Re-envisioning China through gender: a critical gaze on masculinities and postsocialist modernity", Derek Hird (Lancaster University)  14:30 Coffee break 14:45 - 16:30 Panel 4 "Queering masculinities on the page and screen" Discussant: Stephanie Hemelryk Donald (University of Lincoln) Chair: David Paternotte (ULB)

• "From amorous histories to sexual histories: Tracing the Origins of the Term pi", Hee Wai-Siam (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
• "'Fanchuan' on TV and 'Drag' in Dance Hall: Gender Impersonation and The Legibility of Chinese Queer Identity", Gu Jingyi (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
• "Good Fellows on the Road: Masculinity and the Han Han phenomenon", Pamela Hunt (University of Oxford)
• "The SCUD enigma", Corrado Neri (Jean Moulin University, Lyon 3)

16:30 - 16:45 Coffee break 16:45 - 18:30 Panel 5 "Gender in the digital age" Discussant: Bao Hongwei (University of Nottingham) Chair: Zhou Yunyun (University of Oxford) "In the name of love? Exploring the representation of women, loving relationships and marriage in Chinese controversial advertising campaigns", Kara Chan & Giovanna Puppin (Hong Kong Baptist University & University of Leicester)

• "Beauty Blog and Micro-Business: Two Ways to Sell Beauty in Digital China", Guan Zexu (Leiden University)
• "Changing Marital Power Relations in the Digital-era? Negotiating the Role of Breadwinner and Housekeeper in the Chinese Taobao Families", Liu Chiu Wan (SOAS, University of London)
• "Asexual Sex: Expanding Visions of Gender in Contemporary Chinese Artb", Taliesin Thomas (Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts)

20:00-21:30 Film screening Salle de projection de la Maison des Arts (J56.3.303) "BiChina", Wei Tingting (48mins – OV with EN subtitles) Followed by a roundtable discussion with Stijn Deklerck (KUL/ULiège and BICHINA producer), Stephanie Hemelryk Donald (University of Lincoln), Berenice M. Reynaud (Jean Moulin University, Lyon 3), & Marie Vermeiren (Elles Tournent/Dames Draaien Film Festival) 

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DAY 3 – SATURDAY 16th FEBRUARY

Grande bibliothèque du CIERL 08:30 Morning coffee 9:00 - 10:45 Panel 6 "The body as temple: inscribed mythologies" Discussant: Françoise Lauwaert (ULB) Chair: Pamela Hunt (University of Oxford)

• "Boudoir and Temple: Re-Imagining Women’s Social Spaces in Late Imperial China", Ma Xu (University of California, Irvine)
• "'Gender Scars': Women Artists in China & Beyond", Rachel Marsden & Linda Pittwood (University of the Arts London & University of Nottingham)
• "Narcissus meets Cinderella: Gaze, Body and Mother-daughter Relationship in Narcissus Went with Carp", Zhan Feifei (SOAS, University of London)
• "Sirens: The Enchantresses of Contemporary Art in China", Sung Doris (The University of Alabama)

10:45 Coffee break Conference 11:00-12:00 "Variations érotiques dans les fictions de Li Yu (1611-1680)", Pierre Kaser (Université Aix-Marseille & Professeur invité MSH) [This session will be held in French] 12:00 - 13:30 Concluding Roundtable "Out of the ‘House of Gender’ and into the World?"  led by Gail Hershatter (UC Santa Cruz) Jennifer Altehenger (King’s College London), Stephanie Hemelryk Donald (University of Lincoln), Bao Hongwei (University of Nottingham), Harriet Evans (London School of Economics and Political Science), Vanessa Frangville (ULB - TBC), Derek Hird (Lancaster University), & Rebecca Karl (NYU) Beers & Brains: Post-conference planning session Join us to discuss the network’s future around drinks Thursday 14th, Friday 15th & Saterday 16th February

Thursday 14th Salle Somville Building S - Level 2 ULB - Campus du Solbosch

Friday 15th & Saterday 16th Grande bibliothèque CIERL ULB - Campus du Solbosch Avenue F. Roosevelt 17 1050 Bruxelles

Free entrance with registration: here

Scientific committee: Jennifer ALTEHENGER (King’s College London), BAO Hongwei (University of Nottingham), Jennifer BOND (University of Durham), Stijn DEKLERCK (KUL/ULiège), Eric FLORENCE (ULiège/CEFC Hong Kong), Derek HIRD (Lancaster University), Denise Y. HO (Yale University), Michel HOCKX (University of Notre Dame), Andrea JANKU (SOAS University of London), Françoise LAUWAERT(ULB), LIU Chang (Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen), LIU Jieyu (SOAS University of London), David PATERNOTTE (ULB) Organizing committee: Vanessa FRANGVILLE (ULB), Eric FLORENCE (ULiège), Coraline JORTAY (ULB), LIU Chang (CUHK Shenzhen), Jennifer BOND (University of Durham)