Divergent Trajectories of China’s Email-Order Brides (ONLINE ONLY)
Online only.
Monica Liu’s work explores the life histories and decision-making processes of Chinese women who seek marriages with Western men. The majority of these women is middle-aged (above 40), divorced, and come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. How do emerging inequalities brought on by China’s transition from state socialism toward a global market economy shape their desires to seek out migration via marriage? Liu’s work is set against the backdrop of China’s economic ascendance on the world stage, alongside a relative decline of the West. Liu compares how Chinese women from diverse class backgrounds envision a relatively homogenous group of men: Western men in agriculture, manufacturing, and small business sectors who feel they have been left behind by globalization. Through analyzing modest-earning Western men’s declining appeal to middle and upper-middle class Chinese women, my work sheds light on China’s changing relationship with the global north.

Monica Liu received her PhD in sociology from the University of California – San Diego and she is currently Assistant Professor of Justice and Society Studies at the University of St Thomas in Minnesota.
Date: 30 January 2023, 13:00
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Speaker: Professor Monica Liu (University of St Thomas)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organisers: Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford), Dr Yi Lu (University of Oxford), Dr Coraline Jortay (University of Oxford), Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford), Dr Chigusa Yamaura (University of Oxford), Dr Giulia Falato (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: information@chinese.ox.ac.uk
Host: Dr Chigusa Yamaura (University of Oxford)
Part of: China Studies Seminar series
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CtIG_U2sQriO_qGJd2Pr7A
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard