I am a Ph.D candidate majoring in East Asian Studies and minoring in both Cultural Anthropology and Social, Cultural, Critical Theory. My current research is a study of qing in Chinese, which can be inadequately translated as care, affection/affect, emotion, emotional attachment, sentiment, etc. I seek to define and explain better the meanings and influences of qing in everyday life in China. Drawing on Chinese anthropology of emotions, religion and ethics, affect studies and social cultural critical theory, this study explores the role of qing, as affective attachment, life meaning, and moral expectations, in the making of subjectivity and society in China. The work has been being conducted in multiple fields, including online activities and offline life, combining with ethnographic observation, in-depth interviews, participatory mapping, and archival research. The research purpose is to understand better the confusing situation of “individualization with a collective twist” of Chinese society and the role of qing in relating Chinese people, not only to human beings, but also to other subjects of their worlding, for example, animals, the state, etc. My research also intends to bring critical attention to the meanings of emotions and attachments of people not exclusively in China, e.g., the US.
Wu, Siwei
Graduate Associate