
Jinyan Zeng
Affiliated researcher

I am currently a Substitute Senior Lecturer and a former Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden. I speak Mandarin (native), Hakka (native), English (professional), Swedish (basic), Cantonese (beginner) and Tibetan (beginner).
My research focuses on the Chinese-speaking world, with emphases on
- gender and sexuality
- culture and politics
- intellectual identity and activism
- visualisation: women authorship, activist documentary, cinema experiment
- digitalisation
- ethnicity
I am a scholar and documentary filmmaker. Among various publications, I have authored Feminism and Genesis of Citizen Intelligentsia in China (in Chinese, 2016, City University of Hong Kong Press), co-edited Feminist Activism in the Post-2010s Sinosphere (with Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen, 2024, Bloomsbury), and co-directed documentary film Outcry and Whisper (2020, with Wen Hai and Trish McAdam).
I am working on a contracted book tentatively titled Affect and Gender in China's Political Culture.
I have taught various topics in China courses and directed a course on documentary film.
I am supervising MA theses in Asian Studies and BA theses in Chinese Studies.
Publications
Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.
Digitalizing Xianchang: documentary experiments on Shanghai COVID lockdown
Jinyan Zeng
(2025) Studies in Documentary Film , p.1-22
Journal articleBook Review: MODIFIED BODIES, MATERIAL SELVES: Beauty Ideals in Post-Reform Shanghai | By Julie E. Starr
Jinyan Zeng
(2025) Pacific Affairs, 98
ReviewIntroduction : Feminist activism in the post-2010s sinosphere
Elisabeth L. Engebretsen, Jinyan Zeng
(2024) Feminist Activism in the Post-2010s Sinosphere : Identifying Issues, Sharing Knowledge, Building Movements , p.1-16
Book chapterThe literary making of a Uyghur feminist : Identity and ethics in Banu's Redemption
Jinyan Zeng, Anonymous Author
(2024) Queering China: Transnational Genders and Sexualities , p.75-92
Book chapterVisualising the post-2000s Inland Tibet Class generation : Female authorship and renegotiation of ethnicity
Jinyan Zeng
(2024) Asian Ethnicity , p.1-21
Journal articleWeibo Feminism: Expression, Activism, and Social Media in China by Aviva Wei Xue and Kate Rose
Jinyan Zeng
(2024) The China Quarterly, 258 p.583-585
ReviewFrom Women’s Space to Gendering the Public Sphere : Ai Xiaoming’s Practice of Everyday Life and Activism
Jinyan Zeng, Xibai Xu
(2024) Routledge Handbook of Chinese Gender and Sexuality , p.353-368
Book chapterQueering Community : Affect of Visuality in the Sinosphere
Jinyan Zeng
(2023) Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 17 p.65-80
Journal article抗议的伦理 : 从非暴力运动、非文明抗争到#MeToo 运动
Eva Pils, Jinyan Zeng
(2023) China Journal of Democracy, 1 p.44-55
Journal article (comment)Desiring Feminism in Chinese Documentary
Jinyan Zeng
(2022) Chinese Independent Cinema Observer , p.142-178
Journal articleThe Filmmaker as Feminist
Jinyan Zeng
(2022) Chinese Cinema Anthology [tentative title]
Book chapterWords Against the Wind : A Conversation with Liu Wai Tong
Jinyan Zeng, Wai Tong Liu
(2022) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 6 p.133-143
Journal article (comment)《夜鶯不是唯一的歌喉》,其後:對話唐丹鴻
Jinyan Zeng, Danhong Tang
(2021) 今天 [Today] , p.37-228
Journal article (comment)Chinese Feminism under (Self-) Censorship : Practice and Knowledge Production
Jinyan Zeng
(2021) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 6 p.166-169
Journal article (comment)Revisiting Minjian : A Conversation with Sebastian Veg
Jinyan Zeng, Sebastian Veg
(2021) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 6 p.177-183
Journal articleOutcry and Whisper (CN, EN, FR, DE & KO)
Jinyan Zeng, Wenhai Huang, Trish McAdam
(2020)
Artistic workEpidemic Control in China : A Conversation with Liu Shao-Hua
Jinyan Zeng, Shao-Hua Liu
(2020) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 5 p.40-53
Journal article逆風說的話:對話廖偉棠
Jinyan Zeng, Wai Tong Liu
(2020) Router: A Journal of Cultural Studies , p.42-132
Journal articleDocumentary Film, Gender, and Activism in China : A Conversation with Ai Xiaoming
Jinyan Zeng
(2020) Film Quarterly, 74 p.45-50
Journal articleJiabiangou Elegy : A Conversation with Ai Xiaoming
Jinyan Zeng, Xiaoming Ai
(2019) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 4 p.131-141
Journal articleAutobiography, Exile, and Gender : A Conversation with Ying Liang
Jinyan Zeng, Liang Ying
(2019) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 4 p.129-137
Journal articleHooligan Sparrow : A Conversation with Wang Nanfu
Jinyan Zeng, Jia Tan
(2019) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 4 p.126-133
Journal articleWe the Workers : A Conversation with Huang Wenhai
Jinyan Zeng, Wenhai Huang
(2018) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 3 p.67-75
Journal articleAi Weiwei on Art, Activism and Human Rights
Jinyan Zeng, Weiwei Ai
(2018) The China Story
Journal articleImagining the Digitalisation of Politics : A Conversation with Wang Lixiong
Jinyan Zeng, Lixiong Wang
(2018) Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights, 3 p.67-79
Journal articleThe Genesis of Citizen Intelligentsia in Digital China : Ai Xiaoming's Practices of Identity and Activism
Jinyan Zeng
(2017)
DissertationVisualizing Truth-Telling in Ai Xiaoming’s Documentary Activism
Jinyan Zeng
(2017) Studies in Documentary Film, 11 p.99-184
Journal articleBook Review: Translating Feminism in China: Gender, Sexuality and Censorship by Zhongli Yu
Jinyan Zeng
(2016) China Information, 30 p.16-115
ReviewThe Politics of Emotion in Grassroots Feminist Protests : A Case Study of Xiaoming Ai’s Nude Breasts Photography Protest Online
Jinyan Zeng
(2014) Georgetown Journal of International Affairs Online, 15 p.41-52
Journal articleA Conversation with Zeng Jinyan
Elisa Nesossi, Jinyan Zeng
(2013) The China Story
Journal article (comment)