
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.
The Filmmaker as Feminist
Jinyan Zeng
(2025) Chinese Independent Cinema : Past, Present and a Questionable Future , p.95-117
Book chapterDigitalizing 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 chapter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)Queering Community : Affect of Visuality in the Sinosphere
Jinyan Zeng
(2023) Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 17 p.65-80
Journal articleDesiring Feminism in Chinese Documentary
Jinyan Zeng
(2022) Chinese Independent Cinema Observer , p.142-178
Journal articleWords 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)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 articleChinese 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)Documentary Film, Gender, and Activism in China : A Conversation with Ai Xiaoming
Jinyan Zeng
(2020) Film Quarterly, 74 p.45-50
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 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 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 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 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 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 articleVisualizing Truth-Telling in Ai Xiaoming’s Documentary Activism
Jinyan Zeng
(2017) Studies in Documentary Film, 11 p.99-184
Journal articleThe Genesis of Citizen Intelligentsia in Digital China : Ai Xiaoming's Practices of Identity and Activism
Jinyan Zeng
(2017)
DissertationBook 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)