About the Talk

After the 1949 revolution, Chairman Mao famously proclaimed that "women hold up half the sky". During the early years of the PRC, the Communist Party worked to transform gender relations. However, some of women's past gains are being eroded in China's post-socialist era. Using the example of the recently popular trope in the media of "Leftover Women" ( 剩女) Dr. Hong Fincher shows how there has been a roll-back in women's rights relative to men; and at the same time, how this relates to how many women have not been able to benefit from the recent economic gains (especially in real estate) resulting from "reform and opening".

The book has been featured in the New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, Financial Times, Publishers Weekly, LA Review of Books, Wall
Street Journal, and more media outlets.

It is available in the Library (HQ 1237.5 .C5 H66 2014)








About the Author


Dr. Hong Fincher received her B.A. from Harvard with high honors in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. After receiving her M.A. from Stanford, she worked as a journalist on Chinese and Asian affairs (receiving many awards for her broadcast and video reporting). She is the first American to receive a Ph.D. from Tsinghua University’s Department of Sociology (July 2014). She works here at HKUST, in the Division of Social Science.
For enquiries, please contact Victoria Caplan at 2358-6756.

座談會簡介古今中外，不少政權都是透過不同的形式來展示其威望及權力，包括宏偉的新首都、強大的軍力、壯觀的遊行、廣闊的大道、巨型的建築物和嚴肅的紀念碑。中共建國後的首要任務正是改建北京城。五十年代首都進行了大規模的改造，豎立了不少矚目的新地標，使北京的市容起了巨大的變化。《地標：北京的空間政治》 (索書號: DS795.8.A2 H86 2011) 是一本政治文化史著作，「空間政治」所指的並非是地理變革，或單純探討建築物的坐向，而是探討政治的地域布局， 及廣義的看政治與地理之間的互動、衝突和影響，藉此瞭解中共政權如何利用城市空間和建築物的設計來樹立其威信。 作者簡介洪教授專研現代中國文化史，其研究範疇包括當代儀式與政治、通俗與民間文化、政治空間及歷史等。他的研究成果，刊於眾多期刊、論文和書籍，近年的著作包括《地標：北京的空間政治》和 Maos New World: Political Culture in the Early Peoples Republic (Call Number: DS777.56 .H85 2011)。 如有查詢，請聯絡 Gabi Wong (2358-6782)。