Xiangqun Chang

BA in Political Science, MA in Sociology, PhD in Sociology and Social Anthropology

Professor Xiangqun Chang is Director of Global China Institute and CCPN Global, Editor of the Journal of China in Comparative Perspective (JCCP), Chief Editor of Global China Press, and Senior Consultant of Global China Unit, a knowledge based think tank for social consultancy, UK.

She is also Honorary Professor of UCL (University College London), Visiting Professor of University of Westminster, Professorial Research Associate of SOAS, University of London in the UK; and holder of several Professorships and Senior Fellowships at Peking, Renmin, Fudan and Sun Yat-Sen Universities in China.

The only UK based sociologist trained in both China and the UK, Xiangqun has been working at universities on social scientific studies of China interdisciplinarily since 1991, when she came to the UK as a Visiting Fellow. She is a leading scholar working on the study of China and the Chinese from a comparative perspective in the world. Her academic publications amount to over two million Chinese characters and English words.

In 2014 Xiangqun received a Mulan Award for her Contribution to Education (the first such award in education) from the UK based Mulan Foundation Network. 

In addition to her academic work, Xiangqun is now acting in the role of intellectual entrepreneur, via CCPN Global, with a mission to produce both global public goods and global public good through knowledge transfer, consultancy and publications, to build a bridge between China and the rest of world, the Chinese and the non-Chinese, the better to serve a global society.

Emails: x.chang@gci-uk.org; x.chang@ucl.ac.uk

Webpages: (1) www.gci-uk.org/x.chang or www.globalchinainstitute.org/x.chang; (2) https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=XQCHA22

Xiangqun's major experiences since 1978 are:

• 2013- Director of Global China Institute and CCPN Global, Journal of China in Comparative Perspective (JCCP), Global China Press and Global China Unit, UK
• 2004-2013, carried out research work at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and founded the China in Comparative Perspective Network (CCPN) with some colleagues at LSE, UK
• 1991-2004, carried out research work and received PhD at the Department of Sociology, City, University of London, UK
• 1978-1991, after received BA and MA degrees in China and worked as lecturer at Chinese People's Public Security University, declining the opportunity to be appointed Associate Professor in order to work in the UK

Further details 

Research

• Contemporary China studies and comparative studies on China;
• Reciprocity, personal, institutional & social relationships;
• Social networks, social creativity;
• Social support and welfare; social work and charitable organizations;
• Local identity, autonomy and governance; global society and global governance;
• Transcultural practice;
• Migrants and immigrants;
• Management studies with Chinese characteristics  
• Women and gender studies;
• Bidirectional translation between Chinese and English; 
• Media and communication;
• Fieldwork, discourse analysis, and general methodology;
• Marxist sociology and social theory.

In the past two plus decades Xiangqun has conducted about two dozen research projects and acted with many roles in her career including research assistant, data analyst, researcher, independent investigator, and co-principle investigator.

Based on a thorough and detailed ethnography of a Chinese village with longitudinal comparisons, she developed a general analytical concept --‘recipropriety’ (lishang-wanglai 礼尚往来)  -- a Chinese model of reciprocity, relatedness and social networks (see Guanxi or Li shang wanglai? -- Reciprocity, Social Support Networks, & Social Creativity in a Chinese Village (Taipei: Scholarly Publishing Business, Airiti Press, Inc. 2010). According to Deng Zhenglai, ‘Chang Xiangqun's book … can be seen as a “virtual icon” in which the so-called ‘China model’ is embedded. This book is an excellent outcome based on the author's transdisciplinary training in both China and the West, and long term in-depth empirical studies on contemporary China. It is the first Chinese scholar’s book in nearly 100 years to systematically challenge important Western social theories on social exchange and reciprocity.’ She has been testing the lishang-wanglai model on many projects, e.g. the area of Chinese entrepreneur relationships, inside and outside China with both inter-disciplinary and comparative approaches. Recently Xiangqun invented the concept of ‘reci-propriety’ as an English word for the concept of lishang-wanglai (to be published as a journal article).

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Talks / lectures

Xiangqun had a reputation as an excellent teacher when she was a university lecturer in China. In the UK she does not hold a formal teaching post. However, as well as playing a role as co-supervisor for Masters and PhD students, acting as internal and external PhD examiner and providing advice to CCPN team members worldwide at all levels, she also gives seminars and lectures, and often participates in conferences.

Based on her research work, Xiangqun has given more than 70 seminars and lectures in recent years. It is expected that some of the recent talks will be published as two essay collections entitled: Study of Fei Xiaotong’s theories and restudies on Kaixiangong Village (Vol. 1); and China Studies and Relationship Research on China (Vol. 2), due to be published in 2015.

For youtube links to one of her many talks, directed towards students at China in Focus, University of Warwick in 2010., follow these hyperlinks:  Part 1      Part 2     Part 3        Part 4      Part 5      Part 6

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Publications

Xiangqun published extensively when she worked in China. Her publications now amount to two million Chinese characters / English words. Xiangqun's publications encompass both Chinese and English languages and comprise books, book chapters, edited volumes, dictionaries and handbooks, journal articles, and shorter publications. Below are selected recent and forthcoming publications (excluding conference or seminars papers, lecture notes and editorial work):

• 2016 Recipropriety (lishang-wanglai): A Chinese model of social relationships and reciprocity – state and villagers’ interaction 1936–2014, Journal of Sociology, March 2016 vol. 52 no. 1 103-117.
• 2015 Globalization of Social Scientific Studies on China --- Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Professor Fei Xiaotong's Birth (vol 1.in English and Chinese) eds. Feuchtwang, Chang and Zhou, etc. London: Global China Press; Beijing: New World Press.
• 2015 'Guanxi or renqing – interpretation of the concept of ‘recipropriety (lishang-wanglai)’ in Chien Chiao, ed. Strategy and Relationships: Contemporary Chinese ways of thinking in management studies (in Chinese). Taipei: Airiti Press, p103-117.
• 2015 Zheng Hngsheng's life and work, Network, Magazine of the British Sociological Association, Spring.
• 2014. Editorial. with Caldwell, Leoussi  and Whimster, Max Weber Studies, Vol. 14.2.
• 2014. Society building -- A China Model of Social Development, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• 2014. ‘Introduction Two: China Model and Society Building’, in the above edited volume.
• 2013. Obituary: Lu Xueyi 1933-2013, Network, Magazine of the British Sociological Association, Winter 2013, p44
• 2013 ‘Say goodbye to utopia’ or not? Research into the institution of the people’s communes (an review essay),International Sociology, September 2013 vol. 28 no. 5 502-512
• 2011 with G. Hamilton. China and World Anthropology -- A conversation on the legacy of Fei Xiaotong (1910-2005), Anthropology Today, No.6).
• 2010 (a) with G. Hamilton. Cong Jiangcun Jingji dao Xiangtu Zhongguo (From Peasant life in China to From the Soil), translation by Chang, X et al China Reading Weekly, No. 294, 3 November
• 2010 (b) with G. Hamilton, Meimei yu gong tianxia datong (Common beauty and unity of the world), translation by Chang, X et al China Reading Weekly, No. 295, 17 November
• 2010 (c) Changing relationships between the state and villagers in a Chinese village – an analysis with 'lishang-wanglai', (in Chinese), China Ethnology (Zhongguo Minzuxue), No.8
• 2010 (d) Guanxi or Li Shang Wanglai: Social Support Networks, Reciprocity and Social creativity in a Chinese Village (in English), Scholarly Publishing Business, Airiti Press Inc.(see book review in the International Sociology March 2013 28: 188-190) and 2 x 5* reviews in Amazon
• 2010 (e) Guanxi or Li Shang Wanglai: Social Support Networks, Reciprocity and Social creativity in a Chinese Village (completed version in Chinese transitional characters), Scholarly Publishing Business, Airiti Press Inc.
• 2009 Guanxi or Li shang wanglai: Social Support Networks, Reciprocity and Social Creativity in a Chinese village (in Chinese simplified characters) Trans., Mao Minghua,  Liaoning People's Publishing House (Book review, by Hong Park, in Journal of Japan-China Sociological Studies, Japan, Jan 2012; Review articles: (1) 2010 'Macro perspective of ‘personalised relationship’ and reciprocity', by Guo Aimin, Journal of Guangxi University for Nationalities (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), No. 5; (2) 2010  ‘A miniature of ‘Social gifts’ and ‘impersonal exchange’ in the south of Yangtze River region: Guanxi or Li shang wanglai? , Guo Aimin and Xu Hui, Agricultural History of China, No. 4
• 2009. An individual-society-state trichotomous model: analysis of the disappearance of a township and emerging of a community (in Chinese), Chinese Social Sciences Quarterly (Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Jikan), June 

Further details

Editorial work

Xiangqun has been involved in editorial work since 1985 when she was a postgraduate student in China. She has acted in different editorial roles, such as editor or managing editor for journals (including acting as a peer reviewer), co-editor for conference proceedings, a member of editorial boards or co-editor-in-chief for book series, Chief Editor and Professor of Editorship at the Global China Press, UK; and web master of many websites, e.g. CCPN website at LSE, CCPN Global, the Journal of China in Comparative Perspective, China4Global, and Global China Press, etc. Currently, Xiangqun is working with some colleagues and publishers on the following book series:

• Chinese Concepts
• Chinese Discourse
• Chinese Academy
• Chinese Thoughts
• Chinese Experiences
• China Studies
• China Urbanization Studies
• Understanding China and World
• Chinese for Social Sciences
• Global China Dialogue
• Chinese Overseas Ethnographic Studies
• ‘Three eyes' Perspectives

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Knowledge transfer

After participated in workshops e.g., 'Getting Research into Practice (GRIP)' and 'Engaging with Business', by the ESRC (The Economic and Social Research Council)’s Knowledge Transfer team in 2007 Xiangqun created the CCPN website at LSE, the only bilingual website in the English speaking world which focuses on social scientific studies on China. As a part of CCPN's knowledge transfer strategy and public engagement activities the CCPN Global continues to support the Speak to the Future's campaign, which was funded by the British Academy as part of its Language and Quantitative Skills Programme.

From 2013 Xiangqun founded CCPN Global and a series of entities to promote comparative studies between China and other countries and regions. CCPN Global participates in the Campaign for Social Science (CfSS) of the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS), and became one of sponsors of the CfSS. Through Global China Unit (a knowledge-based think tank for social consultancy aiming to bring resources from China and the Chinese and comparative studies to the world), and Global China Dialogue (with the concept of transculturality aims to enhance public understanding of global affairs and participating in global governance) CCPN Global carrys out its social mission for participating in shaping a global society. The Global China Press is the first publisher focusing on bilingual publications of comparative studies of China, Chinese and non-Chinese perspectives of China and the World in a global context. It also publishes the only peer-reviewed academic journal with a bilingual element for comparative studies of China in the world in 2015.