The Center for the Study of Contemporary China (CSCC) is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2025 Fall Grants. These awards support innovative student and faculty projects that deepen our understanding of contemporary China. This year’s grants fund an exciting range of initiatives—from healthcare and disability inclusion programs in Kunshan, to explorations of Tibetan youth identity, diasporic arts, and environmental and social impacts of Chinese overseas investments.
In light of the exceptional quality and volume of applications received, and with funding available for approximately half of the proposals, this year’s grant cycle was highly competitive. All applications were evaluated through a rigorous process by the Community Service Grant Review Committee and the Faculty Research Grant Review Committee, each composed of three DKU professors and applying the criteria outlined in the calls for proposals.
We are proud to present the recipients of the 2025 Fall Grants, selected for their innovative project proposals on pressing issues in the context of contemporary China:
Community Service Project Grant
Emily Kus, Holly McClure, Qihan Hu, & Xavier Monroy (Faculty Supervisor: Joseph Davies, Laura Davies), Medical English Project
This initiative provides high-quality Medical English training to doctors and nurses in Kunshan hospitals, improving healthcare access for international patients. With a new student leadership team, the project will expand its reach following a successful CSCC-supported phase in 2023–2024.
Violet Nguyen & Zhuo’er Chen (Faculty Supervisor: Robin Rodd), The Language of Inclusion
Addressing the underrepresentation of disability inclusion in higher education in China, this project builds on prior workshops, field trips, and community activities. It aims to create a sustained program that fosters empathy, communication, and collaboration between students and disability communities .
Yifan Wu (Faculty Supervisor: Keping Wu), From Buddha to Rapper: Tibetan Youth Identity and Subculture
This project will explore how young Tibetan lamas navigate secular paths in music, sports, fashion, and art. By examining the interplay of family legacy, Western cultural influences, and social media, the study seeks to shed light on youth identity, creativity, and cultural continuity
Yuechi Kelly, 中国欢迎你 Welcoming Chinese International Adoptees to Birth Country
Focusing on Chinese international adoptees seeking to return to China, this project will develop a comprehensive website of resources to ease their navigation of logistical, linguistic, and cultural challenges.
Faculty Research & Creative Activity Grant
Andrew Wortham, Rural Queer Collusions: HIV Governance and MSM CBOs in Southwest China
This project investigates how rural community-based organizations (CBOs) provide HIV prevention and support services for men who have sex with men (MSM). Fieldwork in Yunnan in summer 2026 will document rural CBO strategies and the lives of rural MSM, contributing to future publications and conference presentations.
Chen Zhang, (No) Place for Aging? Older Rural-to-Urban Migrants’ (Un)Integration into Chinese Cities
Examining the experiences of aging rural-to-urban migrants in Kunshan, Suzhou, and Shanghai, this project will explore how later-life transitions intersect with institutional and social boundaries to structure migrants’ work life, family roles, and belonging in cities. Through adopting a boundary-theoretic approach as well as ethnographic and visual methods, it traces how older migrants navigate, reproduce, and contest boundaries across the life course. This project illuminates both older migrants’ everyday contributions to urban life and the enduring forms of marginalization they face.
Dingyi Xu, Intergenerational Memory and Socio-Environmental Transformation in Rural Wuhan since the 1970s
Investigating the social and environmental impacts of large-scale water infrastructure projects, this project combines personal family archives and contemporary fieldwork. It will culminate in a research-based exhibition, connecting rural Wuhan’s histories and communities with the Duke Kunshan University audience.
Kent Cao, Colonel Van White: Zhou Enlai, Marshall Mission and American Collecting in the 20th Century China
This research examines the White Collection at the Nasher Museum, Duke University, exploring how Colonel Van White’s diplomatic role in the Marshall Mission shaped the perception of Chinese artworks in the West, and situates the collection within broader histories of U.S.–China cultural exchange and early 20th-century art collecting.
Puyang Li, Bridging the Green Belt: Assessing the Ecological and Social Spillovers of China’s Belt and Road Mining Investments in the Congo Basin
Focusing on the ecological and social impacts of Chinese mining investments in the Congo Basin, this project will examine deforestation, land-use changes, and community disruptions, offering insights for more sustainable and equitable overseas investments.
Zhenjie Weng, GenAI-integrated Training Strategies and Models in Language Teacher Education in China
This project will explore how generative AI tools can enhance language teacher education in China. By developing strategies for pre-service and in-service teachers, it aims to improve classroom practices, professional development, and the quality of language instruction, contributing local insights to global discussions on AI in education.
Faculty Research Product Workshop Grant
Fangsheng Zhu, Untamable Competition: Bottom-Up Institutions and Intensive Education in China
Investigating China’s highly competitive education system in the context of policies like the “Double Reduction,” this project will explore how families adapt, resist, and reshape educational practices. Through interviews with parents and education administrators, it seeks to offer new insights into informal institutions, parenting, and intensive education dynamics.
We extend our congratulations to all award recipients and wish them great success as they move their projects forward. We look forward to following their work and learning from the insights and impact these projects will generate.
