Academic & Teaching staff

Dr Heather Xiaoquan Zhang

Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies

About Dr Heather Xiaoquan Zhang

Trained as a political scientist and having worked in areas of development studies and China studies, Dr Zhang has research interests straddling both fields.  She specialises in development in China and Vietnam, as well as research methodology.  Her research focuses on gender, the social impact of HIV/AIDS, livelihoods, migration, poverty, health and wellbeing in China and Southeast Asia.

Ongoing Research

I am currently working on a number of projects exploring issues in relation to China's urban and rural development from perspectives of social risk, insecurity, social networks, agency and sustainability:

  • An edited volume based on selected papers from Ninth European Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development in China (ECARD9) entitled Rural Livelihoods in China: Political Economy in Transition, in Palgrave Macmillan's International Political Economy series
  • Migration, health and livelihoods
  • Globalisation and the gendered impact
  • Poverty dynamics and institutional change
  • Sustainable urban development

Key Publications and Activities

Books and Book Contributions

    • (2011 forthcoming) (ed.) Rural Livelihoods in China: Political Economy in Transition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
    • (2011 forthcoming) Migration, risk and livelihood struggles in China, in Zhang, H. X. (ed.) Rural Livelihoods in China: Political Economy in Transition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
    • (2009) "Social Policy Programs: Overview", Encyclopedia of Modern China, Detroit, MI.: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 430-32 
    • (2009) "Rural Development since 1978: Three Rural Issues", Encyclopedia of Modern China, Detroit, MI.: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp.316-18
    • (2007) (eds.) (with Wu, B. and Sanders, R.) Marginalisation in China : Perspectives on Transition and Globalisation, as part of the series Marginal Regions (in association with International Geographical Union - Dynamics of Marginal and Critical Regions), Aldershot : Ashgate.
    • (2007) (with Sander, R.) Introduction: Marginalisation and Globalisation in Transitional China, in Zhang, Wu, and Sanders (eds.) Marginalisation in China, pp. 1-11, Ashgate.
    • (2007) Conceptualising the Links: Migration, Health and Sustainable Livelihoods in China, in Zhang, Wu, and Sanders (eds.) Marginalisation in China, pp. 195-214, Ashgate.
    • (2004) Gender Difference in Inheritance Rights: Observations from a Chinese Village, in Ho, Peter; Eyferth, Jacob and Vermeer, Eduard B. (eds.) Rural Development in Transitional China : the new agriculture, pp. 252-77, London : Frank Cass.
    • (2003) (with Kelly et al.) Migration in a transitional economy: beyond the planned and spontaneous dichotomy in Vietnam, Third International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS3) Abstracts of Papers, pp. 85, Singapore : National University of Singapore, 19-22 August.
    • (1999) Understanding Changes in Women's Status in the Context of the Recent Rural Reform in China, in West, Jackie, Zhao, Minghua, Chang, Xiangqun and Cheng, Yuan (eds.) Women of China: Economic and Social Transformation, pp. 45-66, London: Macmillan.

        Journal Articles and Papers

          • (2011 forthcoming) Protecting Mobile Livelihoods: Actors' Responses to the Emerging Health Challenges in Beijing and Tianjin, Modern China
          • (2011 forthcoming) (with McWhinney, J.) Empowering the homeless: The work of an international NGO in Shanghai, Local Economy
          • (2010) (with Locke, C.) A Better Life? Migration, Reproduction and Wellbeing in Transition, Society, Biology and Human Affairs, Vol. 75 No. 2, pp. 51-71. 
          • (2009) Guest Editor of Special Issue: Transforming Rural China: Beyond the Urban Bias? Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, Vol. 38 No. 4.
          • (2006) (with Kelly, et al.) Migration in a transitional economy: beyond the planned and spontaneous dichotomy in Vietnam, Geoforum, Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 1066-1081.
          • (2004) The Gathering Storm: AIDS Policy in China, Journal of International Development, Vol. 16, No. 8, pp. 1155-1168.
          • (2004) (with Locke, C.) Interpreting Reproductive Rights: Institutional Responses to the Agenda in the 1990s, Public Administration and Development. Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 41-50.
          • (2003) Gender Difference in Inheritance Rights: Observations from a Chinese Village, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 30, Nos 3-4, April/July, pp. 252-77.
          • (2003) (with Lin, G.) Tackling the AIDS Challenge, China - Britain Trade Review, January, pp. 21-22.
          • (2002) (with Locke, C.) Contextualising Reproductive Rights Challenges: the Vietnam Situation, Women's Studies International Forum, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 443-453.
          • (2002) (with Lin, G.) Facing Up to the AIDS Challenge, China Review, No. 23, pp. 11-13.
          • (2000) (with Locke, C.) Social Analysis and Selective Inclusions in Rights-Based Approaches to Reproductive Health, Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, pp. 85-100.
          • (1999), Female Migration and Urban Labour Markets in Tianjin, Development and Change, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 21-41.
          • (1997), State Policy and Women's Autonomy in Rural China, Issues & Studies, Vol. 33, No. 5, pp. 80-101.

          Working papers, research reports and other publications in the public domain

            • (2010) Livelihoods and Migrants' Social Protection: An Investigation of Migration and Health in Beijing and Tianjin, North China, Leeds East Asian Papers (LEAP), New Series No. 2. University of Leeds, UK.
            • (2010) Migration, Risk and Livelihoods: A Chinese Case, Duisburg Working Papers on East Asian Studies, No. 85. Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
            • (2009) (with Locke, C.) Missing Links between Migration and Reproduction in Vietnam and China, Working Paper No. 14, School of International Development, University of East Anglia, UK
            • (2009) (with Christiansen, F.) The Political Economy of Rural Development in China: Reflections on Current Rural Policy, Duisburg Working Papers on East Asian Studies No. 81, Institute of East Asian Studies, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany
            • (2008) Health and social protection for rural-urban migrants: Chinese experiences and lessons for Vietnam, Proceedings of the International Conference, Trends of Urbanisation and Suburbanisation in Southeast Asia, Vol. 1, Ho Chi Minh City: Centre for Urban and Development Studies.
            • (2008) China Urbanizes: Consequences, Strategies and Policies, Edited by Shahid Yusuf and Tony Saich, Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2008. Book review, The China Quarterly, 195: 696-698.
            • (2005) Migration, Health and Sustainable Livelihood in China, Leeds East Asia Papers, No. 68. Leeds: Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds.
            • (2005) Changing China: A Geographical Appraisal, Edited by Chiao-min Hsieh and Max Lu, 2004, Boulder : Westview Press, China Information, 19(1): 138-40 (book review).
            • (2001) (with Locke, C.) Implementing Reproductive Rights: Population Debates and Institutional Responses to the New Agenda, Research Report, Social Policy Research Programme, School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia.
            • (2001) (with Kelly, et al.) Structure and Implications of Migration in a Transitional Economy: Beyond the Planned and Spontaneous Dichotomy in Vietnam, Centre for Social and Economic Research on Global Environment (CSERGE) Working Paper, No. GEC 01-01, University of East Anglia and University College London.
            • (1997) Making a Difference in Their Own Lives: Rural Women in the Urban Labour Market in North China, Leeds East Asia Papers, No. 50, University of Leeds.
            • (1995) Progress or Retrogression for Chinese Women?: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76) Revisited, Strathclyde Papers on Government and Politics, No. 104, University of Strathclyde.

            Invited Speaker

              • 2010: Invited seminar speaker 'Narrating livelihoods across rural-urban spaces: Migration, risk and networks - a Chinese case', at the Worldwide Universities Network Contemporary China Centre Virtual Seminar Series, 28 October
              • 2010: Invited keynote speaker, Globalisation and Gender in Rural China, at 7th East-West Dialogue: Gender Equality and Development, Barcelona, Spain, 26-27 October.
              • 2010: Invited speaker, Migration, risk and social protection in China, China's 6th Social Policy Conference, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 27-29 August
              • 2010 invited speaker, Narrating mobile livelihoods in China: Risk, agency and networks, at the international conference 'China 2020' at the China Institute, University of Alberta, Canada, 8-9 July
              • 2010: Invited discussant of the paper 'Social quality in China: Problems and prospects', at the international conference 'China 2020' at the China Institute, University of Alberta, Canada, 8-9 July
              • 2010: Invited speaker, Risk, networks and agency: A Chinese case study, at the Networks in Chinese Society Workshop, University of Oxford, 13-14 April
              • 2010: Invited to give a lecture on rural-urban migration, risk and livelihoods in China, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, 9 March
              • 2010: Invited seminar speaker, Department of Politics, University of Glasgow, 8 February 
              • 2009: Invited speaker, 'A story of an entrepreneurial migrant family in China: Risk and livelihoods', at the international conference Risk and East Asia, Berlin, Germany, 20-22 November. 
              • 2009: Invited speaker at International Workshop Women Crossing Borders: International Careers in East Asian Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany, 19 November. 
              • 2009: Invited seminar speaker, 'Current state of Chinese Studies and social policy research in the UK', Department of Social Security and Risk Management, College of Public Administration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou China, 4 September. 
              • 2009: Invited speaker, 'Comparison of welfare in China and the UK' at China Social Welfare Forum, organised and hosted by Centre for Social Policy Research and Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing China, 28-29 August. 
              • 2008: Invited trainer/speaker on "How To Gain Access To Community And Communicate Effectively With Interviewees", at the Research and Training Workshop on "Providing Social Services For Children And Community" co-organised by UNICEF and Nankai University, hosted by Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Nankai University, Tianjin, 28-30 November. 
              • 2008: Invited to attend a roundtable discussion on Migration and Development: What Can We Learn from the Chinese Experience? Jointly organised by DFID, UNDP and SSRC, Beijing, 17 December 
              • 2008: Invited speaker, 'Health and social protection for rural-urban migrants: Chinese experiences and lessons for Vietnam', at the international conference Trends of Urbanisation and Suburbanisation in Southeast Asia, jointly organised by LPED of University of Provence, France; Research Institute for Development, France; and the Centre for Urban and Development Studies (CEFURDS), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, hosted by CEFURDS, HCMC, 9-11 December. 
              • 2008: Invited speaker, 'Migrants' social protection in urban China: Health and livelihoods' at the international workshop "Mobility and Health - Health Risks and Health Strategies of Rural Migrants in Urban China", co-organised by Department of Chinese Studies of Free University Berlin and Department of Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 10-11 November (The paper is published in the workshop proceedings). 
              • 2008: Invited speaker, 'Exploring issues of protecting mobile livelihoods: Actors' responses to the emerging health challenges in Beijing and Tianjin' at the international workshop "Social problems and the local welfare mix in China: Public policies and private initiatives" jointly organised by University of Technology Sydney's China Research Centre, Scottish Centre for Chinese Social Science Research of University of Glasgow, and Department of Social Policy and Social Work of Nankai University, Tianjin, 27-30 October (The paper is published in the workshop proceedings). 
              • 2008: Invited speaker, 'Gendering globalisation: An exploration of its implications for women in rural China', at the international conference Chinese Society and China Studies hosted by the School of Sociology, Nanjing University, China, 24-26 October (The paper is published in the Conference Proceedings). 
              • 2008: Invited to give a seminar for postgraduate students on migration, health and livelihoods at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Nankai University, China, 7 September 
              • 2008: Trainer, China in the World Postgraduate Research Summer School: 'China, Europe and the World', University of Bristol, UK, 14-18 July 
              • 2008: Invited to give a lecture on 'Migration and health in China' at the Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Cologne, Germany, 3 June 
              • 2008: Invited by the British Academy to participate in its roundtable on 'Europe and the Wider World' around the theme of 'Social Inequality', London 13 March 
              • 2008: Invited by University of Reading to give a lecture on 'HIV/AIDS and its development implications: The case of China', Reading, UK, 7 February 
              • 2007: invited by China Agricultural University to present a paper on' China's social policy in transition: beyond the urban-rural divide?' at the international conference -'Policy Interventions and Rural Transformations: Comparative Issues', China Agricultural University, Beijing, 10-16 September. 
              • 2007: Trainer/Speaker, Postgraduate Research Summer School -' China, Globalisation and Social Stratification', University of Leeds, 24-27 July. 
              • 2007: invited by the National Institute of Japanese Studies, WREAC and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science as a discussant on occupational health and risk in China at the International Symposium'Mediating Risk in East Asia', Sheffield, 1 July. 
              • 2007: invited by the EastAsiaNet - a network of European research schools - to give a paper on'China's social policy in transition: new risks and institutional responses' at the international workshop' Framing Risk: Hazard Perceptions as a Crucial Factor in Imagining East Asia' hosted by the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, University of Lund, Sweden, 1-2 June. 
              • 2006: Invited by the Graduate Institute of International Development and Applied Economics, The University of Reading, UK to give a lecture on'HIV/AIDS in China and its policy and development implications', Reading, 14 December. 
              • 2006: Invited by the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK, to attend a policy debate on HIV/AIDS, development and community responses, Brighton, 28 November 
              • 2006: Invited by the Chinese Development Society at LSE to give a lecture on HIV/AIDS in China : A Development Perspective, London, 24 November. 
              • 2005: Invited by the Asia Research Centre, LSE, to give a lecturer on exploring the links between migration, health and poverty in China at the India and China from a Comparative Perspective, in the series of Public Health and Epidemics, London, 22 November. 
              • 2005: Invited by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in New York City, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and ESRC to present a paper on'methodological approaches to understanding the migration-remittances-development nexus - the case of China', at the international conference on "Migration and Development Within and Across Borders: Concepts, Methods, and Policy Considerations in International and Internal Migration", NYC, 17-19 November. 
              • 2005: Invited keynote speaker at a workshop on migration and health by the Institute of Health Economics, Ministry of Health, People's Republic of China, Beijing, 12 September. 
              • 2005: Invited by Social Science Research Council as panel discussant at the panel on "Managing Internal Migration for Development in China and Vietnam " at The 4th International Convention of Asia Scholars, Shanghai, 21-24 August 
              • 2005: Invited by Oxford University to present a paper on migration, health and livelihoods in China at the workshop,'Population, Gender and Wellbeing in China and India', Institute of Chinese Studies, Oxford, 15 July. 
              • 2005: Invited by the World Bank as panel discussant at the 2005 Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE): Securing Development in an Unstable World in the panel - The Social and Economic Consequences of AIDS, Amsterdam 23-24 May. 
              • 2004: Invited by Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham to present a paper on globalisation and its challenges to rural women in China at the international symposium "Women's Experience of Policy and Institutional Change in Rural China ", Nottingham, 14-15 April. 
              • 2004: Invited by Development Studies Institute, LSE and UK Development Studies Association to present a paper on globalisation, public health and HIV/AIDS in China at the workshop "HIV/AIDS: Why the Policies Do Not Work?", London, 14 February. 
              • 2003: Invited lecture by The Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) on China's HIV/AIDS problem, London, 31 January 
              • 2001: Invited by the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia to present a paper on social policy and reproductive wellbeing in Vietnam, Norwich, 15 April. 
              • 2000: Invited by Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, to present a paper on the rights-based approach to reproductive health in Vietnam, at the Fertility and Reproduction Seminars, Oxford, 8 May.

            Funded Research Projects

              • 2011 Rural-urban migration, risk and social protection in China, British Academy, Principal Investigator
              • 2007 Universities China Committee in London 
              • 2007 ESRC Research Methods Programme grant 
              • 2006 British Academy Overseas Conference Grant 
              • 2005-2006 Migration, health and livelihoods in China, British Academy, Principal Investigator. 
              • 2006 Universities China Committee in London 
              • 2005 Universities China Committee in London 
              • 2003 Secretariat of ICAS3

                        Other Conference Papers

                          • 2009: (with McWhinney) Sustainable Urban Development: The Case of the Renewal Centre for Poor and Homeless Migrants in Shanghai, paper presented at the International Symposium Building Global Cities: Shanghai and Sydney, University of Sydney, 19-20 November.
                          • 2007: Protecting mobile livelihoods: Actors' responses to emerging challenges, paper presented at the international symposium Livelihoods, mobility and development: The Chinese experiences, hosted by National Institute of Chinese Studies, WREAC, Leeds, 30 November - 1 December.
                          • 2006: Citizenship and livelihood sustainability: a study of migration and health in China, presented at the 8th European Conference of Agricultural and Rural Development in China (ECARDC8), Yiwu, China, 31 August - 2 September.
                          • 2006 (with Locke, C.): Migration, Reproduction and Wellbeing in Transition, presented at European Population Conference 2006, organised by European Association for Population Studies (EAPS) and Department of Geography, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, 21-24 June.
                          • 2006: Linking teaching and research: interactions and dynamics, presented at The Chester Centre for Stress Research (CCSR) Seminar, 6 April.
                          • 2005: Migration, health and sustainable livelihoods in China, presented at 4th International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS4), Shanghai, 21-24 August
                          • 2004 (with Boran, A.): The implications of transnational migration for health in the North West of England, presented at the North West Public Health Academic Seminar, University of Salford, Salford, England, 30 January.
                          • 2003: (with Boran, A.): No Respecter of Borders: the globalisation of disease, presented at the conference Implications of Globalisation: present imperfect, future tense? University of Chester, Chester, England, 17-19 November.
                          • 2003: Structure and implications of migration in a transitional economy: beyond the planned and spontaneous dichotomy in Vietnam, presented at the Third International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS3), National University of Singapore, Singapore 19-22 August.
                          • 1999: Gender Difference in Inheritance Rights: Observations from a Chinese Village, presented at the Annual Conference of UK Development Studies Association (DSA), University of Bath, UK, 12-14 September.

                        Conference Organisation

                          • 2010: co-convenor of a double panel (with Dr John Hudson, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York) 'Social Policy in China and East Asia: Perspectives on Urban-rural Integration and Comparative Welfare Systems', China's 6th Social Policy Conference, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 27-29 August.
                          • 2009: Lead organiser of Ninth European Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development in China (ECARDC9) Rethinking urban-rural interactions in China's agricultural development: Beyond the urban bias? hosted by Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds with National Institute of Chinese Studies, White Rose East Asia Centre, UK, 3-5 April.
                          • 2009: Convenor of the panel Societal Responses to Risk in China's Agricultural and Rural Development at Ninth European Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development in China (ECARDC9), University of Leeds, UK 3-5 April.
                          • 2007: Organising the international symposium Livelihoods, mobility and development: The Chinese experiences, hosted by National Institute of Chinese Studies, WREAC, Leeds, 30 November - 1 December.
                          • 2006: Convening and chairing a panel on Reassessing the Nexus between Migration and Poverty, at the 8th European Conference on Agricultural and Rural Development in China (ECARDC8) organised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), the Netherlands, Yiwu City, Zhejiang, China, 31 August-2 September.
                          • 2006: Coordinating an ESRC workshop which launched the second call in the DFID-ESRC research scheme on international poverty reduction, University of Chester, 3 May.
                          • 2005: Convening and chairing a panel on rural-urban connections in China at the 4th International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS4), organised by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), the Netherlands, Shanghai, 19-23 August.

                        Honorary Posts

                        • Fellow, Higher Education Academy, UK
                        • Fellow, Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS/IBG)
                        • Member, Development Studies Association (DSA) UK
                        • Member, Steering Committee, European Conference on Agricultural and Rural Development in China (ECARDC)
                        • Member, Women and Gender in Chinese Studies Network
                        • Member, International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) network

                        Teaching

                        As well as the below modules, I have been heavily involved in the supervision of undergraduate, and on-site and online MA dissertations, and also contributed to inter-departmental, inter-school teaching and research training, including GEND 5105M Global Genders at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies and PhD training courses provided by the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.

                        Undergraduate

                          • EAST 2082 China since 1979 (convenor)
                          • EAST 2083 China since 1979 (convenor)
                          • EAST 3052 Modern Documentary Chinese: Society and Development (convenor)
                          • EAST 3150 Women and Family in Chinese Society (convenor)

                        Postgraduate

                          • EAST 5015M China's Development (convenor)
                          • EAST 5250M MA Dissertation (work placement-based) (convenor)
                          • EAST 5051M MA Dissertation (non-work placement) (convenor)
                          • EAST5014M Chinese Development (Online course of the MA in Asia Pacific Studies programme) (convenor)

                        PhD Supervision

                        I currently supervise/co-supervise the following PhD projects:

                        • Trade Liberalisation and Rice Farming in South Vietnam
                        • A call to alms: nascent civil society and the role of faith-based organisations in China
                        • The New Cooperative Medical Scheme and policy innovation in rural China
                        • Aftershocks of Consciousness?  Chinese NGOs and the Wenchuan Earthquake

                        I am happy to supervise in any area of contemporary China studies, and especially China's development, social policy, migration, gender, HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health, as well as development-related research projects in Vietnam.

                        Guidance on PhDs can be found in the Research Postgraduate pages.