Doing PhD Research on Chinese Independent Media in Transnational Contexts
Panel discussants:
Desiree Marianini, Hong Pang, Lynette Qiuyang Shen, Yizhou Wei, Ann Lyuwenyu Zhang
Organiser: Chinese Independent Film Archive (CIFA)
Date: 6 November 2025, Thursday
Time: New York (9am), London (2pm), Beijing (10pm)
Zoom Event, Languages: CN & EN
All Welcome! Please register here to obtain the zoom link.
The 7th issue of the Chinese Independent Cinema Observer titled ‘Media Archaeology and Obsolescence’ has been published (downloadable here). This issue seeks to create meaningful intersections between media archaeology as a method and the diverse practices of Chinese-language independent cinema and media. By localizing media archaeology through engagement with Chinese independent film history, archive studies, media materials, and obsolescence, this issue gestures towards a socio-technologically informed, historically conscious, and reimaginable future of the study and practice of Chinese independent cinema.
Starting with this issue, we’re opening executive editor roles to early-career and doctoral researchers from around the world. In addition to having a PhD researcher as its executive editor, this issue also includes several articles by current PhD researchers across the world, spanning from Italy, China, the US, and Japan, all of whom engage with Chinese media archaeology from different cultural and methodological perspectives. To highlight these diverse research and practices, we are organising this launch event to share experiences of being a PhD researcher in today’s world and discuss topics such as conducting fieldwork on Chinese independent media, communicating research findings to broader audiences, and AI’s impact on humanities research.
The panel discussants include Desiree Marianini (Sapienza University of Rome), Hong Pang (The University of Tokyo), Lynette Qiuyang Shen (University of Pennsylvania), and Yizhou Wei (Xiamen University, China), and moderated by the executive editor of this issue Ann Lyuwenyu Zhang (New York University) and the general editor Sabrina Qiong Yu (Newcastle University).