China Horizons: Dealing with a Resurgent China (DWARC)
The project is financed by the Horizon Europe funding scheme no. 101061700 (competition HORIZON-CL2-2021-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-07); project duration: November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2025. It is carried out by a consortium of seven partnering institutions from the EU, led by Mercator Institute for China Studies – MERICS (Germany), Bruegel AISBL (Belgium) and Copenhagen Business School (Denmark). The goal of the project is to strengthen political, economic, social and cultural understanding of contemporary China among researchers and European decision makers, with the goal to support the process of shaping EU’s policy towards China. Other goals include expanding the body of independent researchers of contemporary China in Europe and knowledge sharing among the media and the public.
The project is divided into five topic-related Work Packages (WP), namely:
- Community and culture of the People's Republic of China (WP2)
- Policy of the Chinese Communist Party (WP3)
- Chinese economy and its global impact (WP4))
- Regional and global Chinese policy (WP5)
- EU-China Relations (WP6).
The team from SWPS University is responsible for the implementation of the Work Package no. 2 – “Society and Culture”. Our researchers will examine cultural policy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and cultural-social themes in Chinese literature, performing arts (theatre and film), and visual arts that have been created over the last decade in the PRC.
The academics from SWPS University will aim to answer the following research questions:
- What aspirations and dreams of young Chinese women and men are reflected in theatre, film, visual arts, and literature? How does the vision of an ideal society looks like?
- How are gender equality, sexual identity, and other topics related to the current global social movements and trends portrayed in theatre, film, visual arts, and literature?
- What social topics, missing from the official state discourse, are present in theatre, film, visual arts, and literature? What does it mean? What does it tell us about contemporary China?
- How do public policies related to the cultural sector shape relationships between the state and artists?
- How is cultural production funded in China? What are the sources of financing? Do Chinese artists enjoy artistic freedom to create? To what degree?
- 6. How does China promote its culture abroad, in Europe and East Asia (South Korea and Japan)? What topics are selected and what messages are conveyed by the Chinese authorities?
The academics researching Chinese literature, performing and visual arts are led by Professor Marcin Jacoby from SWPS University. The research team also includes František Reismüller (Czech Republic), Cristina Bahon Arnaiz (Spain), Piotr Machajek, M.A. (SWPS University’s Interdisciplinary Doctoral School).
The study of the cultural sector of China is led by Professor Dorota Ilczuk, and the team includes Tamara Kamińska, M.A. (doctoral student at SWPS University’s Creative Economy Research Center) and Professor Marcin Jacoby.
The results of the project will be available on the Open Access platforms, in the form of articles, policy briefs, webinars and podcasts.
Read more about the project