Welcome to PoliticsEastAsia.com. Whether you are an academic, student, policy-maker, journalist, or East Asia enthusiasts, this website and blog aims to help you get your bearings in the complex and often challenging field of East Asian politics.

Established in early 2013 as a non-profit outlet for the NWO research project Digital Nationalism in China, PoliticsEastAsia.com is originally built around the editor’s on-going research on Chinese politics and media, but hopes to inspire debates and comparisons beyond that focus.

On this website, you will find practical and theoretical discussions on politics, political communication, and media in East Asia, and introductions to the works of East Asian studies scholars from the Leiden University area studies community.

PoliticsEastAsia.com is updated on a bi-monthly basis with articles, tips, videos, and resources. Its blog offers a friendly and collegial space to share interdisciplinary approaches to social science and area studies. It is in particular meant to give students a chance to ask questions and share their views. Please feel invited to leave your comments, questions, or suggestions.

FIND OUT ABOUT ONGOING RESEARCH

Explore the different research projects of PoliticsEastAsia.com. From the complex interactions of states and societies to processes of international relations, from mass-mediated mega events to the politics of popular entertainment, PoliticsEastAsia.com introduces you to exciting ongoing research.

STUDY POLITICS, MEDIA, AND COMMUNICATION

It can be daunting for students to work in a field that cuts across disciplines and cultures. PoliticsEastAsia.com discusses important theories of politics, media, and communication, and offers tips and tricks on how to make the most of different kinds of sources as you plan your research project.

My name is Florian Schneider, and I am the Chair Professor for Modern China at the Leiden University Institute of Area Studies in the Netherlands. My research focuses mainly on contemporary China, particularly on politics, digital communication, and media, but my interests also extend to developments across East Asia in general.

Over the past years, I have worked on a number of research projects that deal with politics in East Asia, usually tying this focus to questions of communication and media. My first book Visual Political Communication in Popular Chinese Television Series (2012) deals with the way in which “soap operas” contribute to political discourse in the People’s Republic of China. I have continue this general interest in political communication in a follow-up projects that analyzed mass-media events and their political relevance in China, published open-access with Leiden University Press in 2019. Another project, Digital Nationalism, examines Sino-Japanese history in Chinese online networks. This study has been published with Oxford University Press in 2018.

Aside from researching, I also teach undergraduate and graduate courses at Leiden University. Since 2013, I am also the managing editor of the journal Asiascape: Digital Asia, and co-editor of Routledge’s Leiden Series of History, Politics, and Media in Modern Asia, and since 2018 I have been the academic director of the Leiden Asia Centre.

Originally hailing from Germany, I have lived and worked for extended periods of time in Europe, the US, and China. I hold an MA degree in Sinology, politics, and economics from my hometown university in Hamburg, and a PhD degree from Sheffield University’s School of East Asian Studies. In 2008, after finishing my studies in England, I joined the Chinese Department in Leiden, where I currently live together with my partner Foteini, an organizational psychologist.

I enjoy solving complex social and political puzzles, and generally nursing my inner geek. I love sharing this passion with my students, usually by torturing their senses with visual animations whilst talking at lightning speed and gesticulating furiously. I also have a habit of overplaying my German accent, convinced it will make people mistakenly think I played in the band Kraftwerk (vitch iz not ‘ze case). Sometimes, this gambit almost works.

PoliticsEastAsia.com benefits from a network of institutional support.

The project Digital Nationalism  in China, which provides the framework for this site, is generously financed by the Dutch Academic Research Organization NWO.

The editor is employed by Leiden University, and his work has profited from research grants provided by the Leiden University Institute of Area Studies. In the past, he has also received support and funding from the following institutions (in alphabetical order):

– The Chinese Academy of Social Science

– The German Academic Exchange Service

– The German National Merit Foundation

– The Modern East Asia Research Centre in Leiden

– The NWO-funded project Beyond Utopia, run by Chris Goto-Jones

– The Taiwan Affairs Office

– The Universities’ China Committee in London

– The University of Sheffield

Unless stated otherwise, the views and ideas expressed on PoliticsEastAsia.com do not reflect those of the institutions listed above, but are those of the editor or the respective guest contributors.

The articles and resources you will find here are meant for academic purposes. Permission is granted to reproduce for personal and educational use only, provided the material is properly attributed to its source. Commercial copying, hiring, or lending is prohibited.

PoliticsEastAsia.com takes pains to assure that any foreign content is properly referenced, and that visual materials are taken from the public domain. In the spirit of academic exchange, foreign content may at times be quoted, presented, and referenced on the site as analytic evidence.

If you are the copyright holder of foreign material used on this website that you believe violates the conditions of fair use, please contact PoliticsEastAsia.com.