University of Freiburg, Germany
2–3rd Oct 2026
The workshop picks up the much-discussed concept of xindazhong wenyi but will revolve around the mechanics of popular culture in China’s state-capitalist context more broadly. Participation is free and open to all. If you would like to attend, please register by email at shi.bingbing@sinologie.uni-freiburg.de.
Programme
Friday, 2 October
09:30–09:50 Welcome Remarks
09:50–11:00
Carwyn Morris SOAS, University of London
Producing Fame: Internet Fame and the Logics of Wanghong in a Globalising China
Yixin Yu University of Freiburg
Consuming Fantasies on Ice: Winter Sports Danmei, Female Fandom, and Sports Romance in Contemporary China
11:20–12:30
Shao Yanjun Peking University
“元创”：网络时代的文学生产
Jessica Imbach University of Freiburg
Writing at Scale: Popular Literature in the “Age of Qidian”
13:50–15:00
Zhao Kun Beijing Language and Culture University
马伯庸“见微”历史小说的文学游牧
Sujie Jin University of Freiburg
Embodied Transgressions: Humanity, Animality, and Posthuman Imaginaries
15:20–16:30
Federico Picerni University of Bologna
An Icon for New Popular Literature: The Poetry and Persona of Wang Jibing, the Rider-Poet
Yue Zhou Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Navigating Between Algorithms and Affect: Female Gig Experience, Intersectional Vulnerability, and Agency in Wang Wan’s Narratives
16:45–17:55
Lena Henningsen University of Heidelberg
Adaptations of Popular Culture, Literature and Art in Chinese Lianhuanhua
Bingbing Shi University of Freiburg
Theorising Adaptation and Popular Culture in Contemporary China
Saturday, 3 October
09:30–10:40
Shuang Xu Université Paris Cité
From Online Novels to Short Drama: Adaptation, Circulation, and the Aspirations of the “New Masses”
Lukas Eggert University of Tübingen
Manufactured Heritage or Organic Revival? Guochao Videogames as a Vanguard of Xin Dazhong Wenyi
11:00–12:10
Carlos Rojas Duke University
Culture, Natalism, and Queer Interventions: Rethinking the Concept of the Masses in the New Mass Literature and Art Movement
Justyna Jaguścik University of Bern
“村K Is the Real Stage for Ordinary People”—From the Village Song Project to Village Karaoke
The workshop is organised by Bingbing Shi (Margarete von Wrangell Fellow) and Jessica Imbach (PI of the ERC-funded SINOFANTASY project) and funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg and the European Union.