Yuguang Zhou, M. A.

Doctoral Project

Sino-Yugoslav relations 1975-1990: How China viewed Yugoslavia differently from other Eastern European states

This PhD project will study the Sino-Yugoslav relations between 1975 and 1990 with the presumption that China viewed Yugoslavia differently from Eastern European countries of the Soviet bloc, such as Romania and Poland. The existing research tends to study the impact of Sino-Yugoslav relations on the Sino-Soviet relations. In contrast, the project here puts the focus on Yugoslavia itself, concerning Chinese elites’ interest in the ‘Yugoslav way of socialism’ in the era of Reform and Opening up. The research will be mainly based on ministry archives, official and semi-official institutes’ reports, academic works on socialist reforms (especially establishing the socialist market economy), and Chinese state newspapers. The project revolves around the following questions: Which aspects of the Yugoslav socialist system impressed Chinese scholars and politicians? Is it possible to trace some of Chinese reform policies back to influence of Yugoslav practices? Was there, for example, any policy debate among the Chinese political elite that was inspired or shaped by the findings from studying Yugoslavia?

Curriculum Vitae

Born in Hegang (China). In 2013 he received Bachelor’s Degree in International Politics and Sociology from Peking University (China). During the bachelor studies, in 2010, he was an exchange student at Uppsala University (Sweden). In 2017 he received (with Merit) International Masters in Economy, State and Society from University College London (UK) and University of Belgrade (Serbia). Since October 2017, he is a PhD candidate at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, having been awarded a stipend from China Scholarship Council. In January 2018, he joined the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies.

Positions, Assignments and Memberships

• Member of the Study Group "Empires"

Awards

• June 2017. Full stipend from the China Scholarship Council, for 48-month PhD studies in Germany
• May 2010. Stipend from Peking University and Uppsala University, for 5-month exchange studies at Uppsala University

Presentations (selected)

2018

"The Portrayal of Yugoslavia in Chinese newspapers 1975-1980" (Jahrestagung der Graduiertenschule für Ost- und Südosteuropastudien "Studying East and Southeast Europe as Area Studies: Paradigms – Themes – Methods for the 21st Century", München, 25.-27.10.2018)