Dr. Jamie Zhao, Assistant Professor in Media and Cultural Studies at SCM, is a global scholar specializing in queer media. Her educational journey has taken her across Mainland China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Hong Kong. She has achieved dual PhDs, one in Gender Studies (with affiliations in Cultural Studies) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the other in Film and Television Studies from the University of Warwick, UK. Her research interests span a wide range of interconnected areas: gender and sexuality within Chinese-language entertainment, queer fandom, celebrity culture, variety TV, global queering theory, female masculinity in East Asian pop culture and public spheres, and post-colonial theory within the Asian context. Prior to her current role, she held academic positions at the University of Liverpool in both their UK and China campuses, as well as at NingboTech University, Xiamen University, and New York University-Shanghai.

Zhao’s research delves into the historical context of China as a traditionally heteronormative and patriarchal society, where the media industry enforced censorship on homosexual content. She highlights a significant turning point occurring after the year 2000 when global TV formats, such as pop idol-manufacturing shows, started to gain prominence in China. These formats were adapted to challenge conventional norms surrounding gender and sexual identities. Zhao’s investigation focuses on the evolution of this transformative shift in China’s media landscape and its impact on norm-defying representations of gender and sexuality.

Zhao has edited 9 special topic journal issues in her field, and a plethora of recent books. Her recent volume, Queer TV China (Hong Kong University Press, 2023) conducts a comprehensive exploration of the production, representation, and circulation of queer meanings and images within television spaces in China, particularly in the post-2000 era. In addition, Zhao is the co-editor of Boys’ Love, Cosplay, and Androgynous Idols: Queer Fan Cultures in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan (Hong Kong University Press, 2017), and two other recent volumes: Contemporary Queer Chinese Art (Bloomsbury, 2023), and the Routledge Handbook of Chinese Gender and Sexuality (Routledge, 2024). 

Currently, Zhao is engaged in the development of three monograph projects which focus on exploring global queer TV, Chinese queer women-centered fandom, and the concept of female masculinity and homoeroticism within the celebrity and television industries of the Sinosphere. Additionally, she holds the distinction of being the founding co-editor of two book series: Queering China: Transnational Genders and Sexualities (published by Bloomsbury), and Transdisciplinary Souths (published by Routledge). She also serves on the editorial board of the ICA-associated journal entitled Communication, Culture & Critique, Television & New Media, Feminist Media Studies, and Bloomsbury’s book series, Asian Celebrity and Fandom Studies.