Zeming Zhang

Profile

I am a PhD student (PGR) in the School of Media and Communication. I hold an academic background in Business Administration before transitioning into media and cultural studies. My PhD project examines Chinese online surrogacy debates on Weibo, focusing on how different social actors, holding divergent stances on surrogacy and differentially positioned across gender, class, ideology, and sexuality, participate in and construct these debates through affective discourse in digitally mediated environments. Drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA), it explores how broader reproductive regimes and media governance are manifested through patterns of visibility, conflict, and emotional expression in these debates.

My MA dissertation, Marginalised and Ambivalent Women: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Heterosexual Female Characters in Chinese Dangai, examined the representation of female subjectivity in Chinese Dangai (boy’s love) television dramas. The study highlights how heterosexual female characters are marginalised within intersecting patriarchal, heteronormative, and misogynistic discourses, raising questions about gender hierarchy within queer media cultures.

During my postgraduate study, I also conducted research on:

• Normative De-Westernisation and Orientalism in Chinese-Western Film Co-productions: A Comparative Analysis of The Last Emperor (1987) and The Lady in the Portrait (2017)
• Hybrid Masculinity in the Twenty-first Century: A Case Study of Korean TV Dramas (K-dramas)
• Soft Masculinity and Hegemonic Ideals in South Korean BL Webtoons: A Case Study of Painter of the Night (2019) and Eyes Clouded by the Tiger (2021)
• Censorship, Platforms, and Global Circulation: The Case of Chinese Dangai Series The Untamed (2019)
• Redefining UK Public Service Broadcasting in the Netflix Era: From PSB to Public Service Media (PSM)

Research interests

• Gender and sexuality in media
• Feminism media theory
• Media representation and discourse
• Inequalities and hierarchies within LGBTQ+ communities
• Platform studies and digital governance
• Affect theory

Qualifications

• MA Global Media Industries (King’s College London)
• Bachelor of Business Administration (Thompson Rivers University)
• Bachelor of Management in Business Administration (Tianjin University of Technology)