I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literatures and Visual Cultures in the School of Global Humanities. My research focuses on popular culture and identity politics in East Asia, with particular interests in film, television, celebrity and social media. I also conduct research and public engagement projects with East Asian communities in Wales. Within the School, I teach and lead a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules on Sinophone and South Korean cinema and literature.
Chung, E. 2024. Chinese remakes of South Korean films. In: Wang, Z. , Wilcox, E. and Yu, H. eds. Teaching Film from the People's Republic of China. Modern Language Association of America. , pp.241-254.
Chung, E. 2024. Chinese remakes of South Korean films. In: Wang, Z. , Wilcox, E. and Yu, H. eds. Teaching Film from the People's Republic of China. Modern Language Association of America. , pp.241-254.
My research interests lie broadly in identity politics in East Asian popular culture, spanning film, television, celebrity culture and user-generated social media. My current research is organised around three interconnected themes.
Stars and Celebrity
My primary research interest is the sociopolitical significance of stars and celebrities in East Asia. I examine how stardom operates within transnational media industries and how celebrity personas become sites for negotiating identity politics, particularly nationalism and feminism.
Soft Power
My second research strand explores the role of non-state actors in producing, mediating and contesting cultural soft power in East Asia. Drawing partly on my teaching experience in Chinese Studies, my current work examines Mandarin-language education in UK higher education and its relationship to Taiwan’s soft power strategies.
Migration and Identity
I also investigate the cultural practices and identity formation of migrant communities, with a particular focus on recent Hong Kong migrants in Wales. My research examines how practices such as Welsh-language learning and participation in Welsh elections shape migrants’ negotiations of belonging, citizenship and community identity.
Teaching
In 2026–27, I convene and teach the following two-semester modules:
Introduction to Chinese Studies
China in the World
Sinophone Cultures: Hong Kong, Taiwan and Chinese Diasporas
I also contribute to the teaching of the following modules:
Global Cinemas – teaching sessions on gender in East Asian cinemas
Cold War Cultures: Power, Conformity and Dissent, c. 1948–1990 – teaching sessions on the Cold War and the South Korean and Hong Kong film industries
Biography
I hold a PhD from SOAS University of London, an MA from Korea University, and a BA from the University of Hong Kong.
I welcome doctoral applications on topics broadly related to East Asian popular culture and identity politics.
I have/am supervising the following PhD projects:
Foreign Languages in South Korea’s Diplomatic Strategies (funded by the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership)
Chinese Women’s Filmmaking of the 1980s–1990s: A Transnational Feminist Framing (funded by the China Scholarship Council)
Translating Queer Culture: A Global Perspective on Representation and Identity
Postfeminism and Chinese ‘Big Heroine’ Television Dramas (funded by the China Scholarship Council)
British National (Overseas) Hongkongers, Their Conflicts with Existing Chinese Communities and the Implications for Identity Politics in the UK (funded by the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership)
Chronotopes, Signs and Changes: An Ethnographic Linguistic Landscape Study of Peri-Urban China(funded by the China Scholarship Council)
Projecting China’s Idea of China: An Analysis of International Co-production Documentaries as a Vehicle for Cultural Diplomacy, 1980–Present
Academics from around the world gathered at the School of Modern Languages recently to discuss their research on female transgression in East Asian and diaspora screen cultures.
![Elaine Chung](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/8324?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
